I doubt very much that the wait was something he envisaged and did intentionally. Iirc, he works as a firefighter, as well as keeping a full time job down AND building bikes.
Sounds more like a scam to me. I bet there are loads of people that can't even remember ordering one after they've made the initial $20.00 payment. Say you ordered one and died....20 dollars....zoink.
I'm not saying that the guy is a con artist. I'm sure he's on the 'up and up' and all round good egg who builds excellent bikes. It seems more like a case of having ones "glass too full". Or just go full-time. Weird setup.