I was confused by this as well, but I think what he means is
"A project bike to work on over the course of the winter"
rather than
"A project bike to build in preparation for the winter"
By the way, it is kinda silly to put $2000 worth of components on a $200 frame.
yes, a bike to be built in the winter. as for the $200 frame and $2000 worth of components, I'm from FL where we put thousands of dollars worth of components into frames that are worthless all the time like this ride ----->
btw - if i only intend to put in 1K worth of components on my frame is that ok? What is the proper component value for frame value ratio? Don't want to be caught out on the road violating some unspoken rule.