seriously, we just took almost an entire day to hook ours up. We currently had aluminum ductwork that leaked lint and the flapper was probably original to the house, and didn't close due to the lint holding it open. Hence lots of flies were entering the basement laundry. I had went to lowes and bought everything possible for this new chore, hoping we wouldn't have to make a trip to the local hardware store. But, guess what, trip to Ace was in order. We had the darndest time getting the semi-rigid hose connected to the duct work, and finally gave up on that because it kept unwinding. Then we used the aluminum flexible hose, which still wouldn't connect because some idiot decided that a 4 inch opening won't fit into/over another 4 inch opening. Why don't they make these a bit smaller so they will fit together correctly!!! We ended up buying a adapter that had 2 female ends. If we have to ever do this again, I am definitely going to check into the mentioned gadgets below.

bear in mind that water supply pipes in an outside wall may face code limitations because of the possibility of freezing. Otherwise, however, you should be able to put the supply pipes inside the wall, adn same for the exhaust vent and waste pipe. Here's an example of a rough-in box for the supply and waste: http://www.plumbingsupply.com/images/rough-metal-washing-machine-outlet-box.jpg

I would go for the shorter, more efficient route. Also check the dryer manual for max run length with number of turns. Since when are garages supposed to be pretty anyway? If da wife complains, just say FIRE. We have your back. Gat that sucker fixed. My sister almost had a fire in her relatively new house a few years ago. My sis messed with the original plan and moved the laundry to the basement from the 2nd floor. The idiot builders ran an overly-long duct to the back of the basement. It clogged up and started to smolder. Duct now makes a much shorter run to the adjacent garage and then out the front. Just last summer on one of my occasional visits East, I noticed that the originally-planned dryer vent was installed outside near (2nd) floor level on the back of the house. Good grief!

The ducting may be easy. If you don't normally do it yourself, it will be more of a challenge but as far as dyi projects go this probably rates a one or two on a scale of 10 in terms of difficulty.. That being said how the vent snakes through your house could be an issue. You'll have to take a look and decide. you should also look on YouTube for some "how to" videos. if you decide to do it, my only real advice is to try to figure out in advance absolutely everything you might need on the project (so many feet of duct, so many bends, the little tighteners that hold everything together, and probably some duct tape, none of that is particularly expensive but be sure and note the size of the duct on the back of the new dryer and and any venting requirements in the instructions and be sure to buy the right size ducts) that way you won't find yourself making endless trips back-and-forth to the store and burn all your free time on the weekend. Buy it from a store that is easy with their returns, use what you use and promptly return everything that you did not use.