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@arup
I think that building a bike is a rite of passage for any fixed rider. At least that's what I used to think when I discovered the whole fixed gear riding on fixedgeargallery a few years ago. Most of the pictures had a story about how they found this old thing in a "dumpster".
The first thing I did was to get myself measured up. I didn't get a custom frame in the end but at least had an idea of how the frame would fit me. So if you haven't done that yet, then that would be a good place to start. When the bike fits really well you won't want to get off it.
When you have that frame then the rest just falls into place. For me the difficult bit was deciding on a budget and weighing up choices for various parts. You can always upgrade parts later on. But if your frame doesn't fit you then you won't find it comfortable and keep wondering what is wrong with it and why you keep getting aches and pains.
My first self build took months getting all the bits together and the tools. My second took about six weeks from having the idea to amassing the parts and building it. I kept a spreadsheet with a list of parts and prices.
Unless you're going to build another bike you should be able to borrow tools as people on here have put their names down for the tool library. There are many wheel builders on here so you can ask them if they will build a wheel set for you. Some will do it for beers and others will charge.
I reckon you should go for it. You'll feel proud of yourself for having done it and whenever anything goes wrong or you want to upgrade a part you'll be able to sort it.