It usually takes me close to a day as well, but then I do not have 1000 templates to just go mix and match.
I start out from scratch on almost every free site.
When you pay for your own content, not being accepted to lists is a lot different than just grabbing sponsor content, building a site in 5 minutes and then subbing it, hoping that 50% of the link lists accept it. Each free site costs money, not just time spent building it. And I understand time is money, but I think you know what I mean.
So I try to make a nice free site that I hope LLs will accept. Even though I'm sure the people that I submit to will probably be saying...that guy has got to change his fucking templates already
But then I definitely still consider myself a newbie, so certainly don't follow my plan, as I clearly have no clue wtf I am doing
Maybe this speed free site building is what everyone is talking about, working smarter, not harder.