"...pay 3,500 to put the cables underground..."

I suspect that it would cost a tad more than that to put powerlines underground. Our stick house is on a well, we talked about hooking into "city" water a while back. We would have to pay the PUD over $3500 just to tie into the water main in the street, and another $5000 or so to have a contractor trench and install 'bout 250 ft of line to our house.

What I don't understand is why all new construction doesn't have underground power. It would be much easier, which equals cheaper, to do it before all of the paving and concrete work is in place...