I do lab planning for a living and sometimes I like to play "How Many Houses Could This Instrument Buy?" with my coworkers. Usually it's something along the lines of 0.1 to 1 houses, but every once in a while we do a process development lab for some biotech firm, and they want to spring for one of those Satorious automated bioreactors. Those things cost "a whole block's worth of nice houses in a mid-major metro" money.

Except thermocyclers, literally available on aliexpress these days