Steretypical need help post

I'll preface this by saying I appreciate any assistance anyone can provide.

I'm a prior extract brewer, looking to get back into homebrewing and want to make the switch to AG. The problem is that through several moves in the past couple years I've lost pretty much all of my equipment. I currently live in New England so the outdoor brewing season is relatively short which led to my decision to go electric. I'm trying to find some relatively cheaper alternatives to the SS Brewery on Highgravity

Ideally I'd like to stay under $800 to begin with, but also want to get something that will give me plenty of room for expansion if I decide to build upon it. Basically I need some finger pointing in the right direction to help me avoid overpaying for things that I don't need, or that will leave me confined to what I have. Some quick background about myself if it helps at all, I'm an active duty Machinist Mate which means as far as mechanical aptitude, very solid, however when it comes to electrical terms please talk slowly because for the last 7 years my answer to anything electrical has basically been "Uhhh I are mechanic"

Again I appreciate anyone that has taken the time to read this and will help me out.

Thread titles lead to related posts being shown at the bottom of the thread.

I like brewing in the winter - stovetop. It warms up the house.

...that said, checkout the threads at the bottom of the page....and the bottom of those pages. It's like magic.

Look around in this forum. Of you have mechanical abilities you can save a lot. I built a complete herms system for under $800. I'm like you a mechanic, and don't have much electrical experience. I followed this built as it was exactly what I wanted and was pretty cheap
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/my-two-5500-watt-element-1-pid-ssr-build-281085/
thanks to p-j and the wiring Diagram I built it just like it shows and when I powered it up for the first time everything worked like it should.