that's one I was considering for next built! can you confirm frame weight? what are your initial impression?

Don’t have it in hand yet. They just shipped it so I’ll have it in about 7-10 days. I’ll weigh it once I get it. I’m pretty sure it is heavier than the Santa Cruz Hightower but by how much we will see.

The whole objective of a proper QC protocol is to ultimately produce products that are free from defects before they ship to the end consumer.   Everyone involved in the production process , from the initial order taker to the person packaging, should be another layer of QC and ultimately overseen by a department accountable for  quality control..

Again, I totally agree!

They need to understand what went wrong in this or similar cases and improve that part.

QA/QC is a never ending process all the time . Hope they fix this building issue and all clients issues

Wow. Thanks Serge for posting. Is refreshing to see another build where common sense decisions are made with a build. Not every build needs to be electronic grupo. Don’t have anything against electronic. Is just so damn expensive.  There is still such a thing as good, dependable use out of traditional mech.  I am using similar break calipers (hydro piston with mechanical cable actuation) , I like them. So far they are dependable and easy to adjust. What’s your take on them?
 I went with 50m deep rims with more of an oblong shape. I have 60m deep rims on my specialized tarmac and I find those behave like sails in the wind.  The 50m deep are less so.  Also the Sensah 2x11 setup with mid size cage is working nice also. Snappy shifting and very little need for adjusting.  I am using a Shimano 105 front mech with the trimming feature. It is playing well with the Sensah front shifter.  Love the feature. 
As for ride feel, I agree. This rides so much smoother than my tarmac elite (older model circa 2011). Specially with the victoria corsa 32c tires. The bike accelerates well and holds its speed. Something I don’t feel on my older tarmac.
And most importantly , keeping the build simple and mechanical makes it both affordable and easy to maintain with my amateur mechanic skill set. We all now we can use a bit of both always. Cheers and thanks for sharing.

I've ordered some wheels from him. Which ones did you have?

Did you ping him again? usually he's quite responsive

FYI
Relubricate the drive side bearing! Mine did run really rough at 300km/180mi with one wet ride.
Theres almost no protection against moisture for the outer bearing.
I contacted Leon with this problem, only with the answer that they will look into it. No solution after >4 weeks.

A little bit of grease from the factory could protect the bearing.