It all depends on what you want in, or out of, a gun and cost is relative. I've got $3000 custom 1911s and I've had stock S&W revolvers that brought over $3000. People say they'd never spend $XXX on a gun but it's surprising what you'll do when the want arises and if all you have experienced is stock polymer autos or base model 1911s or run of the mill, off the shelf revolvers, then it's hard to imagine what $1000, $2000, $3000 or more might buy you. And, "buying up" is addictive in the sense that, once you've handled/carried/shot guns that are better built, hand fitted, customized, whatever, it's hard to go backwards. Even Performance Center guns are often head and shoulders above their production line counterparts in terms of trigger feel, fit, and finish, for only a few hundred dollars more.
Obviously, whether we like it or not, quality costs money. In the gun world that fact is probably most obvious where 1911s are concerned. As the prices increase so do the quality of the components and finishes and the amount of hand work involved in the fitting and finishing of the gun. To a point, that translates into greater reliability, better accuracy, improved trigger, etc..
Of course, you can't get better than 100% reliability and few shooters will be held back by the accuracy of even a decent quality production 1911 these days. Beyond that is where the high end production 1911s start to come into their own with accuracy and trigger weight guarantees, more hand work, tighter tolerances, all forged components, etc..
Then there's the custom 1911, or any custom gun, really. That is where you start getting into the art of the build - the perfectly fit parts, the slippery smooth movement of the slide, the unblemished polish, the warmth of hand checkering and serrations, and the artistic touches that set each custom gunsmith apart from the other - when the gun has become a collaboration of your vision and the gunsmith's ability to render that vision in metal.
Honestly, there is nothing like having a custom gun built for yourself. The gunsmith that I use has done a lot of custom work for me over nearly a decade now. He has a sense of my "style" and what I like. He knows that he has the freedom to be an artist and not just a mechanic when working on my guns, to make calls on aesthetics as well as what components and tolerances. I have over $3000 into this Colt ORM 1991A1 .38 Super. It was built to be the all around, do everything gun that I wanted. It's has 9mm, .38 Super, and 9x23 Winchester barrels. It was made to fit me, the grip frame and MSH have been recontoured so that they fit my hand perfectly. It is smooth as silk, the trigger is just under 3.5lbs and is perfectly crisp and clean, it will shoot well under 2" with each barrel at 25yds. The gun was built to shoot and carry and it gets used all the time, it is my regular carry gun, I shoot it in Action Pistol and 3 gun, and, come deer season I'm going to see if I can't get a buck with it.
Is that a lot of money? Yeah. But it is exactly what I wanted, I did not settle or compromise on anything. I've got other custom and worked over guns that I've put money into as well, that's just the way things work, you want something, you have to pay for it. The more you want, the more it costs.
I'm having a Commander built for my son to commemorate his accomplishments in the military. It will be his gun, the only one like it, built just for him. And, every time he picks it up, shoots it, carries it, lays it on the nightstand when he goes to bed, he'll remember that.
I fell in love all over again. 
