I was just wondering: if by what you say that they are "updating their mods frequently", is that because the updates are for 1.4.7?
If so, then you can wait to update them as it's currently just a snapshot and not an official release. Many modder won't update their mods because of that. It would free so much of your time for what you want to do.
No mods dont work like minecraft when they update to new version of minecraft they tend to just add compatibility fixes and rarely add new content. A lot of mods tend to add new content in between minecraft releases once the code is stable. If I was to put of updating my packs at this time and waited for a new minecraft release my texture packs would become badly outdated and I would have a ton of work to do. That is why I try to get my packs updated the 2nd mods get updated but because I now support so many mods it is getting increasingly difficult to keep on top of things.
Because of this I shall be discontinuing work on a few more mods at some point.