Hi Mikey,
I do understand your feeling of distress regarding the CMS wave that’s all over, however, I don’t think you should discredit it. I think you should take some time and learn one and start building from there. I have learned some Drupal (difficult at the start, easier with time…), delved in Wordpress a bit and majority of the work I have sold has been with GetSimple. All of these involve creating custom themes, which is what you like and still is the quality work you take pride in.
The truth is, if a client wants different work from another shop/freelancer or wants you to redesign gain later, this is going to be way easier to get all the data than sifting through HTML files. I am not a pro - I am a freelancer like yourself. My advice is try to see the light in the situation and don’t swim against the current. You can still compete, many small businesses are looking for this sort of work. While it’s true cheaper companies out there get there attention, you are here and the overseas companies are over there.
Cheers!