I used to build my own wheels when raced road race bicycles. Its a little frustrating at first but its not hard. As for tips and tricks. I highly recommend using new spokes and nipples. You can use the old ones but remember that they do stretch from the previous use. So sometimes it makes it a little diffecult to get the wheel trued, up and down and side to side. A trueing jig is a good idea but where you will encounter problems especially if you have never done this before. Is getting the wheel centered or offset enough in relationship to the wheel hub. This requires a special tool. Its called a dishing tool. I still have one for building bicycle tires. Id lend you mine, but you live in Illinois, and I live in Nevada. Another special tool that will come in handy is Duh a spoke wrench. Having the right size spoke wrench is very important. Sure you can use a pair of pliers or a cresent wrench. However you will ulitimately end up dorking up your spoke nipples or even breaking some. Then your back to square one again needing to buy more parts.
So with all that been said its a good thing to know how to do. It will save you money in the long run especially if you do it frequently. But once again you dont have all the tools. Now Im going to explain how to do this with out the tools. The down side is that it will only get you close.
Before you dismount the wheel from the bike youll need to make some measurements. Doesnt matter if its front or rear wheel. Your going to need to measure how far the rims are from the inside of the forks or swing arm, do this on both sides. I used a zip tie wrapped around the fork tube or the swing arm. Trim the zip ties once installed so the just touch the the rim on both sides. These will help you with your dish on the wheel assembly and help you with trueing side to side. Now you can take the wheel off and but dont remove the zip ties. Once you have the wheel assembly off dismount the tire and reinstall the wheel with out the tire on the bike. Get the rim back in place so the it touches those installed zip ties on the sides of the rim. Now your going to install two more zip ties. These will need to extend out enough so they just touch outside edge of the rim. These will be used for the up and down trueing of your wheel. Now you can remove the wheel assembly be carefull to not move your installed tip ties or you'll have to start over again with your measurements. Before you start taking the wheel apart, mark the spoke positions with a different color sharpie or something that wont rub off from being handled for each side, on the wheel and the new and old hub. That way there will be no question as to where the spokes go, in the hub and the rim. Now you can take the wheel apart. Before you start assembly make sure you measure the spokes. If you do have dish on the wheel you building you dont want to mix up the spokes. The shorter spokes will go on the side where the you have less dish. If your spokes are all the same length then you may not have much dish. Which you shouldnt anyway but there may be some. When your ready to assemble your wheel with the spokes and new hub take your time dont rush. Dont run the spoke nipples all the way down tight yet either. You want a relitively loose set up. This will aid you getting it trued up down and side to side. Install the wheel on the bike less the tire and mind you zip tie guides so you dont move them. Now you can start evenly tightening the spoke nipples. The left side nipples will pull the wheel left and right side will pull them to the right. I would start by getting the wheel true for up and down so you dont have wheel hop. Ensure that you dont tighten the nipples to tight you still have two more adjustments. Now you can true for your dish (if you have much if any). Lastly true for you side to side. After youre done and the zip ties are just touching the outside of the wheel and the side of the wheel you can start your final tightening and fine tuning. Dont get frustrated if it doesnt come out right the first try. Building wheels is a learned art and I havent done it in such a long time that it would likely take me a couple of tries. Now once youve got the wheel built and true to your satifaction install the tire and go ride the bike for a bit. When your done recheck the wheel for true tighten as necessary. The you should be done.
Remember this is a hugely time consuming process especially for the first time and not having the correct tools. If you choose to do it this way at least get a good spoke wrench. It will make the process go easier. Or you could just take the wheel off take it apart and take it to the bike shop and have them do it. This may save you a little in labor cost or not. The cost would be at or near the same if you bought all the right (quality) tools, and save you alot of time and headache. Most guys dont build there own wheels because its a PITA.
Good luck and tell me how it goes and what you decided to do. I will likely be atleast an all day project for you.