I have dogs and mostly hardwood floors and would never want to live without central vac. If building new, I would do the HAH without a doubt.

The last house we had had a whole house central vac and the hoses were heavy and cumbersome. We had the sock hose and it still messed up the trim. We are building a new house now and I've opted for no central vac. I've been using a stick vac since moving into this rental and I've been happy with it.

Yes, I agree! A stick vac is soooo much easier.

We also have dogs and have three kids. We have a basic built in vac. No hide a hose. Yes it does a number on a couple of tight baseboard spots but the convenience is worth it. I love it and don’t regret it one bit.

I find dyson powers out after 1/2 hr. of use and 3-4 hrs for re-charge at $600+ each, 3 -4 of these add up $$$. Mayb 1 dyson and CV.

Some advantages of the central vac (I use Electrolux, no hide a hose) is its quiet, puts materials outside of the house. Vac pans and vacuuming the garage floor have actually been big selling points. Expensive.

I would certainly consider an automated vacuum or sweeper.

We had central vac in our previous house. Liked it well enough but chose not to get it in our current house. I have 2 shark vacuums one on each floor and have been very happy with them. They are corded not cordless.

I love our HAH but I also have a Dyson cordless on each of the 3 levels of our house, mostly for my husband and kids to use because they find it easier. The big drawback to the dysons are the limited battery life and the noise level. With the HAH, you can do extended vacuuming because there is no battery to worry about and it is pretty quiet.

We did HAH a second time 1.5 years ago. So that was our vote.

CVs always excel at window sills, stairs, drawers, chairs, under couch pillows etc.

CVs always win on noise, weight, venting outside, infrequent cleaning

CVs should usually win on durability

In the setting of no pets, I could see CVs not being worth the install price.

I agree with Dave's comments above. I have central vac with both HAH and regular outlets. My Dyson V11 gets used almost daily in the kitchen and main living areas to keep up with the dog hair and daily life messes. However, at least once or twice a week we do use the central vac to do a deeper clean of the floors, furniture, dusting, etc. If you can swing both, definitely get the V11 for high traffic areas and the central vac for deep cleanings. I keep the V11 on our main level and my older V8 upstairs in the laundry room. I actually clean both Dyson's dust cups and screens on their cyclones with the central vac hose after every use. It's an extra step but it keeps the filters on the Dysons cleaner for longer periods of time. As you know, with the central vac all that fine dust gets pulled out of your house. For me, this set up is the best of both worlds.

I much prefer my CV with HAH and there are ways to avoid the baseboard issues by being careful in stretching the hose too tight around corners so it doesn't rub. So planning to have a long enough hose without the need to stretch it to be tight around corners etc. would help with the rubbing.

We have no carpet in our house, but do have some rugs. I do have a Dyson as well as I wanted a handheld and the one we have doubles as a handheld. It really doesn't work very well on hard floors due to the beater thing and no way to use it another way. As a handheld it works good.

I will at we do also have a stick vac for quick pick ups and one of the things you sweep into in the kitchen and then it gets sucked away.

I never had CV in my house growing up and never used one, so I don't know what the fuss is about. Husband had it growing up and insisted on it with our new build. Hopefully I will love it as it seems people really enjoy this feature! I still plan on keeping my cordless Dyson for quick cleanups.

@M H - that is a great tip about cleaning the Dyson filters. I am going to try that!

@lyfia - Dyson does make attachments for hardwood floors that don't scratch them.

Central vac is really a hotly debated thing because too can only put it in, easily, while building. So you either get one or you don’t. I didn’t find it a big expense in the broader sense so felt like an easy choice

@dotsandstripes yeah I'm not spending anymore money on it since I really only bought it for having a small handheld and I much prefer my CV anyways since there is absolutely no allergens or filters for me to clean before vacuuming.

Dyson cordless ALL DAY EVERY DAY.

We had a CV in our last 2 houses. I found my Dyson more convenient, honestly. I hated having to haul out the big hose and plug it in and then coil it back up. We are skipping the CV this time around.

We have HAH, 2x dyson stick, dyson animal upright, an older kirby, and 2x roombas right now in a 6,000sqft 2-story that's 95% hardwood/tile

I love the HAH because it doesn't exhaust/blow to the side, pushing around dust. I admit the dyson sticks are easier on stairs or for a quick job somewhere, but to do entire rooms they don't last long enough. I never use our big upright vacuum

My wife prefers the dyson stick, because it's easier and faster. Also never uses the big upright

We have a roomba on each floor that does really well at grabbing most pet hair, gets under beds, and the new ones make pretty lines in the carpet. They do not thoroughly vacuum carpet or have the suction to get everything out of hardwood cracks etc. They're a wonderful "bandaid"

I'd never buy the old school CV with the bulky plug-in hose, I'd recommend HAH or nothing, hands down

Agreed, HAH or nothing.

Roomba to supplement.

Forgot to mention I have a robot vacuum on two floors as well (Roomba 985 and Neato D7). They are definitely "bandaids" as mentioned above but sure help keep up with the daily messes when we can't even find the time to grab the Dyson cordless vacs. My cleaning lady loves our central vac and admittedly, she uses it the most.