If the shop is suggesting building the wheel entirely radially, that's not smart from a durability standpoint. It works okay for very small (16" or less) wheels.

If, however, they are suggesting half-radial (the left side radial, right side crossed), that often results in a stronger wheel, with more even bracing angles.

It is unclear from your post exactly what the shop is suggesting... But at any rate, traditionally built wheels are fine, for the most part, and unless they're building you a wheel for free, there's no way that it'll be cheaper than a machine built new one. Even(ish) spoke tension and close bracing angles are going to do way more than changing the spoking pattern.

Regardless of whether the wheel is being built by them, a distributor, or a distributor's machine, the wheel should be evaluated for even tension before leaving...