Sean,
Being a fellow member of the "more robust" club, I'd go for the hand-built option every time.
I'd look at Ultegra hubs (many, many miles on mine, never needed adjusting) in the DT rims with double butted stainless spokes. Negligable weight difference and repairable, with (relatively) easy to replace rims when they wear out.
For the spare/commuting wheels I'd go for something like 105 hubs in the same rims but with slightly heavier gauge (still BD stainless) spokes. Those would be brilliant for commuting and no brake adjustment issues.
I have a pair of 105 hubs in Mavic MA3 rims that I had built for my old touring and commuting bike. I've ridden it from Lands End to John O'Groats (twice), around europe, and across the USA with no maintenance/adjustment at all. And I got my only ever road race victory (San Francisco city crit, cat 3, 1990) on them .