One more question for you before I take the proverbial plunge:  Would building the entire site locally, then uploading the files to GoDaddy present a problem?  Given the difficulty of getting it up and running there, I am not sure if this is doable or not...would suck to spend all this time wiring the site offline, only to find that it doesn't work on GD's server. 

On this, I am not certain, but I would suggest that it would not be wise to do so. In the guide, there are strict rules to follow to ensure certain files have the correct permissions. One of the steps reqiures that you create a folder, add permissisons to that folder, and then MOVE the files from that folder to the root so that those files retain thier permissions from the original folder.

I guess you could create it localy, but then ensure you follow the proper steps to attach it to the SQL database on the server and upload the files as if it were the first time you were setting it up so the permissisons are correct. I do recommend however that you just create the site directly on the godaddy site and do any customization from it so the permissions will be correct and there will be little to worry about.