Installing an Air Conditioning Unit - Location is everything

When my wife and I bought our first house, we purchased additional upgrades at the time such as more windows in the basement, hardwood floors in the living and dining room and wider windows in the master bedroom and second bedroom. Because we bought the house in the winter, we did not think of having air conditioning installed at the time, but when spring came and the house started getting warmer, it was time to have an air conditioner installed. My father-in-law suggested getting three quotes from local contractors before deciding which company could do the job. Because the house is brand new, we didn't think about where to have the air conditioning unit installed on the outside of the house and left it up to the company we had chosen to find the best location where to put the unit. We had already built a deck on the back of the house when we first moved in, and because of the location of the deck it limited the locations available to install the air conditioner. The conpany doing the installation had to install new ducts in the basement and drilled holes in the floor joists in the basement to accommodate the plumbing lines for the air conditioning unit that was installed outside the house on the foundation under our master bedroom. There was another location around the house on the other side under the kitchen window which was another location being considered to be an installation for the air conditioning unit. When the company installing the air conditioning unit was finished the job, they tested the air conditioner and it was working fine so we were happy to have the job finished. The first hot day when we needed to turn the air conditioner on we noticed immediately how noisy the unit was and even when all the windows were closed on the house, you could still hear the unit in the master bedroom when the window was closed. Big mistake, in hind sight we should have had the air conditioning unit installed on the other side of the house under the kitchen window instead. That way when we were trying to sleep at night we would not hear the air conditioning unit every time it comes on. My advice is to make sure you place your air conditioning unit somewhere on the house where you won't hear it and a key selling feature of any air conditioning unit these days is how quiet the unit is and if you can test it before all the better. Also the company installed a manual thermostat and now I have to go out and buy a digital unit so I can program my thermostat to come on just prior to my coming home after work instead of runnig it all day when no one is home.