Architect's suggestions disappointing - What next?

Hello!

We have had a plot of land for some time now and somehow can't get a good house plan. We are slowly going crazy.

The plot has a slight west as well as a minimal north slope, which sums up diagonally to 3.5m. Access is from the south - ideally southeast, which unfortunately is the highest point and does not make things easy.

We want to build with a general contractor, so the architect he works with is planning. The first one wanted to push a plan from the drawer on us. That wouldn’t be a problem if it matched our ideas and was correspondingly cheaper. But it wasn’t, and the GC also did not seem particularly reliable.

The 2nd GC is great so far. The chemistry with his partner architect was good immediately. The 1st architect just wanted a long driveway and the house with garage next to it at the north end. The 2nd architect immediately proposed what we had in mind. A shorter driveway, garage with some distance southeast in front of the house with a canopy to the entrance. I said it might be tricky because of the terrain heights, but he said that would be his task.

Meanwhile, the chemistry has changed quite a bit after we saw his official proposals. 3 out of 4 proposals with a driveway in front of the garage with partly 20% gradient and then steps from the garage to the house. The floor plans didn’t impress us either, some room sizes were 20% smaller than what we had already planned tightly. Additionally, we were told not to fuss about a few square meters. Then at the last meeting the shocker: the planned variant is not reasonably feasible on this plot, he now recommends as the best solution garage next to the house, everything pushed as far north as possible, and thus a long driveway (25m!). We are basically back to square one! We are now pretty annoyed. Why did he create 3 plan proposals if the agreed variant is not really feasible anyway!? How many hours have already gone into this?

Besides the fact that we still have no plan and the construction costs are getting more and more expensive, we wonder whether we should continue working with this architect? Somehow it also seems like there is a lack of creativity. Or are we expecting too much?

We are now unsure what to do. We don’t necessarily want to switch again. The question is also what costs have already been incurred and how to get out of it.

We are cautious and do not want to escalate things immediately, especially since we get along well personally. But professionally/creatively we are not sure and wonder whether this whole thing can still work out.

What do you think? I would appreciate your advice. Many thanks in advance.

What does the GU say when you come with your own architect?

I also see a problem with you. Two architects burned out. Both came up with the same ideas for this property. Now just think about it.

You could park lengthwise along the street. But then the garage in front of the house stands across. Isr ugly

The planned variant is not reasonably feasible on the property; he now recommends as the best solution a garage next to the house, pushed as far north as possible, resulting in a long driveway (25m!).

Are you talking about post #8? – in #24 you only sketched a change in the site plan there, as far as I remember we don’t know more yet (?)

You could park lengthwise to the street. But then the garage stands crosswise in front of the house.

Or the garage only contains the workbench and the Pirelli calendar, then the car and the garage don’t have to get along at all *grin*

I also think that garages as a parking space for cars are completely overrated and really a waste of space. But the average Südelbier is so in love with his alloy wheels that they have to be kept inside at night for UV protection.