Hi Dan - very little work involved. What some people do is to cast molten wax onto a flat sheet of plywood, then roll the wax sheet to make it flexible, then cut it into strips to then fix into frames as starter-strips. By directly casting the wax in situ, all that work is eliminated.
Simply soak a batten (cut to length) in water, then place against wherever you want a starter-strip and pour a spoonful of molten wax along that batten - wait 10 seconds or so, then remove it. Voila - the starter strip is in place and fully attached.
Now normally I only use a starter at the top (usually a glued-in popsicle stick), but even that requires the cutting of a suitable groove. But - thought on this occasion I'd attach starters all round and see what happens. Might even get the bees to drawn down to the bottom bar - who knows ?
LJ