I built this in 2008, Taiwanese frame that a guy here in Aus was importing. Cost me about $4k Australian to build which was a good price here at the time with carbon wheels. I got a force road gruppo off ebay for $1k sold the shifters for 400 and bought the bar end shifters from PBK for 150. I used the USE Tula aerobars.
I have ridden it for 1000's of km and never had any issues. I have ridden it in Challenge Cairns last year for a 5:04 split on a course which was 184km instead of 180 so that was sub 5 hour pace for the correct distance. I have ridden under 1 hour for olympic distance and I have the TT club record for the last 3 years for 100km in 2:31. I have also done a 2:22 HIM split. This bike is as fast as any other I reckon. Could build similar a lot cheaper these days though. I like that I have something different from most people :)

I also built up a chinese pinarello last year for $1500 with ultegra. Its a great bike and rides perfect. Finishing was not as good as the TT bike though.In the time I have had my TT bike a lot of my friends have had Branded bikes crack. Im not saying that the chinese ones dont crack but I think the quality is equal. Just my opinion.
I dont earn enough money to line the pockets of the corporations so I go the budget option, If I had a lot more money I would buy a shiv purely because I think they look good, not because I think there would be any performance difference.

Edit to add pic