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Agreed. In most US homes, by code, there needs to be a fire-stop between floors but also for practical reasons there are often cross-bracing mid way up each wall, therefore going from one place to another often involves multiple holes in drywall (which is relatively inexpensive, but also a dusty/annoying nightmare to patch).

If I built a home I'd add conduit, but that's an extremely niche idea.

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A flexible drill bit[1] can be used to pass a horizontal member within a wall. You can enter the wall through an outlet hole or use the length of the bit to drill straight up through bottom of the wall, if you’re able to access it from a basement. They usually have a hole in the tip to pull twine along with the head of the bit.

If you have high baseboards/ceiling trim, you can have drywall that ends way above the sill plates which makes it incredibly easy to route cable with the baseboards off.

There are some considerations if it's a firewall or an insulated wall, but it can be really nice.

Great point. With the baseboards off, you can even look inside the wall (e.g. with a phone camera) for clear stud bays and power cables, potentially finding easier runs.

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