Fireplaces, Heating Stoves, Flues and Chimneys - Prefab Fireplace and Finished Floor

I currently have a room with a sub-floor installed. I am going to be installing a pre-fab wood burning fireplace which can sit directly on a wood floor, then frame a surround for it covered with cultured stone. My questions is, should I install a hardwood floor first, all the way under the fireplace unit so that the floor will be complete if ever the fireplace is removed, or should the fireplace sit on the sub-floor and the hardwood get installed outside the perimeter? On one hand, the framing will probably damage a hardwood floor, but on the other hand, I don't know how the floor would be extended if necessary in the future, since each board is tongue-and-grooved into the previous making it difficult, it would seem, to get the staggered look present on the rest of the floor. Any advice from experience would be appreciated.

Catch-22. I believe the way to go is to go ahead and install the hardwood and set the fireplace on it. You can repair holes better than you can restagger the flooring should it ever be pulled. In addition, you can go ahead with the floor and put off the fireplace until a more appropriate time if need be.
I did this for a customer who had installed laminate prior to the fireplace, so I had to take special care not to nail through the laminate for expansion purposes. In reality, the framwork is freestanding, with the exception of the back, which keeps it in place. Mine is on www.ChandlersCarpentry.com and click projects 3, scroll down to the bottom. They were pleased with the installation. No advertising is intended.

Thanks chandler -

I had not considered free-floating, which would remove my hole problem. I suppose there would still be a noticeable difference if the fireplace is removed just from the floor being protected, but I'm confident someone would be able to at least sand and refinish to fix - less expensive than new hardwood.

I checked out your pic. Very nice job.