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@pip
Lacing and building is not hard. The tricky part is getting the tension up to snuff and even throughout the wheel. In the upcoming orgy of consumerism thats about to descend, may be you should get the people who like you (or are related to you) to spring for these (in order of usefulness):
1 x Park Black (and then Red+Green) nipple wrenches.
1x Spin Dr/Minoura truing stand (50 USD in the states - an eye watering 70 quid in the UK) - Obviously you can use your frame, but to get really solid wheels you'll need some kind of truing stand and this is one of the cheapest decent stands that I've used. Much much better than the Park home mechanic stand. The M-Wave stands probably ok.
1 x Dishing tool - makes life much easier for road wheels and the like
1 x Park TM-1 Tensionmeter - Wonderful, easy to use. Allows you to check and maintain even tension throughout your wheelbuild. Again, wicked expensive here for some reason.
1 x Bicycle Research Nipple Driver - Saves so much time during the initial lacing
1 x DT Swiss spoke punch (for the anal wheel builder in you) - allows you to get the spoke hubs flush with the rim for the final professional touch.
I'll also heartily recommend "The Art of Wheelbuilding" by Gert Schradner, which has a really easy to follow lacing guide for 32h x 3cross that is a great starting point for wheelbuilding.