I have costed it. The cable itself is indeed a rounding error. I would suggest getting plastic piping installed with the cable inside and some strings. Then you can pull more cable when need to.
Perhaps it not comply to USA regulation but for my home I opt to design custom interior wall (simple commercial iron profile instead of classic plasterboard structure) and countertops with wood planks and joint covers (from nearest wood store) so I can open nearly anything and nearly anything look like reasonably well.
Interior walls are simply heavy cut-ed 60x30x1.5mm vertical beams with horizontal ligatures made of flat iron 40x2mm covered with "insulation scotch" for noise reduction purpose. Wood planks are coupled vertically three/four maximum in the garage with a simple bar to hang furniture as a horizontal joint. Skirting and ceiling joint covers permit insertion and remove thank to the interior "female side" of the last wood planks cut-ed out before mount.
It was far more complex than what I consider at start (and I still have to finish many parts) but IMO it's cheap, good-looking and comfortable enough to being worth it. With that any kind of implant can be accessed directly without brake anything and when it's time to repaint it can be done again in the garden/garage instead of cover up anything inside...
I'm surprised by this. I guess i'm just used to having an attic or false ceiling. In both cases you just drill a hole in the top of the wall attach a cable to a cable snake and push it down the hole 6 feet, punch a hole where you want the jack and fish the snake out. Bonus if you squirt some foam into the top hole when your done to keep the air/critters out of the wall. Wiring most rooms/etc is a breeze if you don't get to picky about where the jacks are.
These days with the prevalence of wifi that's not even necessary. Very often in a house a couple ceiling mount AP's, a drop to an entertainment center and into the study is about all I was motivated to do in my most recent house.
The cable/telcom providers though are the worse. The standard operation seems to be running a cable around the outside of a house and just punching right through the wall.
That method indeed works nicely for a simple ranch in a nice climate. It doesn't work as well when you have multiple attics, vaulted ceilings, multiple floors, and twenty inches of attic insulation.
Damn, that's a good idea. I wish I'd done that for my new house. I'm beating myself up for not running enough cables between rooms. Not sure if I'm able to pull more wires (sometimes they tie the wires down to the frames)
