With something like the ergo dox I would rather source all the parts pieces myself and build it myself. For one reason alone. Then I know exactly what went into it and how it went together. Plus, it is much easier to tailor the particular keyboard to your personal tastes.
Such as, there are a lot of people that use the dox because of its unique combination of, ergonomics, portability, customization, along with overall weight when built with aluminum or acrylic. But me personally, I would build it one with brushed 304 stainless. Why, because that was the grade that was used on the DMC Delorean and that car body was 100% uncoated stainless, and I just love the look of raw mill finish or brushed stainless.
Granted it would cost more to acquire all the parts pieces to build it, but that is part of the fun in the journey of a custom mechanical keyboard. Plus, even with backing from a major manufacturer I seriously doubt the price would be anything less than $200 for a very long time due to very extensive tooling costs. I install and maintain that sort of equipment on a daily basis and if you are proposing the idea to have this mass produced than I seriously doubt you have any idea how much just tooling for that equipment costs, let alone to buy new equipment, install, setup, and maintain said equipment.
Second, good luck convincing any major brand to produce anything that was originally intended as open source with the intent of making a profit from it.
