We're building in sort of a rural area and have the option to be in the fire district or not. To be in the fire district, the taxes are twice what the insurance would rise for not being in. Our option would be to put in a sprinkler system that then lowers our insurance and not be in the fire district (they still send a truck, however - we just pay for the truck to be there.) Because it's a small town, we're not able to even get a rough estimate of what a dry system would cost. It'll be a 2800 sqft house and our well pump will max at 20 gal per minute.
Will we need a bigger pump? Our well flows at 200 gal per minute so the water source is there...

We're very aware of the benefits of the sprinkler system and prefer to do it if it's affordable enough. Thoughts on pros and cons and price would be great.

I don't know about codes in the area in which you live. In California sprinker installation is handled by speciality contractors with "life safety" certification. Sprinker designs must be approved by the local building department and fire marshalls.

Designing a system is NOT a job for an amateur. You need to find a professional for your design anyway, so find one and ask for an estemate of the design/build cost based on your square footage.

As David Madfes stated, a good professional is the ideal person to install a residential sprinkler system. But, in order to be properly informed before you call, purchase the NFPA-13R code at www.nfpa.org. For the few bucks it will cost, it will give you all the specs required to get the job done right, and code compliant. Your insurance company will probably require that it be installed to meet this code anyway. I think you may need a pressure tank of at least 250 gallons, an alarm valve, and probably a separate small capacity fire pump.It will depend on a lot of factors including house size, number of rooms, available back-up power. Don't go cheap! Your house and your families lives depend on a good decision here. Jim Petrone