Its a big investment to switch but not too bad on a small level.
Every thing will depend on your climate and your system.So before some one can answer your question we kind of have to know what kind of system you plan on building ,There are so many different kinds.

However there are a few things I can tell you in advance.
1. Your veg time will be shortend quite a bit.
2. If your serious about growing I would say do a 4 pack(grow 1 plant every 2 weeks).8 would be better but to keep numbers low 4 would work.
Make 2 systems(veg/flower).
By doing it this way you will learn by experience rather quickly if you are realy intent on succeeding.

Keep a good log with lots of data.The better your data the beter the knowledge you will aquire.Data such as ph/ppm/ec/Plant height/rh/temp.... just to name a few.

I too started with soil and changed to DWC(buckets with a air stone and bucket lid netpot).Then I upgraded to a RC/DWC system(3 seperate veg sys. and 3 seperate flower systems) I made.

I save alot of money from not having to buy soil an all the chores assosiated with using soil.
if done right it will cut out alot of labor.Probably not so noticable with small numbers.
Water temp is a big issue and will take some money to fix.And fixing the water temp(chiller exhaust) creates air temp issues unless you can ventilate properly in which case your going to need a AC which is going to cost you more money.
Hydro Is a big initial investment with cash and time, but if done right you can be pretty consistant when you figure it out.

1 thing that hydro cant do as well as soil is you need to be very proactive.Soil you can water and come back 2,3,4 or more days with no attention and still have living plants not so with hydro.Things can go bad very quickly with hydro so you need to check your system often.usualy a quick look and listen for pump hum and what not is good.

Just take it slow and work your way up.If failure is not a option you will do well in time.