Long compile times!?
This site is an excellent resource for learning about optimization:
http://optimization.interlopers.net/ind ... er=notices
It definately sounds like a badly-optimized map, since it hangs on the portalflow step of compiling. Feel free to post your vmf, and i'll have a look. I'm no expert, but I know the basics and i've had a fair bit of practise troubleshooting this kind of stuff in the past. I'm sure others will take a look as well.
If Portalflow's a-hangin' you have too much brushwork somewhere. Have you carved anything? Do you have cylinders, arches, or other detailed brushwork that isn't a func_detail? Try to make everything that isn't void-sealing a func_detail; if the problem persists, copy everything to a new map, and finally, yeah, make sure the hint brushes aren't actually screwing things up.
Now with 100% more inline comments!
I know enough to know that carving is a sin 
and besides 4 simple triangular brushes all else is normal brushwork. And yeh my walls are very detailed, exisiting out of alot of different brushes (to accomodate the different texture tile sizes.
But seeing as they pretty much form all my outer walls, should i NOT func_detail them? because they are a important visbreak? and i geuss i'll try removing all my hint/skip brushes and see what happens then...
If that still fails to work i'll just post my .vmf i geuss...
Your outer walls should not be func_details. By making them such, then surrounding the level with a skybox, the compile tools have to work much harder working out what is visible from any one point, and in this scenario pretty much everything will be visible, due to the fact that func_details don't block vis.