I think we paid about 20% less than that -- about 10 years ago. We have 4 HAH outlets (3 floors), one vac pan, garage hose and tool kit (that included the big powered carpet attachment), so I'm not sure your pricing is too out of whack. FWIW - if I could change anything about what I did, I would put in more (well, at least one more) vac pans -- I've got one in the kitchen that I love, and would like to have at least one in the master bath for a quick sweep and disposal of bathroom debris (hair, etc.) -- light tile floors - never again!

@rmsaustin which brand do you have? Thanks for the advice on the vac pans. I'm hoping we can get two (one for the master bath and the other for the kitchen). I'm also hoping to the get a retractable hose in the garage (Vroom) if we can squeeze it into the budget.

We have the Hide a Hose brand -- so the retractable hoses. I would not have done it without that option. The actual vacuum unit is a Beam, by Electrolux. Charles Ross makes a good point about the cost of central vacuum -- you can buy a lot of vacuum cleaners for even 1/2 the cost of a central vacuum. When we put it in, good options for vacuums (ones that did not exhaust back into the room) were not as plentiful, so we liked the idea of the central vacuum being a "closed" system. Even newer vacuums that have closed systems have the element of disposing of the dirt (sometimes quite frequently)...of course you have to do that with a central vac, but not as often and if you plan it's location (garage? basement?) it can be out of the normal flow of daily life. Also, I admit that my sweet husband always tackles that particular job -- need to go thank him!

I am building again, and so am considering whether to have the HAH central vacuum again; not sure what I will do - it's a lot of $$. P.S. I would not do the outside/garage vac if you can't have a retractable hose. We have a non-retractable hose in our carport. It's a bit unwieldy for cleaning the car -- we are not messy car people, so I find a quick once over with a hand vac/dust buster is usually easier than pulling out the hose.

We're getting a hybrid system in our 3700 sq ft build--2 HAH on the main floor, and a regular hose and outlets on the second floor. Our second floor is carpeted, so I prefer the electrically powered head, I have plenty of room to store the hose, it won't require frequent usage as it's merely guest areas (bedrooms and bath) and it's cheaper than a third HAH. I'm actually NOT getting a vac pan, as I never use my current pan. I find it just as easy to pull out my HAH to suck up the dirt pile than to sweep it over to the vac pan. You can also get an aftermarket hose for the garage inexpensively.

I personally wouldn't attempt to DIY a HAH install. Configuring the hose lengths and locations to make sure you've covered the whole house, and then configuring the PVC to run from outlets to canister with the required lengths and correct turn degrees to avoid getting the hoses jammed isn't something I'd want to risk getting wrong. But you may be more competent with those calculations...

We have a hybrid system as well. Standard inlets on all three floors to use an electrified hose and powerhead as necessary. We also have a Hide a Hose inlet strategically placed in the center of our main level. This sees a LOT more use than the regular inlets since we have all wood floors with area rugs. We also have the vacpans and with the unit being in the garage, we're able to clean our cars out there. We have the MD bagged unit and I prefer it a lot more than our previous bagless cyclonic unit. It's much quieter and super easy to change the bags a few times a year.

We installed the system when we built nine years ago. During that time, cordless vacs have really taken off in power and battery time length. We use our Dyson V11 cordless a little more often than we use the central vac. I think if I were to build again, I would still install a central vac for its power and versatility but for day-to-day cleaning, I usually reach for the Dyson. I do use the hide a hose to suck all the dirt out of the Dyson bin though. On the other hand, our cleaning lady swears by our central vac and enjoys using it.