better way

[SWIT]

I was wondering what happens or the consequences of this.
I made a /temp on the install of FreeBSD 4.8
I untar all the programs to that point I want to install. LIke apache,
mysql. php or postnuke etc.

Then go to /temp/whaterver and do the ./configures/makes etc.
I had to remove all those directories for space. I never had removed them
after doing the installs. There were like 30-40 of them.
I was then wondering about what if I fubar my apache or php or mysql and
need to reinstall. ?
Am I okay in that I can untar and redo the install process ? Or do they need
the original compile I did ?
And what happens if I want to add some options to the compile/make process
after I have removed the directories from the original install or need to
recompile with a new configure option ?

Thanks
Mark