Site planning on a gentle slope with filling

The general contractor didn’t plan much more on it, the floor plan was largely specified by us, we spent quite a long time tweaking it. The architect then improved some detailed solutions.

Just for the record: that doesn’t surprise me.

An independent architect is obliged to provide you with a cost-optimized plan. Yours is not from your contractor.

The Zeichenknecht plans are also cost-optimized, just from a different perspective: not including items with poor margins into the order volume. And: time is money, so avoid unnecessary detours on the way to the stamp. As a pleasant side effect, the client feels like a talented amateur architect if nothing essential is changed in their design.

Do not buy shallow-rooted plants. Take everything that roots deeply and give them enough soil. Just as an example, my roses, south side, all day sun, I watered them twice in 4 months without watering from above. If you have shallow-rooted plants, you need very resilient plants so that watering once a week is enough. Then rather put in more soil instead of recycling. Why is the vegetable garden so far away from the house?

Just for the record: that doesn't surprise me.

The Zeichenknecht plans are also cost-optimized, just from a different perspective: not to include positions with poor margin in the order volume. And: time is money, so no unnecessary detours on the way to the stamp. As a pleasant side effect, the customer feels like a talented amateur architect when nothing essential is changed in their design.

It wouldn't make sense for the general contractor to try to dissuade us from a floor plan that we obviously want, only to have extra work because of it. That way, if the provider has not been finalized yet, you might also scare off customers.

Don’t buy shallow-rooted plants. Take everything that roots deep and give them enough soil. Just as an example, my roses on the south side, in full sun all day, I watered them from above only twice in 4 months. If you have shallow-rooted plants, you need very resilient plants to get by with watering once a week. Then better put in more soil instead of recycling dirt. Why is the vegetable garden so far away from the house?

One possibility would be to distribute the 50 cm of soil to be removed directly to the spots where larger plantings are planned later. We don’t really want bigger trees; a hiking trail with an orchard alley runs along the end of the property.
The vegetables at the end of the property suggested themselves since no soil replacement is needed there (and our potatoes did wonderfully there last year at harvest).
In that area, the soil is also permanently somewhat moist due to a small creek behind the hiking trail.

It wouldn't make sense for the general contractor to try to dissuade us from a floor plan that we obviously want just to have extra work. That way, if the provider is not yet determined, one could potentially drive away customers.

That's exactly why the draftsman (even if he has been doing the job forever and at first glance can see which cabinet door you might pinch your fingers on) must not, under any circumstances, talk down the lay architect's stroke of genius – at least not as long as he is still only a "potential" client. Offended divas are dangerous. And not rarely, there is truly blood, sweat, and tears behind the five hundred and thirty-eighth iteration of the attempt to adapt the house from Nikolaus to a Maxime or Jette. As a general contractor, it's better to heed Willy Astor's advice: only send eels one at a time ;-)

I can only recommend that to the OP as well.

Unfortunately, this did not save us from the almost 850 tons of excavation just for the flat garden. However, as mentioned here, we also have a hillside house with a "bungalow" from the road side and living/cooking in the hillside basement at garden level.