I seriously considered buying a burned up N/H machine this spring that had caught fire on top of the engine and cab. It was extremely low hours. All the cab parts and wiring had completely melted or burned and the same for the top of the motor, however, the hydraulics looked fine. It had changed hands a couple times because each person had considered rebuilding it but then didn't due to parts and labor costs. A few parts were lost in the shuffle. So, at this point, it was priced pretty cheap. Still, even at something like $6k, once I priced up all the parts I 'knew' to be bad, then threw in additional money for parts I DIDN'T know needed replacing, but would find out as I went along, I was within a few thousand of being able to buy the same machine in good used condition. And that didn't include any labor costs.
In the end I bought another machine in good used condition with new rubber than didn't need a thing. I still would have liked to rebuild a S/S, maybe in the future. It's a great way to learn about your machine. But better have the time and $ if it's a burn-out.