Yes, it can take a while to get things set up. But you really only need it once. I've used the same core gulpfile for at least a year across multiple projects

Yes, it can take a while to get things set up. But you really only need it once. I've used the same core gulpfile for at least a year across multiple projects. And when new things pop up that are useful to your workflow you can integrate them pretty easily. To me the benefits far outweigh the cost of learning or at least integrating most build tools and concepts.