I went #5, an outside panel sounds potentialy dangerous and you cannot
monitor the metersand why go outside in the rain.

For DIY prewired and labeled unless your an electrician and have a day.
or more.

I know you want the best and have the cash but for 200$ my generac kit
included the panel, 2 watt meters, all prewired, exterior box, sockets
and extra plugs and cable to the gen. separate it would have been 400++.

I understand you want more than 12 circuits but if you consider what is
realy needed and surge loads your gen really cant handle more than 4-6,
although with monitoring it is what ever you want. Compare cost and
instalation ease of 12 prewired complete with instal to a custom setup.
A custom large set up will probably 4-6x more and not DIY . My 6
circuit complete instaled ready to run was 350$.