You will find all sorts of opinions on this issue. I used prefinished in one kitchen. Had kids and dogs and cats, and it was just easier. But I ened up hating the beveled edges. They acted like crumb magnets.

I just redid my kitchen, and took out the old floor, and put in a site finished floor. I wanted no edges for dirt to hide in. Its definitely messier (no kids home now, and animals are at the boarders, but I love the look of the finish. I really think its personal prefertence, although you will get all sorts of opinions, and they will be all over the place. I didn't find a lot of consensus on it. Good luck
Telly

In my professional opinion, the claim that factory prefinished flooring is somehow more durable than site finished just doesn't hold water.

There are cheap prefinished and there are cheap floor finish materials. There are also expensive prefinished and expensive floor finish materials. You do usually get what you pay for with both of these hardwood flooring options.

Have your GC show you a couple of on site finishes his guys have done and look them over real good. Run your hand over the finishes and check the corners, color eveness, no ugly filler patches covered by rugs and the overall look. Then you can decide if you like his finish of a factory finish. A sample or small peice of wood that he shows you won't cut it. Actually go look at his guys work. If he can't show you that, better get the factory finish, or better, get someone who can.

The main advantage of factory finish is lack of mess. Nothing else.

Would you rather have an off-the-rack suit or a custom-made one? If the tailor can't sew, then you look wierd w the custom job. But if he's good, there is no comparison. You are smoother, more finely fitted, have more options, and it looks right.

As Glen says - you get what you pay for and you can have a great on-site finish. You can get the same aluminum oxide finish that they advertise as unavailable and put it on yourself. It may be harder but it isn't as nice as some other finishes IMO.

Since you are building new, who cares about the dust? The factory finish is never as smooth overall and you have trouble if you try to use different products together, because they are never milled exactly the same.

Sorry to butt in again but this reminds me of something that happened to me. The part about your architect. I live in a city where there is a preponderance of ranch style homes, some older and some fairly recent. We had a demograph change and slicksters started building these chicken mansions,with giant two story doors behind giant doric columns, two and three stories high, next to the ranch style homes. I mentioned before the city council that these owner/builders were architecturally tone deaf. To make a long story short they produced a "licensed architect" that had designed most of the homes. I asked to see his card. I said "I see no license number on your card. What university did you graduate from?" He said he was not licensed here, he was licensed in Cuba. Everyone in the audience found that to be hilarious except the unlicensed owner/builders who are making millions building these chicken mansions. But not all of them were angry because alot of them couldn't understand English that well. I don't mean to infer that this is the case here, but it's just an opportunity to tell my story.