Nice PCB Hugo - class will show!
As to it 'taking three times as long', in terms of the overal time to produce a PCB, that's not too onerous and as hobbyists, we're our own masters working to our own standards and time is not of the essence.
I think commercial boards that aren't plated through holes are drilled with high speed tungsten carbide bits. Though the bits drill nice clean holes with no burrs, they have larger diameter shank (2.5mm?) so won't fit in the chuck of a mini drill, though they will fit in a pillar drill, which I guess many hobbyists will use. I use a 12V mini drill in an accurate stand, with a homebrew speed controller. For drill bits, I use 8mm HSS ones, and 1mm for terminal pins. They blunt very quickly so I discard them after each board and use a new one or they soon start to throw up burrs and may skid. When I've drilled the board, I remove any burrs with 220g wet and dry paper, then I tin the board before populating it.
The attached pic is perhaps a better example.
I don't kid myself that I can come close to the standards of commercially produced PCBs, but that isn't the yardstick I use, which - with all my homebrew efforts - is: 'in terms of my limited abilities, knowledge and resources, how does this stack up among my fellow hobbyists and would I be happy for them to take the lid off and look inside?' I'm OK with that.
