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I used to be an electrician many years ago (trained by the USCG, worked commercial/residential at EOE). Is been about 13 years since I wired up a service panel. I am building a new home and need a little guidance on purchasing and wiring the correct service panel.

The home will be a little over 4300 square feet in size. With 2 furnaces and possibly 2 A/C’s as well. I am planning on a 400-amp service feeding 2-200 amp sub-panels in the house. I would like to have some distribution on the outside of the home in order to feed future landscape lighting in the backyard as well as a small sub-panel for a shop.

Would a metered panel that has two 200-amp breakers in it and distribution work to feed the inside sub-panels as well? (e.g. HP816P400BS ). I am assuming that the factory installed 200-amp breaker is servicing the included distribution bus and therefore is not good for supplying one of the two 200-amp panels inside the basement.

Would it be better to just install a metered 400-amp panel that has only 2-200amp disconnects in it and then run a sub-panel from the interior 200-amp panels back to the outside of the home to allow for easier future electrical needs outside the home? (e.g. HP40SH )

The basement will be 95% finished upon completion of construction so future proofing future electrical needs on the outside of the home is very important.

I am also looking at having a Generac backup generator with a transfer switch installed to the main service panel.

Any guidance and advice would be greatly appreciated?