I wonder why I don't see houses using dropped ceilings to provide for infrastructure space with easy access? It seems like a universal in offices that I've seen.

and here I thought I was being excessive with thinking about conduit. There is a large unfinished basement that mostly everything in it was destroyed from a flood. After I ripped everything out, installed a new stairwell, and ran new drainage to avoid the next eventual flood (as all lower elevations like to do), I was pondering running conduit for everything to protect from moisture in that area for at the very least some high wall outlets to power systems down there. I could scale that plan back and not have everything being conduit (for cost sake) but install it in specific spots for anything that won't have easy access in the future. I know of a few spots that will need new lines ran through 3 floors so the pull cables would come in handy for future use.

Fiber is a sore subject lol, it was a big local deal when fiber was coming to town with newspaper articles and everything about the big development and how great everything was gonna be with the upgrade in speed. Lots of crews all over the county for months (maybe years? time is fickle) and even had them running the lines on my street and a relatives on the other side of the main town. Turns out they decided to not actually make fiber available for the area, it's just running through. I understand you can't just splice into fiber lol, still irks me I have a box I can't touch or move with "Fiber" labelled on it sitting on the property though and have to deal with cable internet that runs like it's a DSL connection.

With wired Ethernet to every room, would something of this type of connection be aesthetically pleasing? I would like to bundle everything so there's not an excessive amount of wall plates and others have suggested running two lines in parallel with STP cat6a (cat8 will probably be saved for the next place if it has fiber available). I'm just worried about the look of having several wall jacks or several unknown connections that might confuse someone (I will label everything but that only goes so far for understanding). If I include coaxial it might look a little like this style of outlet if I'm not running two ethernet ports. I'm starting to lean into the coaxial/single ethernet just because cable/satellite tv is still king around these parts and people love their boxes.

If you had to have a modem box for internet with coaxial or DSL, would you prefer that tucked away into the server closet as well? or keep that in a separate area with the phone connections and just run an ethernet from the modem to the server closet where the router and switch setup are at?

a dedicated UPS circuit so I could have a single, large UPS to backup everything that needs it

That's beautiful and didn't cross my mind. I've done solar installs so my mind always just thinks of that type of battery bank for my needs, that's definitely a viable alternative that I could tie into the cctv system for continuous security as well without adding extra systems. I've only had a small "pc" UPS that crapped out on me years ago but I see they're scalable so I will entertain myself looking at some specs while pondering.

Yeah at least 2 cat6 cables and 1-2 MMF or SMF fiber pairs to every drop. At least 1 drop per room and include ceiling drops for ceiling-mounted wifi. Always pull double what you think you'll use at a location, since pulling new cables is more expensive than the cable itself.

STP might be overkill for home wiring though, tbh. I would really only recommend it if you're running any cable outside or near kitchen appliances or motors.

Unfortunately Zigbee is precisely 2.4GHz, which isn't used much for phones and laptops, but still widely used in TVs, vacuum robots and other smart devices that don't need much bandwidth.

For my money, KNX>Zwave>Zigbee. Zigbee's standard are not certified so you get non compliant devices that don't work well, and 2.4 is a very crowded frequency with lots of interference not only from other wireless devices but also microwaves, etc. Zwave solves both of these issues and generally has a higher level of quality, but for me a wired standard will always beat a wireless one if I'm starting from scratch.

lol I've seen that before and sympathize every time I see my router log filled with my partners apple devices doing their thing. I'm slowly convincing them to move away from it all with suitable replacements I find along the way.

cheep Chinese ip cameras that have poe and are blocked from the internet

That's a good point. I've been introduced to those systems with some installs and was avoiding anything that connected to a server not under my control even if it's more complicated (completely wigs me out people are complacent with some unknown server recording EVERYTHING). I hadn't looked into "dumbing" the cameras to take advantage of their lower price points, much like you can buy a smart tv but avoid it's connectivity to use it more privately and without bloatware. Been sporadically searching security systems the past few weeks so I'll have to double down and keep that perspective in mind.

If you wire things, use keystones. I didn't know that standard. Makes it much easier to have ethernet. My house had non standard keystone type things. Those are sort expensive, I replaced them with keystones just not have to deal with anything other than keystones in future.

I totally agree with the first part. I'll be building a home in a few years and I'm going to be running Ethernet cable to the home theater system, to the home office, to the doorbell, to the primary bedroom, probably to places where I need to put WAPs, and to places I may not need but could get use out of in the future.

I'm tired of having a WiFi router on one side of the house with crap coverage elsewhere and no way to wire my PC and game console without PITA cable running effort.

I'll probably have a network closet built in somewhere or stick a router or switch in the utility closet so that I can put WAPs anywhere in the house.

Yeah, unfortunately it's really hard to sell home automation with the house. I think a well-engineered, simple node-red setup might be resellable if done right, but it's not easy to do. The hardware has to last for 20 years with redundancy, the node-red and os has to programmed in a way that it will always work, even if it's unplugged or loses connection, and you need some sort of consistent way to control it that isn't pulling out a computer and logging into port 8080.

Oh nice! I had home assistant on my radar from other open source threads I read but hadn't run across the site link or realized they have smart hubs for sale with it. I've been hesitant with the automation setup because of the complications you mentioned. I imagined the high priced homes/condos with automated systems probably came with a subscription service for customer support with the equipment installed but wasn't sure if that assumption was right. If I can pull the same thing off with an open source project that's reliable and has custom equipment built for it then maybe it's worth looking into after all.

Thank you for the cat6a recommendation. I was not trying to state this as something needs to be a "great improvement" nor am I looking for only recommendations that have a certain return value in mind. I recognize most "tech" things won't be taken into consideration for resale nor will I probably stumble into a tech person who would appreciate and pay extra for the value. Ducting would involve HVAC as it's something I'm familiar with and wouldn't be an issue.

I wasn't trying to get into a financial debate with housing and never said how long I've resided at this house but I can see how you would assume that from my post. I only stated the remaining years I have as a time-limit for any recommendations (can't wait around for household fusion to come available :P /s). Think of it as a fun hobby/side-project I'm doing involving the Tech that will give me a stepping stone for familiarity and exposure to how I eventually want to do a "forever" home I'll rot away in. I imagine there are plenty of projects/ideas out there I'm missing because I always run across something fun and new (like stair lighting with sensors and programmable modes).

The architectural design and remodeling parts involving financials is a whole separate category and has been my jam for decades so I'm not worried about that (dilapidated houses call to me and I've always answered so they can be lived in again). 3 years is plenty of time if you're qualified and have the expertise, I've already spent considerable time working on this property so don't worry too much about it. This is simply a "what do we want to do with the rest of our time here and improving the house that has shown us love" scenario. I do appreciate your comment though, I realize none of this is really special and helps tamp down my enthusiasm since I always tend to get carried away. The weather monitoring is an apt example, I never liked the prepackaged setups so had plans saved to build my own. That's something that will probably be better suited for the next home.