One of the things you were asking about is the best time to buy somebody’s aircraft kit. That would probably be during the time of year when most people don’t think as much about how much they wish they were out flying........ the winter is my guess. If the kit owners were trying to sell during the flying season(summer) and didn’t have any luck, they would possibly lower their price on their kit so they don’t have to go through another summer with an aging kit on their hands. You are now entering the best time to buy a previously owned RV kit. ADVISE: labor is basically worth nothing, unless the kit is almost done, meaning just about ready for first engine start, and then labor is probably minimum wage at most, if it has the equipment you want. If you are looking at a legacy kit (RV7/RV8/RV9/RV-10) and it’s in its early stages - tail, wing, fuselage - look at the kit cost from Van’s, and subtract a certain percentage, depending on availability. The RV14 is an outlier right now because it is a sellers market based on availability. That will change relatively soon, and if you pay a comparatively high price for it now, you will loose money if you decide to sell soon (next 5 years).
These kits are all match drilled and if you have a QB, you really have to NOT pay attention to goof something up. Make no mistake, it’s still a HUGE job, but a buyer can feel a little more comfortable in the quality of the build versus the old days. That means that much of the critical stuff is already done. There are still critical things to accomplish during assembly, but the bulk of the work becomes deburring, dimpling, and riveting thousands of rivets. Unfortunately, for the builder, this isn’t a very good paying job, and so for the seller of a kit, he is getting hosed on his labor - to your benefit as a kit buyer. Previous builder experience means something if you have a finished, painted, and flying airplane, provided the paint scheme isn’t too wild. Finished, flying, painted airplanes generally are worth more than the cost of their parts - when they are relatively new. For a previously owned kit, especially in the early stages, about September - October is a good time to start looking for a kit.