Well I guess I would agree also. But I had been on SS for 10 yrs when I decided to try to become a beek. In checking things out it looked like TBH were cheaper by a good bit,so I built 1. Then a cousin gave me 2 deep boxes, I built 2 med supers for them. Another guy from the bee club that I had joined before I built the TBH gave me some used frames. Not wanting to catch anything that his bees might have, I cleaned these frames to bare frames. Now on rethinking that I should have used them with the comb, would be lots ahead. If you don't know all this when you start then may mess up. You could say I am just a glutton for punishment. I now have 1 TBH and 5 langs(with a good many foundationless frames) brood and supers. You can learn from it and this and other web sites and hope not make too many mistakes. I bought 3 established hives from an estate, the boxes were in bad shape, there were SHBs, and I couldn't get them until the middle of Dec because the place was in probate. Didn't tell me that when they sold them, but when I went to pick them up. Got them and in the spring they swarmed, now I have the 6 hives.
But with all this rebuilding etc. we are doing pretty good now and I have collected appr. 17 gals of honey this spring and summer. Oh replaced all the brood boxes and went from 1 deep when bought to 2 deep now. Besides learning beeking you also learn wood working. It's an adventure. I bought a used extractor for next year. So for except for my time, I only have appr. $1200 invested including extractor.
Joe