If you're used to linux conventions on where stuff is, freebsd takes some
effort because you have to relearn where stuff 'lives'. Otherwise it's
about like installing slackware in time and difficulty. FreeBSD is nicer
then linux, in my (admittedly limited) experience in that the /etc/rc.conf
file does the work of multiple config files, and, some of the server apps
(dns, etc) are already configured to run as a chroot'ed (sandboxed) user
rather then as root from the default directory. FreeBSD firewalling
commands have some stateful inspection ability's that linux's ipfwadm and
ipchains lacked. I don't know how freebsd compares with linux's iptables
stuff as I haven't worked with iptables yet.
compiling a customized kernel seemed to me to be easier under freebsd as
there's one (text) control file you edit for that. 
adding programs seems subjectively to me to be about the same wether you're
using redhat's RPM, slackware's package tool, or freebsd's equivalent; I
was impressed by freebsd's ability to automatically go out on the net and
get any files or packages it lacks when you tell it to install something.
(the editor I was installing had some other package it depended on that
wasn't on the system or the cd. it went to a freebsd mirror and got it).

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