I dont know if it was just the natural direction of the conversation or some kind of comparision between the original question of buying hives, and whether splits would be better.
Buying established hives for the right price allows you to not only harvest a crop the first year and recoup your investment, but it can also allow you to split a purchased hive early enough that you can build your numbers, and harvest a honey crop. One of the more valuable items in beekeeping is comb. With it you need not feed, miss this coming years honey crop, and so on. Many advantages.
Doing splits for all your buildup numbers gives you advantages in new comb, knowing the history of deseases, is fun and rewarding, and has other advantages. But waiting for the comb to be drawn, losing this years honey crop in doing so many splits that is spoken of (something I would not reccommend), and the cost with foundation, building, time invested, and so on, can be costly. Doing a knockdown split (one time) early enough to each hive will still allow you a honey crop, but its a slow way to build numbers of hives.
We always throw in the "I build them myself" comment, and its nice to allow people to know that some do build, and its not that hard. But the reality is that many do not for many reasons. I also would not advise a person to go from one hive to spltting 8 to 12 times in one year. I may be assuming...but with one hive, I'll make that assumption that perhaps the experience level is not great.
I do alot of splitting, but never miss the opportunity to buy productive hives that will return investment immediately. They are two different items, and both have a place for consideration. And should not be confused.