I'm personally not a fan of the ceiling color and wall color matching. It's just too overwhelming for me. I feel like a different ceiling color allows the wall color to pop. Our house is a new construction too, and we're also in the painting process (still stuck in the color selection phase; hence my post above). On the ceiling color issue, After some debate, my hubby and I decided not to have it painted so we can save on paint and painter costs. Plus we thought the white ceiling would blend too much w/ the crown molding and u couldn't appreciate that. Anyway, hth. Please weigh in on my post bc I need some advice too!! Thanks :)

I take an entirely different tack. First off, I will not disagree about whole house humidifier for comfort. But even more important because of new construction and I will assume is top of line building and insulation qualities(it should be!) is a fresh air exchanger. Yes, houses built today can be too tight. Next, why take a premium home and not include a premium HVAC system? Dumb idea. While you didn't specify, I will assume nat gas service availability. I would want high eff modulating furnace. Brands would be Carrier/Bryant and Trane/AmStd. If you want to drop down a notch, then these brands' 2 stage var speed models. On AC the matching var speed condensers. There again, if you want to drop down, then high eff two stage models. On these recommendations, i would not consider anything less. I can give you specific model numbers if interested. Not a fan of Lennox. They think they are a top tier brand and they are in price. Dealer should take special precautions for heating and cooling bonus room. They can be very problematic if not insulated correctly. Air filter cabinet. Pay attention to adequate returns correctly sized and located for good airflow and comfort. Ductwork should be R8 insulation, metal supply and return trunk lines, flex OK for runs. Insist on a properly performed load calculation. Get it in writing and tell GC and HVAC dealer the design temperature you want used for in and outside, both cooling and heating. RH less than 50%. Correct controllers to be used and for your location, you want dehumidify on demand set up for AC cooling. IMO

Mike - The house is located in NJ in a climate zone labeled 4. The house is 2800 square feet plus a 1400 square foot unfinished basement. The house will have two HVAC systems.. The first system will run the first floor and is sized to handle the future finished basement.. The other system will be dedicated to second floor... The reason for the hi/lo as per the project manager is that the hot air should come in lower in the room so that it will rise and warm the room.. And then putting the cold air supply higher it will blow out and across the room and then get lower to cool the room.. He also mentioned that by doing this you avoid having a "draft" feel because ceiling vents will blow down onto you vs the wall vents that blow out above your head.. Theoretically what he is saying does make sense, however the placement of these vents sounds very unsightly, and again, not something I have ever seen before.. I have only ever seen floor or ceiling vents.. My thing is that the way he was saying that this setup is more money just doesn't make sense.. I would think that this is the cheapest route since you are running the duct work to the same wall cavity.. This would be compared to running floor and ceiling vents.. Unless I am mistaken that you only get one or the other.. I was under impression that HVAC utilized both floor (heat)and ceiling vents(cooling), however I was reading online and it looks now like you either do floor OR ceiling vents.. With that being said, perhaps the project manager is speaking correctly.. As for system setup goes, they are putting the second floor HVAC system in the attic.. At this point in the build and large part my fault and architect, is that there was never a section put in to have everything run from the basement.. I thought it was weird that many house plans online had an area that was blacked out or had an "X" and my plans did not.. Not being fully knowledgeable on the subject I didn't think anything of it.. Now I realize it was just that putting the system in the attic around here is just common practice so unless its specified differently you just go that route..

Honestly I think you're way overdoing it. I think you should put two speakers in the kitchen, none in the dining room, and buy decent equipment for your family room. I can't for the life of me imagine why you need four speakers in the dining room, directly adjacent to the family room and right in the air travel path of the sound coming from your front two speakers, which should be the best sounding speakers in the house. The family room, like it or not, is what will be making the sound for the dining room. You will never want to be listening to one thing in the dining room and another in the family room, it will sound awful for everybody. If you did this, one benefit would be that you could get a nice two-zone 7.1 amp and be able to control everything from your phone.