The bark is actually worse than the bite...

This weekend hasn't been very productive, as we went to Western Maryland for my best friend's wedding. Congratulations, Erin and Frank! We returned today and Aaron got back to work on the porch while I studied for my first test in 3.5 years or so on Wednesday. Yikes, this school stuff is hard. Anyway, we had a petsitter while we were gone, but unfortunately, the dogs must have barked a lot while we were gone, b/c the other half of the duplex neighbors complained and said that we must do something about the dogs barking while we're away. The dogs have also terrorized the painter (barking, jumping at windows, painter was afraid that they would bite him, and/or break the window) to the point that they have to be locked in the basement bathroom during the day (only room in house with no windows) while he's here. They're very sweet dogs, a miniature schnauzer, Ansley, a lab, Sandy, and a golden/bloodhound mix, Chester. They would never hurt anyone, they just bark (especially when Aaron's not here) at the slightest noise. We're considering a couple of options but welcome any suggestions. Here is what we've thought of-
1. Kennel the dogs while we're away. The drawback here is expense (at least $100/day around here for the three of them), availability (most kennels aren't open Sundays and have difficult hours for us to deal with), and stress. All three of the dogs hate to be kenneled. Sandy has chipped 2 teeth (one had to be removed) chewing on the kennel gates trying to get out, and they usually end up with severe gastrointestinal distress for a few days after we get home.
2. Bark collars. We borrowed a friend's citronella one for Ansley for awhile, but they're expensive and she hated it. It might be easier if all the dogs had one. I do worry about the collar getting off and one of the dogs chomping on it, which wouldn't be a first. There is always the shock variety, but both Sandy and Chester ignore an invisible fence, so I'm not convinced that it would work on them. Has anyone used these before?
3. Soundproofing the basement and keeping them in there while we're gone. We're doing all this work on the basement anyway, maybe we could incorporate this into the plan. How much is sound deadening material? Could we use some sort of home-theater setup for this? It might be cheaper just to kennel the dogs, but at least this solution would allow us some enjoyment from the expense!

This isn't the first dispute that we've had with our neighbors about noise. Restoring the house isn't quiet, and we're young without kids, so we have been know to have the occasional party. We've been good about stopping loud work after 7 pm, and have minded every request to keep it down, but I hate having conflict with people that I see every day, so it's important to me to find a good solution to this problem. Thanks for your help!