I've been lurking around this board for a few weeks and have gotten some really great ideas - in fact, my head is positively spinning. My DH and I are working out contract details right now on a new construction home in a new master planned development and we are total NEWBIES to this process. Trying hard to educate ourselves and ask TONS of questions so avoid being suckered with all the options/upgrades. We've already eliminated quite a few items from the "mortgage payment" that we will opt to pay cash for at a later date (deck, mud room cabinetry, laundry room cabinetry etc, and probably A/C.)

While I've looked at a few helpful threads re: the central A/C options, here's our current dilemma and I believe one of the last "structural" items to be drawn into the contract. Our A/C options are 1) prewire $350 2) prewire + line set $1000 or 3) whole hog $5100. I'm waiting on specifics on each of these. (Oddly, specifics on brands, sizes, and exact items included have not been laid out for us yet on this topic. They simply want us to go down an option pricing checklist and ID what we want....but how do we know when we don't have details??)

I've talked extensively to an HVAC contractor about these options. He can install the "highest end" condenser (Trane or Lennox) + do the line set for $3800. Condenser only would be about $3500. Adding the interior coil if it's not there already would be another $500-600. So, $4400 max from him...plus perhaps $350 for the builder's prewire and we're still a few hundred ahead of the $5100 game. With just this limited info, am I missing anything? Is it better for the builder to do the line set for any reason rather than after the fact? (We will have an unfinished basement, so I assume the lines could just as easily be installed later.) So, I'm leaning toward having the builder only do the prewire and hiring out everything else later. Unless option (2) includes a coil...then we may be money ahead on that one. Lack of details is not helping my decision process! Hopefully they are soon to come and I will update here.

Thanks all. Probably lots more posts from me to come!