I prefer to build in creative.
I find that the best houses I make could be built in survival, though
Like this one
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q279/FFXIsKegan/minecrap 2012/2012-08-28_232619.png
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q279/FFXIsKegan/minecrap 2012/2012-08-28_232305.png
And this one:
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q279/FFXIsKegan/minecrap 2012/2012-08-09_211830.png
It sure makes it a lot less tedious, though
I'm currently making an official trading outpost and village for the server I administrate. I've left the original NPC village mostly in-tact, but lit it, and surrounded it with new buildings which resemble the normal procedurally generated ones to fit in, but look, in my opinion, loads better. Because of all the additional buildings, the NPCs are able to breed more
Here's another picture from that:
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q279/FFXIsKegan/minecrap 2012/2012-08-28_232708.png
A sort of slum has sprung up all around it since every little kid on the server wants to build near me, but they're at least following my block pallet, and to some degree, my style. (The stuff behind the house in the foreground is the "slum")
Minecraft is a game of micromanagement to me.
Not just of the little squidward looking guys. Managing them is easy. It's mostly about keeping bored tweens from blowing my s**t up.