Floor plan feedback single-family house for 4-5 people, 200 sqm on a 500 sqm plot in BW

I have now spoken with 2 architects who both specialize in old building renovations. Unanimous verdict: Old cellar plus new house: Stay away from it. I will definitely not take any liability for that! That calls for the mold hell of death. Renovate the whole house: Gladly. The whole house doesn’t really fit our floor plan anyway.

I already said, at least on the phone, that under no circumstances would I consider insulation under the ceiling for the vault, but rather would "switch the ceiling side" in this area.

I don’t have the energy to survey 20 planners/architects at the end only to hear from 10: "At the earliest in a year," "Only service phases 1 to 4," "It’s too far away," "Not my project size"... That is still the better outcome. The remaining 10 then also want to be surveyed. It’s probably a worthwhile investment – also of time. Unfortunately, I cannot borrow it from the bank.

Yes, I consider the assessment of the cellar’s usability a worthwhile investment. A deep demolition is often vastly underestimated. Finding architects as a routine costs significantly less time than for those seeking advice doing it themselves.

One of the reasons why I am currently with our planner and have not written him off yet is that he takes on service phases 1 to 8.

Giving all phases to one person makes sense. Your experience will help identify problems in the plan. It is important that the person is at least cautious, thinks along, and asks questions.

I don't have the energy at the end to screen 20 planners/architects only to hear from 10 of them: "At the earliest in a year," "only service phases 1 to 4," "Too far away," "Not my project size"... That is still the better outcome. The other 10 then also want to be screened.

That is understandable. Now, it is so that besides "money" you also have something to offer, namely a challenge and the chance to build a reference project that could interest architects and also advance them. I would have thought that would generate interest. Call the architects’ chamber?

I prefer to build according to the already proven requirements of the child rather than some fancy solution that still has to prove itself in the end,

Those are the two polar opposites. In between, there is a world. Possibly also proven solutions. But I do not know exactly.