I disagree. All of the wheelbuilders I've ever spoken to think they're solid wheels, including myself. I'm actually building a deep v radial lace front and a b43 3x rear on phils, should be a solid wheelset. I nearly bought a set of Mavic CXP12 on phils, but the guy wants $500, and I can get away w the new Velocity set for just under $400. I currently have Mavic CXP22's and they're great wheels; you may want to consider the open pro is you don't mind the appearance and/or cost, but there's nothing wrong w Velocitys.

I have surly hubs on my 29er and they are pretty decent. However, it is tough to get your bearing adjustment right, and it needs readjustment a few times a year. Other than that, they're a solid, simple hub by a very reputable company. Other hubs you may want to consider are the Pauls; you can get those for $190 a set from AEbike.com. If you have $240 you can get phils from the same site, $100 cheaper than most other resources that sell phil products. But all in all, I'd say Surly's are no better than Formulas for a fixed wheel setup.

DT champions are great, those are the standard spoke; I've used them on my last 4 wheelsets.

Make sure to get your flange dimensions and ERD of your hoops to measure out your spoke length. You probably already know this.