What is equivalent to a daily build (and smoke test) for schematic designs?
I don't think there's an analogue of the daily build for hardware.  It may be possible to not allow a schematic to be checked in if it doesn't pass DRC (or maybe simulation) but that's about all I can think of.  Software folks have the benefit of actually being able to run the finished product (for the most part) at a moment's notice and they get a lot of automated tools.  Schematic capture programs and simulators are for the most part not up to speed on automation, versioning, etc and it's really a shame.  I'd like to see the software design process mimicked as much as possible for hardware but I doubt it will be entirely possible.