Yes, I agree with you. . . DIY projects give us pride to show to our fellow hobbyists of what we have achieve. I also have some DIY in my system but I limit only to cables ( IC,speaker,power ) since electronics is not my profession. But, I spent countless hours doing those projects and gave me happiness when the day is done.
it may interest you to know, that the famous Dynaco ST70, which sold by the thousands, was offered as a kit, and countless many who were not into electronics assembled them, doctors, musicians etc.... yes you can assemble tube amps as long as you know how to read and understand drawings and follow them.
Heatkit, was a famous brand in the states then, i still have an IG18 sine square wave generator........