If you are a AV junkie, then pre-wiring for video distribution, speakers, home security, home automation is a huge cost savings during construction versus after.

Address electrical and plumbing for backyard and landscaping.

Have a master plan drawn up for all of your "wants" so you can refer to it later when you decide to add those wants.

This post relates to a post that hit the upper limit of posts... It has LOTS of useful advice what for to do/not do.

Here is a link that might be useful: wish I had done

If your builder will let you, I highly recommend going to the design center to browse before your appointment. We went one day just to look around and to see what selections we liked, and then went back another day for our appointment. It helped that we had already seen the selections, but we still took the whole three hour appt. to finalize everything!

Design Centers usually handle/display jsut about every item that can be chosen by the buyer... flooring (wood, tile, laminate, vinyl, carpet, etc.) in varyining levels of upgrades; Kitchen cabinets, countertops, backsplashes, bathroom tiles, sikinks, faucetry, lighting fixtures, appliances, etc. So for many items, you need to first decide what level of upgrade if any you want and then you need to make a choice from those particular options. You can play around with all your choices and put everything together so you can see what the finished product should look like and you can coordinate the different items across the board. In my case, the A/V, home security system, surround sound was a separate appointment with the vendor that handles that part of the build/installation.

Not for nothing, but front and rear hose bibs and front and rear electrical receptacles should be included in the base price. These are the barest of minimums in terms of specs, and should not be considered upgrades or "design center" options.