Thinking about having a house built, any ideas on cool things or technologies to be included?

Heated drive way to melt snow, in wall suround sound, any cool ideas?Thinking about having a house built, any ideas on cool things or technologies to be included?
If it's a multi-level home, have a separate heating/air unit for each level.





Heated floors throughout the house for winter.....





Solar panels to aid with the heating needs of the home....





One of those t.v. screens that drop down from the ceiling....





Computer system that controls the lighting, security, TIVO, etc.. that you can access from anywhere.....Thinking about having a house built, any ideas on cool things or technologies to be included?
2 things you will never regret, have your cable,telephone, alarm system all wired into every room except the bathrooms. Put at least 2 outlets for cable TV/Cumputer hookups right next to electric plugs in every room, even in the kitchen. Make sure you have at least 2 rooms wired for wall mounted digital TV's. I'd suggest the family room and the master bedroom.


Jet flush toilets. Worth every penny of the extra price.
Technologies, I'll leave it to the other guys. What I have in mind is different. There are lots of scientific findings that our homes are more polluted than the outside air. What I recommend that you'll incorporate in your brand new house is a place for indoor plants that will help purify and clean chemicals from your indoor air. Especially that your house will be brand new and all the new thing inside will give off lots of chemical. The carpets and rugs, paints, woods and so on....





To further my point check the book ';How to grow fresh air'; in your local Library. You might want to build the same kind of house they exhibit in there. Have fun building your new nest.





Additional, with this new era of global warming, you're a believer or not, incorporate new technologies that will reduce your green house gas emissions. Build the house of the future and be a model.
A heat recovery unit (HRV) would be nice it will exhaust stale air and transfer the heat into fresh incoming air, also if you have central heat and AC you can get things like electronic air filtering, UV light to kill mold and viruses, humidity control etc.


Don,t forget in floor heat or at least heated bathroom flooring.
I totally agree with the last answer on pre-wiring your home. We have coined the phrase ';future-proofing'; the house - if you think you MIGHT want a connection there someday - do it now!! We have also looked in to several whole house controllers - home automation type things - that will control everything from music in the media room, alarm, lighting, hvac units, everything! Can be controlled from a computer via the internet so on that trip where you're not sure if you turned the oven off, you can log on and see. Or long on and turn the A/C on so the house is cool when you get it. neat stuff - pricey tho!
Put your money in infrastructure such as wiring, plumbing, heating, a/c and air purification, and don't forget the central vacuuming system. Don't overly concern yourself with the gingerbread ie. things that can be replaced at a later time without major construction.