Let me make a strong pitch for making the new house superinsulated, meaning highly insulated, very air tight, good windows, and insulated foundation walls and under basement slab. This is a golden opportunity to have a very comfortable house that is notably less costly to heat in winter and air condition in summer. If designed in, the extra effort is not all that much, the increase in cost is typically perhaps just 5%, and the savings in heating cost will pay for the better construction in relatively few years. Remember, building just "to code" gives you the worst house you can legally build.
Finding a builder who can specify and build a house like this and is willing to do what it takes to get you there likely will be difficult. If you do a lot of reading ahead of time on sites like greenbuildingadvisor.com (search on "pretty good house") and buildingscience.com, you can specify your own design, so that you then just have to find a builder willing to work with you to get you what you want. If a builder tells you not to tell him how to build a house, because he's been doing that for 30 years, find another builder. You don't want a house up here built the way it was done 30 years ago. I wish you luck. OK, off the soap box.
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