Recirc pump:
A small home may benefit, because basically you are heating all the hot lines in the home 24/7 unless you install the timer. The timer would kick on at 4am and off at 8am for the increase of use during morning showers. Also the cold lines get warm, so you run those a little longer to get cold water. It's really a preference, but a pump doesn't solve the initial issue of flow. The federal government decided that you will only use a certain amount of water per minute, just like water-saver (low flow) toilets, you only get 1.6g for #2 and 0.8 for #1. And usually you flush twice for #2.
However, you have to weigh the good with the bad with a pump. For example, my other home had copper lines from 96'. The hot copper lines were 187' feet total to all faucets. I also ran two water heaters in parallel. The loss of heat from the copper acting as a huge radiator 24/7 would have been a bad investment. When I upgraded to pex a few years ago, the loss may have balanced out with the cost of the pump had I gotten one. I also took into account the continuous use of a hot water heater(s) running and it's life expectancy. I chose and still chose not to install a pump in the large house.
Here in the village, I would prefer my house to be at 65 degrees in the summer and I pay for it gladly. I never really pay any attention to timing of hot water, I just pay attention to flow rate which is solved by removing the federal government from being involved in my bathroom needs.
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