I've used Tiagra brifters for 6 months. I'm waiting for them to annoy me enough(or break) to throw on the dura-ace setup I have sitting in a box. I'm pretty impressed with tiagra thus far and my dura-ace is collecting dust atm. I'm sure with cyclocross season coming I'll break something! We'll see.
If you make your own bike. Ebay for components. I got a brand new full dura ace set for ~$750. You can get ultegra for around $450 and 105 for ~$300.