Other than that ... they have some merit.
...............in Africa!
Cost of Mark I BBB (Basutho Bee Box) which I built to show the farmers :
Not having the time to spend cutting top bars I paid a carpenter to do them for me - 200 Maloti for 25 (twelve quid)
Any timber being like gold dust here (even firewood in short supply) one second hand 'good quality' pallet - 40 malotti (two pound thirty six)
Other materials - a handful of rusty nails and a piece of tin sheet, tarpaulin or PVC for waterproofing.
Tools needed: one hand saw, one hammer (although a jemmy/crowbar would have been handy!)
Even with cutting your own top bars, construction time less than two hours.
Regular inspections - optional
Extraction crush and strain thus no expensive equipment needed; in lesotho the method is to break up the comb into the middle of a clean cloth, gather in the sides then wring like a wet towel.
Swarm control - like skep beekeeping it's a means of making increase - so your neighbour could benefit.
People live with bees in house walls and roofs here and just get on with it; Inadequate swarm control in the UK is both inconsiderate and ant-social.
No chemicals used in treatment - I don't advocate the use of hydrocarbon based chemicals on the bees (
no sugar dusting!)