In the real world, it will never achieve that sort of perfect-mirror look that you get from CG renderings. Look at how cheap the test vehicle looks. It'll look better once it's pressurized, but never like the renderings. And there's a good chance that it will crash or explode.
Here's what it actually looks like:
The top doesn't even match the bottom - the top has a "wrinkled mirror" finish while the bottom is matte and grimy. Initially people thought SpaceX was building a water tower because they couldn't believe that that thing was actually supposed to be a rocket.
Don't expect any sort of "quality dividends" to rub off on Tesla from that thing.
For the Model 3 ramp up, speed was of the essence. It is very likely the same here.
The "hopper" will not have to enter an atmosphere at blistering speed or anything like that. Rather, it is basically a mass simulator (with both a relevant center and distribution of mass) allowing SpaceX to test their propulsive landing.
So it makes sense that they just welded together a bunch of steel plates - not even within the confines of a tent but in open air no less - just so they can hover and land with their raptor engines as soon as possible.
I think for the individuals who have some clue regarding the task at hand, a successful flight with this contraption will actually be impressive. While I cannot really claim to be in this category, I know I will be.