New single-family house - Join us on this journey!

I consider the thread creator diplomatic enough not to come across like a bull in a china shop and to receive a few friendly pieces of information. Other people work in the construction service for me as well, not just the application processors.

I personally experienced how the city employee was nice to me while the architect sitting next to me was constantly snapped at for not knowing this and that and the other, that she was an architect and should have done more, etc. It was only about the preliminary question of how much I could enlarge the dormers at most. I wanted them bigger than all the neighboring buildings. Then I went there again alone with new plans, and it went super relaxed in my favor.

But the OP wants to massively exceed the floor area ratio and the building envelope. That is something different from a larger dormer.

but the OP wants to massively exceed the floor space index and the building envelope. That is something different from a larger dormer.

Of course that is something different, but you can still naively ask about it in a personal conversation. Especially since there are neighbors who have it like that, right?

That is why the current strategy is to adjust the building envelope through an approval process (still to a lesser extent than some neighbors)

As I said, this is not an official preliminary building inquiry, but a general consultation. That’s how I experienced it: I had ideas, came to the general open consultation hour without an appointment (even before the said appointment with the architect) and then the neighboring developments were examined hands-on on Google Earth, checked whether there was a development plan, and a non-binding information was given as to whether it was worth continuing to plan that way. That’s all that is supposed to happen. In the case of my dormers, the answer was “maybe,” because at some point the floor would have become a full story. In detail, later the ceiling height in the hallway was not sufficient, so I was allowed to build two very large dormers with normal ceiling height in the pitched roof :D

Back to this case: It is suggested that the neighbors were allowed to build more, so the OP has to find out whether he is allowed to build more as well. But maybe the mentioned neighbors are already in a different development plan or something... that will be clarified quickly and uncomplicatedly.

Addendum on the building service: In my city, there is always a firefighter there who immediately notices that the OP’s attic in this form does not have a valid second escape route (NRW). The dormers are set too far back (>1m), so such an ultra-ugly step onto the roof has to be installed in order to be able to climb up.

Thank you for the numerous comments this evening! I will work through them tomorrow directly. Perhaps a brief background on why I let myself move towards a general contractor [GU].

At the beginning, I was also in talks with architects and had already chosen a favored planning office. However, to be honest, in my view, the budget was too low for us. All architects were on a similar level. For 1.65m, 300m2 living space (including a granny flat) was planned without a variety of additional costs: no kitchens, no furnishings, no pool, no sauna, no previously "architectural special wishes planned so far," and so on and so forth. Plus - no price guarantee, as it was only architect planning. Honestly, if I add my additional cost assumptions on top, I would have ended up at 2.0-2.2 - WAY too high.

That totally discouraged me, and I started comparing with the first general contractors [GUs]. I was very aware of the tradeoff, but at least I considered the price estimates to be conceivable...

And honestly - to land at 1.65 for 300m2 for a first cost estimate without detailed planning and frills is simply too high in my opinion. Three architects roughly agreed on that.

Working backward, that would have meant that with a granny flat I would probably have had to reduce to a total of 250m2, and as a result, many of our room wishes would have died with this budget.

Can you understand this, or was I off on the wrong track?

With the construction sum, I would rather consider building an underground garage instead of taking the space above.

The space for the garage would be calculated separately.

Nice that you also seem to be open to a somewhat different layout.

I don't think he is open to such an orientation (NE)... I wouldn't be, either.

Can you relate to this, or was I on the wrong track?

Wrong. I have already said that it is negligent. A general contractor is cheaper because he cannot handle certain things at all for logistical reasons. But I don’t want to repeat myself here: You consider yourself capable anyway.

The area for the garage would be calculated separately.

True, but why should cars get a nice, level 35 sqm? I would rather put them in the basement.

Can you relate to this, or was I on the wrong track?

Well, if several experienced architects gave you the same result, I would be suspicious if a general contractor promises to fulfill all wishes.
Does it really have to be such a monstrosity? Bigger doesn’t always mean better.