Need a little help narrowing down my options
I've been reading a lot before I started to bug you guys on this forum. I am new to the AR-15 platform and I'm trying to put together or buy a good rifle on budget for well under $2,000 total, but I'm not willing to sacrifice functionality. Reliablility is a priortity, then accuracy. I'm trying to get a solid 1-1.5 moa rifle (I'm a hunter also), but the rifle will be built for home defense/ woods carry. From the reading I've done the following brands seem to be good bets: Spikes, BCM, Daniel Defense.
Can yall give me a breif description of pro's/con's of the above brands with respect to accuracy/reliability/cost please. Is it better to peice together or buy complete for my budget's sake. Will I be sacrificing reliablity by piecing together parts myself? I'm chasing my tail on this. Are there other brands that I should consider for the price range I'm in? Do I need a fixed front sight (I know I need a free float hand gaurd, preferably something that I can replace one day with a slick rail other than quad-rail)?
Other accessories that I'm settling on so far that budget should include:
Aimpoint T-1 2 moa
good light (surefire g2 or x300 or Streamlight TLR-1)
BUIS rear/front
I know, I know I need to keep reading and I plan to for sure, but I got to admit this is a little overwhelming- a lot to take in for sure. If there is anyone out there that knows there stuff well and is willing to give me a few minutes of the their time over the phone I would really appreciate it. I have so many questions and I don't even know enough to know how to ask them!