Floor plan single-family house, approx. 200 sqm without basement - assessment

I would say ... set to zero, define the room requirements program and then plan again.

I completely agree with you!

You can't even dry laundry on the 3 meters in the east, possibly with a hedge.
Making the kitchen counter narrower as a result of the wrong kitchen position is not a good plan to improve the design.
Your arguments are not arguments to me, but just excuses - a Frisian house and a living area facing south are not contradictory. And 20 meters as plot width are quite normal and not narrow.
And just because the entrance now looks quite good in 3D, you don't have to focus on that if the whole design suffers because of it.

You also have to realize when you have reached your limits with the room planning that you should let a professional handle it - and I don't mean the stamp guy from the builder.

You disagree with many things - the least problem will be the passage to the master bedroom through the dressing room.

What does "BU" mean?
The plans are from an architect.

What do you mean by wrong kitchen position? Where would you find it better in the house?

There is a high wooden fence in the east, so no narrowing by a hedge. But still too narrow and dark for the laundry. The rotary clothes dryer would certainly be in the garden to the south.

I have defined my room requirements quite precisely:

Room requirements/ideas for the home:

Double garage directly adjacent to the house.

Ground floor:

- Bathroom with shower (approx. 6-9 sqm)

- Workroom, which may later serve as a bedroom, including 3m wardrobe (approx. 17 sqm)

- Utility room or rather cloakroom/shoe room, which is directly accessible from the garage

(from which you can always enter the house when you arrive in the garage) (approx. 18 sqm including small kitchenette)

- Living/dining together (at least 40 sqm)

- Kitchen (closed, but preferably with large double sliding doors to be able to make it "open") including seating area

- Pantry directly next to the kitchen (approx. 4 sqm, including freezer)

- Hallway with guest cloakroom (preferably accessible to the toilet)

Upper floor:

- Child’s room 1 (at least 18 sqm)

- Child’s room 2 (at least 18 sqm)

- Master bedroom with extra dressing room (narrow and long, wardrobes on both sides)

- Bathroom with 2 sinks and large shower and bathtub

- Laundry room on the upper floor (dryer, washing machine and drying rack)

Room above garage:

- large room as a party room replacement

- stairs from garage to room

- Toilet (WC + washbasin) in garage room

Somehow these points are also done, but as you say, very much in need of improvement.
And it is these improvements I am concerned about now.

Thank you very much for the openness here in the forum.

The plan is by an architect, but the basic idea more or less comes from me, at least the ground floor. The architect belongs to the construction company which, in all likelihood, will build our house.

What does "BU" mean? The plans are by an architect.

BU means construction company - and someone who traces a plan from an amateur or redraws it neatly is not necessarily an architect who delivers an adequate job with enthusiasm and knowledge. Of course, an architect from a construction company can also be good ...

Somehow these points are also completed, but as you say, clearly in need of improvement.
And that’s what I’m concerned with now.

It is normal that requirements are interpreted differently despite clear formulation, and that a mutual understanding only develops during collaboration.

Your approach to have an individual plan executed by an architect who is not under contract with you, and then to combine it with your own planning, is not optimal.
It also seems you have not sufficiently discussed prices. Huge areas, a garage within the thermal envelope, that amounts to some nice sums. That’s not a problem as long as the value is right, and exactly that is not apparent here.
As described, the entire design is cramped and convoluted despite the large area, as is the implementation of the airlock concept at the entrance and the 45° corners, which were apparently just in the offer. So evaluate all criticisms, and then provide feedback to your contracting partner and their (subjugated) architect.
What kind of contractual relationship exists between the contracting parties, also regarding designs?

Hello,

at the moment, there is no contract conclusion. It is currently the case that the BU said or simply started to make a draft after our first conversation (back then still including the basement).
This led to a second and a third.
Currently, it is at the stage I took to another meeting and to which he mostly adhered.

We went to him based on good experience because, from experience, he was cheaper in terms of price with the same quality/construction service description.

Yesterday, I spoke again with my uncle about the draft, after you honestly brought me down a bit here.
He (electrician, so active in dozens of houses but of course no architect or anything like that) found it understandable and not bad at all.
I think the slants don’t look bad in the end, and where one room has less space, another has more.

The "protrusions" or "indentations," as they occur in the utility room and guest room, could be exactly filled with cupboards, for example. That was one basic idea. I also don't find the narrow rooms optimal.

My problem: if I make the rooms more square, space is missing somewhere else. Or I get the problem that due to the construction of the entire north side, there might be no window left in the utility room.

Last night, I refined the draft myself a bit again (the architect can possibly/certainly do this again).
But I would rather not throw everything overboard. With your comments, I also made the two narrow rooms a bit wider, which made the living room narrower.
I extended the kitchen somewhat towards the pantry/bathroom.

I would ask you (I think you do this anyway) not to focus too much on the furniture as it is currently drawn. That can be done differently as well.
For example, the TV could stand directly on the east wall if the east window is removed in the living room.

I measured the (for me) sufficiently large seating area again at my father-in-law’s.
In the corner, a small table, 1x 2-seater and 1x 3-seater resulted in a length of 3.2m measured from the corner. Based on that, the width (south front) of the living room would be sufficient at about 6.6m.

I would really appreciate suggestions for improvement; I have received plenty of criticism and take it to heart. But what would you specifically change?

Somehow, I feel awkward going to him now after a year (with various other setbacks) and saying, uh, I’m now taking another “only” architect and will come back with finished plans.

Hmm.

I spoke again with my uncle yesterday about the draft, after honestly you guys here had kind of brought me down a bit.
He (an electrician, so he’s been in countless houses but of course not an architect or anything like that) found it understandable and not bad at all.

You want to roughly spend more than 300k on a house that is “not bad at all”????

I think the slants don’t look bad at all in the end and where there is less space in one room, there is more in another.

True, but that won’t help you in the individual rooms.

The “protrusions” or “indentations,” like those created in the utility room and guest room, could be exactly filled with cupboards, for example. That was one basic idea behind it. I also don’t find the narrow rooms optimal.

Then have it changed to “optimal”!

My problem: if I make the rooms more square, space is missing somewhere else. Or I get the problem that due to the construction of the entire north side, perhaps no window remains in the utility room.

Our house is significantly smaller than your house, but many of your wishes were also realized in our house. We even have a window in the utility room.

I worked on the draft a bit again myself last night (maybe the architect can/certainly will also do that again).
But I would rather not throw everything overboard. With your comments I made the two narrow rooms a bit wider, which made the living room narrower.
I extended the kitchen towards the pantry/bathroom a bit.

You can’t just move a few walls in that house; it requires a completely new concept.

I would really appreciate suggestions for improvement, I have received plenty of criticism and take it to heart. But what would you specifically change?

The stairs!!! Cramped into the corner of the house can’t lead to anything better. But that also changes the whole house.

Somehow I feel stupid going to him now after a year (with various other setbacks) and saying, uh, I’ll take another "just" architect and then come back with the finished plans.

Hello??? You are spending more money than ever again in your life. Everything should be spot on.

Sure, the architect of the builder is an architect, but he doesn’t get paid like an independent architect. He’s employed and the less work he needs to do for a house, the cheaper it is for the builder. That’s why he’s not extremely motivated to put as little work as possible into it. But it cannot be that he just traces something and you have to live your whole life in a house that looks like a small apartment inside instead of a 200 sqm house.

If I had the choice again, I would have our house planned again by a freelance architect, who might have come up with other ideas than the architect of our builder.