Will I regret ordering a speedster?

[taff]

It took me 5 years to construct my Classic IV (I was working at the time)
It took me over 17 years to build my plans build Skybolt. (between work and retirement)

I was not building to fly. I was building to build, that was my hobby and I loved it! (and you better love it or it never gets completed)
Over the construction time your reasons for your flying dreams may change over those years.

In our dreams, what was once very short take offs on mountain ledges may become to real docile flat black top surfaces as we get older.
Of course your choice / decision is based on the NOW

The crazy thing is...No sooner than I completed the Skybolt we moved down to Florida. I sold the home at the airpark and I never flew the Skybolt.
Life is unbelievably strange !

[Maverick]

This might help. This was presented earlier this week but, I think you can watch the recording.
Webinar- Building an Aircraft - What You Need to Know

https://eaa.org/videos/6226408033001

[PapuaPilot]

This might help. This was presented earlier this week but, I think you can watch the recording.
Webinar- Building an Aircraft - What You Need to Know

https://eaa.org/videos/6226408033001

Yes, all of the sessions were recorded.

[Floatplanes]

I myself am in a position where I'm super young (26) and my lack of flying over the last 2 years was half because of cost, distance from a place to rent, and lack of flexibility when it comes to renting from a school, and half because it took me a long time to get my medical back after having to prove I was worthy of my ticket.
What this means for me is that I want my own plane because I'm tired of being told when and where I can fly and I simultaneously want to cut some costs (obviously in trade for others). Having the ability to fly off airport means I can take my plane just about anywhere I would normally drive, it means when me and the wife buy our forever home with a little land, I can build an airstrip.
All that to say, I'm in the middle of the analysis paralysis too trying to figure out what plane to get and whether to build or buy an older one. I know I want to keep it experimental to save on maintenance as I'm fully capable on that front. Mr you know who really makes the kitfox seem like the way to go but I know there's a number of comparable models like the Avid, Just Aircraft, A couple of Rans models, Ridge Runner, and Eurofox, some of which are discontinued and there's only old ones left but then comes where to find them and whether a new build might actually be worth the price tag. The concept of building though does seem overwhelming as an on my own kind of task.

Moral of the story is, I have no wise words to offer as I'm in a similar position!

[Eric Page]

The concept of building though does seem overwhelming as an on my own kind of task.

I can't help you choose the right plane, but I can sympathize with this sentiment. I felt much the same way when I first brought my second-hand project home. It's an enormous task, and I had no idea where to start. So it sat for more than a month while I hesitated and wondered what to do. Finally I heeded the advice I'd been given, took it all apart and started making repairs. Now I've reached the point where I'm mostly in assembly mode. Just eat the elephant one bite at a time, and eventually you'll be flying. Every minute of work on the build gets you a minute closer to having a plane that you built with your own hands.

[dmarinus]

I was in a similar position as you (deciding between Kitfox and RV-12) and ended up going with the RV. For me it was these things that ultimately made me decide:

1: Construction. I hope this doesn't come off as offensive, but the best and simplest way to describe the two kits is hte RV is a Lego kit, while the Kitfox is more an arts and crafts project. Most days where I'm done working on the plane, I wash my hands and I'm ready for dinner. The Kitfox is just a lot "messier" with all the sanding, glues & fabric covering involved.

2: Space: I don't have a hangar yet, so I'm building at home. I have a small 1-car garage and can just about build the various sub components there (empennage, horizontal stab, one wing at a time) before moving them into an off-site storage facility. For the Kitfox wings you really need one of those rotissaries and that would be difficult to fit into my available space.

3: Waitlist. Kitfox had about a 16 month wait time, while the first RV subkit was only 4 weeks out. With my current schedule I'll have completed the RV before the Kitfox kit would have even shown up.

The beauty of all these planes is that the factory wait list for a new one is half a decade plus, so if you ever change your mind and want to (also) build the other one it's easy to sell and you'll definitely get your financial investment back. Just don't do the calculation on what your hourly wage turns out to be when doing that. :-)

[Maquis]

Wow. That hits a little close to home. I have yet to check out a plane that flat-out turns me off. Some are more interesting than others, but just about every one of them fills my head with justifications for why that's the right one and then I start daydreaming of how I would use that airplane to adjust my lifestyle. If I had an RV-14, I would probably land at a lot of paved runways a long way from home. If I had a Kitfox, not all the runways would be paved and fewer of them would be a long way away. That's what makes choosing so hard: I would adjust to the airplane, no matter what choice I make so all of the choices look really good and I can't decide. I think they call this analysis paralysis. Is this why some people end up building 5 or 10 airplanes?

Build one at a time. You could order both kits at the same time, and with the differential on delivery, you'll have one almost done before the other shows up? The kits have value, and you could sell either one to another builder/buyer at any point in the process, likely for a little more than you spent.
Personally, the sort of perseverating you describe I think of as, "Torturing myself." As in, I think I will torture myself for another few weeks trying to make a decision. Yeah, it builds character...