318 Rebuild suggestions?

I'd second the 340 cam or something similar about 212 to 220 at 050, less than 480 lift unless you have the guides cut down to accommodate lift beyond that and want it.

As far as the cost of a built engine vs doing it yourself, if you can pare down the cost to match or compete with the long block within a couple hundred bucks, then do it yourself...I'm personally not fazed by the concerns of doing the removal or install of a bought engine assembly, because you'd be doing it anyway if something went awry regardless of who put it together. I've used the warehouse type engines before on 3 occasions...one of which was a short block 306 and a slow pullied Novi supercharger. It made 460 rwhp in a 95 cobra and had zero issues for at least 10K daily driven miles before the car was stolen. What kills those engines are the same things that kill any assembly, lack of attention to detail, improper lube, improper break in, overheating, abuse etc.

First time engine builders are just as prone-if not more so-to make simple mistakes as anyone else, like breaking bolts or forgetting to properly torque a rod bolt. Now I will say this, in every case of using a bought engine, I DID thoroughly inspect everything as much as I could without disassembly and checked torque on all visible fasteners and found nothing wrong.

YMMV I suppose.