Originally Posted by
kmacht
Not to discourage you but I would reconsider building before getting the license. I was going to go that route but changed my mind and found that while getting the license the type of flying that I thought I would be doing before getting the license was drastically different from what I ended up reallying wanting to do after I finished. If you don't want to go the full route of getting a license then at least consider getting a number of hours of instruction in and maybe getting at least to solo before settling on a kit.
You also need to have a serious conversation with your wife before starting to build. If she isn't on board and 100% behind you then your chances of finishing the plane and flying it are very slim. Money is a big issue when building but so is getting buy in on the time and effort that is going to be required. The classified ads on barnstormers are full of half built projects that are being sold because the person building wasn't honest with themselves or their significant other about how much money, time, and effort it was going to take to finish.