Well, some folks don't have much to add, sometimes- and a lot of people only look at these forums once a day or so, so it can take a full day or more to get real feedback on your posts. Many posters here have day gigs, and only come out to play after the money-making part of the day is done.
When it comes to hardware like cases and connectors, you're basically paying for long-term reliability. Good cases, and good patchbays, cost a lot of money. The idea behind them is that you buy them once, and they last you a career, and they don't fail and let the equipment in them get trashed (or the signal you're sending through them turn to hums and buzz in the middle of a take). In the case of rack cases that will be used for roadwork, you really do want the good ones. The case may cost a couple hundred bucks, but you'll probably be loading it with gear that costs _thousands_: the replacement cost of which (after getting dropped off a truck bed the third time) will more than swamp the difference in the cost of the rack...
For fixed installation (home use), you can save some money. Both Raxxess and Middle Atlantic make some very inexpensive racks, made of no-frills black particle board, and costing less than $80 even for big floorstanding 20+ space racks. Some possible vendors for those are Full Compass Systems, Markertech, 8th Street Music, and Parts Express. A quick webs search on those company names and the word "rack" will get you a lot of information. If even that is too expensive, you can buy the predrilled rails alone from Full Compass or Parts Express and make your own.
Reliability costs money: same thing with patch bays and patch cords. The good stuff costs a _bundle_. Switchcraft 48/52 point telephone-style bays cost more than twice what the cheap Rean and Neutrik bays do, and the Switchcraft telephone-style patch cords are $23 a pop for a 2 foot cable. But what you get is reliability: in 25 years, I have never seen a Switchcraft patchbay fail in normal use due to anything but absolutely gross abuse, and the cords are the next best thing to completely immortal. On the other hand, I have a friend with a 2-month-old Rean bay that has already gone intermittent on him in the middle of a take...
When it comes to this infrastructure stuff, it is absolutely is worth buying the good stuff, just once. Sure, it hurts up front, but it hurts less (and is a helluva lot less aggravating!) than buying cheap stuff 2 or 3 times and having it crap out at the worst possible time. You make the call!
Well, ok. I'll try building one on my own. I mean, I only need about a 5 space thing so it should be relatively easy and inexpensive. I'll let you know if I actually succeed in this venture or if somehow I manage to accidentally set off some nuclear warheads...or something. Rock on.