I would gladly let you build them, however, again read my post on why businesses buy from places like Dell.
Also much of what we buy is either really cheap, or really high end servers w/ redundant power supplies and the like. These again are purchased with an eye on warranty and supplying company stability.
Aiming high is the way to go, and that is where you can compete easily.
The biggest thing Alenware has going fro them is their reputation. Otherwise they mostly use off the shelf components. So you should be able to build something just as good, for less money. the problem is most people buy AW for bragging rights, otherwise they build and mod their own.
A few suggestions would be to aim for the high end home user, who thinks they want cutting edge, but really needs 3 month ago technology if you get what i mean.
Package em with good periipherals like LCD monitors with dual inputs (VGA and DVI) possibly wireless/bluetooth keyboard/mouse and the like. These people have moeny to spend, and wouldn't build them even if they knew how.
BTW, one other thing to seperate yourself like AW does, is to purchase retail versions of the OS and programs, not supply OEM type versions. A lot of higher end customers find this to be a great selling feature. Also, offer setup help and custom config for different application types if they want it.
Good luck.
Good computer people are hard to find, so if you're good, your name will get around.
*EDIT*
Also just thought of this, another reason to stay away from the truely top end customer, is that after you leave the box, little Johnny will go into it, and try to "fix" it like he has read on the internet, and you'll be screwed either way. If he makes it perform better by shutting down services etc, he'll tell everyone you don't know shit. If he screws it up, his parents will think you don't know shit, and tell all their friends.
Lose-lose situation.
just my $.02
