laying c.f. is easy actually. just use high quality resin, and know how much hardner to mix. if you’ve ever worked with fiberglass, its very similar. if you want really strong pieces you can vacuum bag them, or if they are flat, use weight on top of them during layup.
Dude, just spend the $250 and get those. What you gotta thing of is that they bang those things out all day so they save on the materials and such vs. having some person make one for you. Saving costs of production = less money you spend, or at least that’s how it should be. They already have the dimensions and such to do it all easily, whereas you’d have to have the person do all of that, lay it around your existing piece, etc…