Linked by David Adams on Wed 21st Jan 2004 22:52 UTC
If all goes well, this summer I'll be building a new house. I've owned a few houses before, some of them built in the 1920s and 30s, and full of all the charm and quirks of an old house, and a couple that were pretty new, with the lack of craftsmanship and imagination that's typical in most new construction in the USA today. But this time I'm building a custom home, just to my specifications, so I can have whatever features I want, limited only by my imagination (and budget). I'd like to integrate some home automation features into the house, and include wiring for future expansion. 
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Wireless is fine if you can't have a wire to it, or it's not feasible. But other then that having a hardwire will always be better. Speed, security, reliablity. And upgradability to a point (wiring tends to adjust to new tech without change much. Wireless you tend to have to start over, and cost much more.
Once you got your setup going changes and addons are pretty easy, if you make ducts for wiring and give yourself a way to pull more through later, and add on to your break out panels. Also maybe alow to remove stuff as it's not needed. The wiring is cheap, it's the planning you have to get right though. Also you don't have to hook it all up now or run all the wires, just make it so adding stuff on is simple. Save some money. Don't put everything you can think of now in place even if you don't needed and not give yourself easy upgrades. Install what you need and spend the money on making it easy to upgrade. Far better in the long run (no pun intended)