That's for raw wood; then you have to glue it up, surface it, bend sides (without cracking them...), and build a uke. Note that Chuck is in koa paradise where it's still very expensive, and luthiers have to mark up their cost of materials by at least double to cover having to have it in inventory, the cost of tracking the wood down, the cost of the sets that don't make it, etc. And, yes, even the best luthiers crack a set of sides in the bending process every now and then. If they don't apply a decent markup to materials, they're not going to stay in business for very long.
There are always beginning guitar and uke builders who will start off thinking that they can get a toe-hold in the business by underpricing their more experienced "competition". We've seen them come and go, even around here. Once you've managed to make it past about five or six years as a full time builder, you'll have had to settle into reality. There may be minor differences in equivalent features and work, but I think that any of us who have stuck with it all wind up with reasonably similar costs and prices, the exception maybe being guitar makers like Jim Olson or Jeff Traugott who are selling their names as well as great instruments.
Anyway, koa = expensive. I call it "the new Brazilian rosewood". Too bad about all the cattle and pigs on the Islands...they're ruining it for us.