He's full of crap. We've been in 30 months and it has only stopped up one time. All my fault - Pinestraw in garage from dog kennel was at the back door area and I vacuumed up knowing it was not a good idea.

To solve the problem, DH and I stated at the vacuum outlet closest to the motor....which happened to be where it was. We used a plumbers snake to unclog. Took all of 15 minutes to locate/unclog.

My parents have had a central vacuum system for over 20 years. Has only stopped up once. Their guy used the same method to unclog.

I have had a central vac in a house. It was already installed when I bought the place new. I didn't see any real benefit to it then, and I won't put one in our new house. I prefer a quality upright, such as Simplicity.

Here is a link that might be useful: Simplicity Vacuums

Find a new builder;)
I installed mine myself in my lakehouse 5 years ago and
am having one put in our house now. We love them.

My GC said the same thing even though he admitted he had never installed one or used one in a home of his own. I took a friends word that did have one and I'm happy with mine.
We actually installed 2 complete units because of the way our Great room is designed. We were cautioned by several different sources about getting something sucked into that area and it becoming a nightmare scenario. Made sense to us so we bought a unit for each end of the house (the GR is in the center). We have had one clog (we've been here 10 months) and it was a simple fix that DH did himself. Like Allison it was my fault and I knew what I was doing was dumb...sucked up a 3" square piece of paper.
If you really trust your GC ask him WHY he doesn't think it's such a good idea. If you are so so on trusting him go with your gut.

The pipes on the vacuum handle are smaller than the ones in the wall-if it's going to jam, it will jam there.

Try not to suck up crayons and nails, and you should be fine with one. This house has had the pipes for 40 years and I have a new Nutone central vac on them, it ROCKS.

I've grown up with them, too, and think they're great for keeping the dust out of your house.

I love mine and knew when we built that I would give up something else if needed to get the central vac. No more smelly vacuum and changing bags. I would tell the builder "fine, you can come drag the vacuum out and take care of that every day for me." :)

we've had our central vac for a little over 2 years and love it. It is possible that your central vac will get clogged behind drywall, but based upon all the people I know with central vacs I think the risk of that happening is very small. We were recently without our central vac for 3 weeks because the belt on the power head broke (my son vacuumed up the wrong thing!) and had to use our 5 year old hoover windtunnel and it just did not do as good of a job as our central vacuum cleaner.

Is the repairs easy to do and can you do them yourself?
We will be out in the country.
Thanks.

I've had one for the last 13 years in varying houses and never had to repair one.

My local CV guy hass just takes a couple handfuls of coarse sand and suck it up through the hose. That cleans out the pipes nicely of hairs, fibers, dust, etc. And all the sand and dirt just ends up in the container - nothing thru the motor because of how CV's are designed.

Don't let your builder's ignorance sway you.

Loved ours. We had one at our old house - never once clogged in 8 years - 2 labradors inside and kids everywhere. Building new home and will definetely install one there.

Seven years and no problems. No other vac has this kind of suction power. None is as quiet (since it's not in the room with you). None is cleaner (change the bag in the basement once every two months).

The HVAC guys who come to service the furnace and A/C are always amazed how clean the filters are. (We have a gas, forced air system.)

frog_hopper -- I wonder if there is something *wrong* with your central vac if you can't see the advantages in using it.

Seventeen years and not one clog yet. I am definitely putting one in the new house but this time with a hide a hose.

I simply can't imagine owning a home without one! Ours also has Hide A Hose so any clog would most likely be in the flexible tube and easy to fix, but in two years we have had absolutely no problems despite vacuuming up half of Florida! It would be the greatest shame if you missed the opportunity of installing one while your walls are open simply because of your builder's ignorance! Do please check out Hide A Hose on the link below though before you make a final decision. There have been many very positive comments about HAH on this site, I have yet to see a negative one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hide A Hose

21 months and not one clog. I use my CV at least three times a week. I researched a lot before I got mine and didn't run across one single horror story.

For those concerned with clogs, however rare: since many CV's use standard OD PVC piping, a cleanout can be installed in access space below the drop or anywhere else on the line to facilitate fishing out the offender. Ensure that lateral wye's used have the branch oriented to NOT catch debris.

BF has had VacuFlo's in several houses for more than 25 years. She wouldn't have a house without one -- in fact, once moved because the old house they were in couldn't be retrofitted and her allergies were wild. She never had clogs.

We had a VF in the last house -- 6 years with NO clog ever. We put one in the house we're about to move into. I wouldn't even consider not putting one in.

Like your GC, our former GC talked them down for years, then finally installed one in his house to "test." He hasn't built a house without a VF system since then.

Ignore your GC.

Do not let the builder talk you out of a central vac. I had one in my old house and loved it. So quiet. The only clog was when a silk scarf went in before I knew what happened. We got it out.
This time, the builder told me he had one and never used it. That caused me not to force the issue. I really miss it. Just because your builder does not like them does not mean you won't love it.

The house we lived in for the past 23 years had a central vac when we moved in. No clogs in that time, although one of our foreign exchange students DID suck up one of his socks under his bed once. He was fascinated by our central vac (even took photos of it to send home to his family) and thought it was hilarious! After a lot of cursing, DH found the sock inside the hose near the junction with the wall outlet, using a clothes hanger...simplest tool known to mankind.
Our new house has a central vac and vacpan. The GC didn't blink when I said that I wanted a central vacuum. I love it...or as much as a person can love a vacuum...a dreaded household task!

My parents have lived in their central-VAC house for over 25 years without any failures like that.

He's obviously neither a vac expert or a plumber. When was the last time someone cut open a wall to fix a drain clog in one of his houses?