rich wrote:
I'm just finishing mine, it's in the paint shop finally, but after 18
years fo work. (Glasair) I keep up with another homebuilder friend of
mine out on the west coast in Stockton, which is a good GA airport.
Lots of homebuilts under construction, good infastructure for GA on
the field, etc. He told me no one is building composite planes out
there anymore. It's like the word is out on how much work and how long
it takes to build the things, and it's becoming a thing of the past. I
just wonder if that trend is just in that area, or nationwide?

The observation may only apply locally.

Here's a different observation:
I notice that a newer composite design like the Arion Lightning appears to
be enjoying very fast builds (relatively speaking.)

They also appear to have a fairly high fraction of completions (44 flying
of 78 kits delivered, as of August 6. For perspective, the prototype first
flew in March 2006. So no one has struggled for years - yet.)