[theprgramerdude]

We rarely spend more than $1000 a year on the robot. The main reasons being, A. we can salvage a lot of extra electronics and drivetrain items off of past robots or old KoPs that we never used, and, a big one,
B. We get a ton of items donated. Usually, each year we get around $500 + worth of Polycarbonate and aluminum donated from a local manufacturing company. This is mainly what we used to then build the rest of chassis on top of the KoP chassis, as our coach preferred to save money wherever possible.

If you don't think starting off with the KoP chassis is the best idea (I didn't my senior year, but we didn't have the means to not use it), but do have the means (manufacturing technology) to not use it, then I'd certainly try to go out and get a bunch of raw material donated like we did, and use that to make your robot with, rather than purchasing much more expensive COTS items like the pre-made KoP chassis.