Install receptacles for outdoor holiday lighting (under eves, near doors and windows)

Install multiple receptacles in the area where cell phones and PDAs will wind up in the evenings so the chargers can be plugged in. This can be in a cabinet.

Install extra receptacles in the bathrooms(GFCI protected of course) so that shavers, curling irons, and blow dryers can be left plugged in rather than having frantic plugging and unplugging going on every day - ESPECIALLY important if you have several young ladies in the house. If you have towel warmers and such in addition to all the hair tools a second circuit in the main bath may be a good idea.

Place receptacles in bedrooms, living room, and family room areas so you don't have to disassemble beds or furniture to access the receptacle (my favorite is the receptacle centered behind a headboard that winds up with several lights, clocks, electric blanket, etc. etc., all hooked up with extension cords)

Wire the ceiling fixture boxes for a fan(fan rated box, extra wire so light and fan can be controlled separately). Put in ceiling boxes in bedrooms even if the architect has convinced you to use switched receptacles for floor or table lamps. About 2% of the work I do is installing ceiling boxes in new houses.

Consider remote controlled outside lights so you can turn on lights from a keyring remote late at night, and well lit areas around all entrances including garage doors and inside the garage.

Consider more than just the required outside receptacles so 100 foot extension cords aren't necessary for trimmers and such.

Run conduits for extra circuits from the panel into easily accessible places in the attic and crawl space/basement. ENT, a flexible plastic conduit often called Smurf pipe or tube, is great for this.

Let the builder and/or electrician know if you are even considering under cabinet lighting.

If anybody owns any power tools at all make sure the garage and maybe a basement area has plenty of receptacles for them. They propagate and all need receptacles, even if battery types (chargers).

Consider a central vacuum. If you are undecided put in pipe and wire in areas that will be impossible to get to without ceiling and wall damage later.

Put extra receptacles in potential arts and crafts rooms.

EMT? No way, going through studs, bends and offsets to the ceiling joists, home runs to the panel, bending to light fixtures (can lights hah), bonding all the pipe and metal boxes. Maybe ENT otherwise known as smurf. You can navigate it to boxes well. However I think an empty conduit system is much more future proof than wiring current wiring in it. Such as a box or two in each room piped to the utility room with a blank plate on the boxes. If a dedicated circuit or a Cat 28 wire down the road needs to be pulled, it is ready to go. But then again maybe in 2095 that terrible old year 2007 12/2 with ground will desperately be in need of a re-wire. If the house is all piped, it could all be pulled through the 100 year old smurf conduit :)

I built and wired my house 7 years ago. The central vac is really convenient, and I'm really glad I put it in. Not difficult at all.
Try to picture where you will be placing funiture, and work your outlets and lighting around that plan, on top of the obvious code placements. Security lighting is a must, motion and /or remote conrolled. I agree with the previous posts about pulling smurf or pvc for future stuff. Also, don't short yourself on cable/dish wiring. If you are in town, us the quad shield RG6. If rural, you can get by with standard RG6. If you plan on entertaing at all, plan for extra circuit or two for cookers and other powerpulling appliances. Good luck.

Thank you everyone! Sorry for the delay in a response. I have a newborn in the house. : ) You've added some great ideas and I truly appreciate it.

I know we all tend to leave items plugged in such as itsunclebill has set provisions for but it really isn't very energy conscience. Although items aren't "on" if left plugged it they still drain energy. Just a thought.

I'd echo the outdoor lighting ideas. I like having one or two floodlights on each side of the house. That way I can see what I'm doing when cleaning up after whatever's been going on that day.

Calculate your service load required before you start. You don't want to be underpowered after the utility company connects you. Use this link to get the software to make your calculations...it is the best. www.g3-industries.com

Here is a link that might be useful: NEC2005 Service/Feeder Design Suite

Fluffy, I realize this post of yours is blatant SPAM, but do you really think it is worth $229.00 for a homeowner to do a load calc?????

Hell, I am a contractor and I use one I got for FREE from Mike Holt's site which is openly offered, and it works great.

If you like to put up Christmas lights during the holiday season, have the house wired with a separate circuit and receptacles/switches for those lights. You will be very happy you did.