How many transmissions do you rebuild in the average year? If this is to change the oil, just use a couple of small ramps like a normal person. I once changed the oil on my old Integra by driving one tire up on a regular red brick. b^)
When I was a kid, the biggest barrier to working on my car was I had no money for proper tools, and was always making do. Having good tools makes things much more fun, and I get better results, too. A lift falls into that category, it makes working under the car fun rather than a painful bitch. It's especially bad as I get older and I am not able to move my head back and forth to get what I'm looking at in focus :-) And I am tired of setting my hair on fire with the lamp (fortunately, that at least isn't a problem anymore as my hair has decamped for the fjords).
Getting the car up on jack stands takes about 10 minutes, off is another 10 minutes. It just takes away from the fun, whereas a lift is boom! it's up.
So it doesn't really matter how much I'd use it, a used one isn't that expensive and I am willing to spend the bucks on it.
A piece of advice - never ever support your car on brick. It can crush unexpectedly and then the car falls on you, you die. I once used cinder blocks to hold the car up (making do), and they suddenly turned to dust and the car fell, fortunately before I got under it.
Now I use two sets of jackstands (the extra set as backup), and I give the car good shoves before getting under it.
