The short story is we chose radiant because it worked the best with the floorplan / material choices we made. The long story is how we got there. We had the choice of a basement, crawl space, or slab. Basements are common in my area because of the required 3' footers - it doesn't cost much to go deeper and have a basement. Financially they make sense, but I don't care for them. They are cold, dark, and low ceilings feel oppressive. Crawl spaces are nice to allow access, but the floors were crazy cold in winter and the amount of humidity could also turn into a mold problem. We chose a slab foundation before we had land, and it worked out since the land we built on would not have supported a basement. Our slab has xps foam board under and along the edges for insulation. Our floor plan is completely custom that I did in autocad myself. All the common areas are on the south side and open. The bedrooms and bathrooms are on the north side. With an open floor plan (some of it 17' tall rooms) and concrete floors it makes forced air ducting more difficult. My experience with forced air is that it blows dust and curtains, feels like a cold draft across your neck when it first kicks on and forces the cold air out before the heated air, and is noisy enough to have to raise the TV or conversation volume when its on. Choosing radiant floor heat with separate zones for the common and private areas seemed like the perfect choice for heating. But we do use our air conditioner for 6-8 weeks and the floorplan layout was critical in being able to use a wall unit to comfortably cool the whole house. I was planning on finishing the concrete with coloring and waxing of some kind, but my husband became friends with a person who polishes commercial concrete floors and we had him polish our floors. It looks wonderful, and is easy to clean. The radiant heat is quiet and even heating with about a 2 hour lag time. I also thought it would be warm on my toes, but I learned that it's not - even in the middle of winter, and want to make sure others are aware of that so they are not disappointed. It's not cold, but its not warm either. Our upstairs is a quality pad and carpeted which feels nicer to my bare feet than the cool concrete. Each house and owner is different so I hope you find the best solution for your situation.

Your photo looks like a surface stain rather than an integral color. Depends on the look you want. We did have some pigment added to ours, just so it would be less "sidewalk" colored. We are really happy with how it turned out. We do have hydronic heat, which is wonderful. That alone requires serious insulation since you don't want to be heating up the earth. Our contractor was extremely fussy with the subs regarding protection of the slab during construction. The whole thing was always covered with a layer of Ramboard and a layer of a felt-like geotextile. (Think of all the things that go on during construction with your finish floor already in place.) I think it was after the interior construction that the concrete guy came back and did the polishing and sealing steps. (We looked at tiling the slab instead, but it was going to be another 10K)

Thanks...I try. Too many people *think* a concrete floor is a money SAVING project. It is not. A SLAB floor is money saving. It is ugly, unfinished and can be very rough on the feet. A properly finished concrete floor is beautiful but very expensive. Most people think slab concrete is the FINISHED floor and therefore cheap. What they do NOT appreciate is how UGLY it is and how much it stains and etches and degrades over time (chalky dust on the surface all the time). They are very disappointed in a SLAB floor. When they are told the cost to fix a concrete slab floor they look at the refinisher like they have 2 heads and say, "Well if it's going to cost me $10/sf why don't I get hardwood and be done with it?"

@joseph_corlett good tips. Suppsedly he is going to show me some pics and showroom samples today, but I’ll ask about previous customers. @thinkdesignlive If I feel like this contractor does quality work, then I think concrete is the way we will go. I know the concrete in our last house was a turn off to some people, but it fit our family well. And as life goes on, if our needs change we can always add different flooring over the top of it like you mentioned.