Was your apron path a part of your building contract, or separate from it?
I have to say, I was starting to feel a little self-conscious when your build seemed to be paused while ours kept moving forward, and it was very good to see things pick up again with yours recently.
There's a lot of different ways that houses can be built, but the basics of designing for climate are the same no matter what your do. We investigated a range of different construction techniques and their various tradeoffs, but ended up making a deliberate decision to use conventional construction methods and widely available materials - both to keep costs under control and to serve as a demonstration of what can be achieved with minimal changes to current practices.
Definitely wanted the two laundry tubs! Interestingly, double laundry tubs are much more expensive (if you can even find them in the size you need) than two single counterparts. Going with the two singles (and only using one tap between them) got a few questions from the builder, cabinetmaker and plumber - but they got what we were trying to do and I think it's worked out well.
We got the apron path as part of our contract - we wanted to make sure that it integrated properly with the wall base, slab edge and slab insulation, so it was best to have the builder do it. It's the type of thing that could be done fairly easily post-build, though.