My A/C is 10kw running, with 18kw tankless water heater. You oversize generators when drawing lots of current from switch mode power supplies as harmonics confuse the AVR. Aka tankless water heater.

I have a home lab, full rack. Around 4kw including a dedicated A/C.

I have excess power and will run an extension cord to neighbors if needed.

I’d also want capacity to charge an EV should I get one.

Price between 22kw and 40kw was negligible relative to total project cost. The only downside is I have to turn on everything in the house twice a year to exercise it and avoid wet stacking.

Final note is that in order to use an automatic transfer switch you must have sufficient capacity for connected loads. A smaller generator would have forced me to install a second sub panel for loads I want to run during an emergency.

I have no doubt you have those power requirements, I'm just responding to the guy whos acting like "it's not that much power" when it certainly is.

5kw is the normal running consumption. Startup currents are higher than normal operation and so you need to have a beefier generator. But yes, 40kVA is a lot, big houses should do fine even with high transient loads with a 22kVA generator. But let’s not forget this is HN, maybe OPs house is humongous

You don't know about dijonman2? He's a legend around here. He has a stupid amount of cash. His house is definitely enormous.