I'm going through the process of having a custom bumper made for my truck and have been having similar problems. I called/emailed nearly 40 shops all over the mid-Atlantic region, and only two or three have gotten back to me. Eventually I found a local shop that gave me an excellent quote, and scheduled it out for 2 months. 3 months later, I messaged him and a week or two later he got back to me and told me to drop it off last Monday and it would be finished that week. Friday came and went, so I messaged and called a bunch with no answer. Just today I called every half an hour until the owner eventually picked up. He said they are ridiculously busy, and every project is running behind due to labor/material issues. He said they are going to start my truck on Monday, a whole 2 weeks after I dropped my daily driver off with no communication. Luckily I am WFH so its not a huge deal for me.
Road is 100% correct about shops being overwhelmed right now, and unfortunately the best fabricators often aren't the greatest with communicating with prospective customers. If you can visit a shop in person, you are much more likely to get someone's attention than if you call/email.
It's your money and entirely your decision, but here is my .02 cents absolutely no one asked for. If you are brand new to overlanding, I don't really recommend throwing a bunch of money on mods for your vehicle. Get good tires, basic recovery gear and the other necessities and then get out there. The best way to figure out what you need is to actually get out there and use your rig. You will find things you don't like, and then you can make upgrades to address these deficiencies. You might have already realized a need, and in that case, totally ignore this.
