SMD integrated circuits, or the half pitch gull wing types of chips are not too bad, but like many things, there is a trick to it.
It is a nightmare to solder some of the spider looking ICs with legs spread all over
Spot solder two diagonal pins to anchor the part to the board, and get it positioned exactly right, that might take a couple of tries.
Then just solder right over all the pins along one side with big solder and a big iron, so its all one solid solder mass. THEN you use solder wick to remove about 95% of the solder.
The solder between the pins will be sucked right up. If you do it right, a thin web of solder hiding between the IC pin and board, will remain in place.
The flux from the solder wick will run everywhere, but it also helps with the soldering operation, and its easily removed with flux remover and a toothbrush.
Using this method its possible to solder twenty pins down one side of a large chip perfectly in just a few seconds after a bit of practice.
Surface mount resistors and capacitors are readily available in the thousands, but trying to buy just a few surface mount components in odd not frequently used values can sometimes be difficult. For that reason alone, plus the problem trying to identify parts with ageing eyes can be problematic.
My preference for home brew, or a kit, would be leaded components for just about everything except the ICs, and even then, DIP packages are to be preferred.
One big advantages of DIPs is that good quality sockets are available.
And that can make fault finding and repair vastly easier.
A lot of thought needs to go into an open source project, and it should be deliberately made as easy to build and repair as possible for people with limited skills.