I think it depends on how much actual "building" you're doing and how strict you're being with yourself. I know a few homebuilders whose problem solving might be better described as "problem causing". The Dan Lloyd RV fiasco comes to mind as a textbook example of this which saddens me more than I can put into words since Dan was a friend.
That said, I think it helps many folks in a practical sense with solving complex problems. Even just the design process has vastly improved my spatial reasoning skills and problem solving abilities (or at least that's what I like to tell myself!).