Well, how often have you ever had a frame damaged that you would worry about the cost of a possible repair? I had a frame fatique fail once and one fail because of a catastrophic impact. The first would have been repairable but given that it was fatigue why do it? So in years of riding and tens of thousands of miles, I have never had a situation that called for repairing a frame.

Of course, your usage may be quite different.

But if you like lugged steel frames, get one. I mean bicycling is relatively cheap compared to some other hobbies that one can think of.