What's this "need" everyone's blathering on about? Of course most people don't "need" a custom bike...most people don't "need" a bike, period! [edit: bobbycorno beat me to it!]

I ordered two custom bikes because I wanted a custom bike.

Wait, let me rephrase that: I ordered two handbuilt bespoke one-off bicycles from well-respected independent small one-man framebuilding shops because I wanted what those particular framebuilders offered. The fact that the industry finds it convenient to refer to that sort of niche as "custom" is a semantic distinction that perhaps carries more baggage than is necessary.

And to the OP: Yes, it's kinda weird putting that much trust into a total stranger. But based on the results (actually, I've only received one of the bikes, I'm still waiting for the second) it is well worth the risk. I cannot believe how wonderful my custom (sic) road bike feels when riding it, and I don't even know that I could have imagined what an improvement it was going to be over my not-too-shabby & already-nicely-fitting stock Cannondale until I rode it. And all it took was a bunch of measurements, a couple photographs, and a very extensive dialog/interview with the builder.

The good builders know what they're doing. Let them do it.