Site planning on a gentle slope with filling

25 cm is not enough. In times of increasingly long heat and dry periods, you have to let the plants root as deep as possible. A normal rose roots at least 120 cm deep; if it finds enough water there, it goes even deeper. A tomato can also root up to 100 cm deep.

Natural stones. Listen around to see if someone is breaking off. In old houses, you often find beautiful stones in the foundation and cellar.

The building application planning was done by the general contractor's architect. How do you come to that assumption?

Because the contractor is really making money with the gravel. The more the better. Easy money.

Ask the neighbors what the grading of the property cost.

The street (still) has no curb, whether one will ever come.. I don't know, 1-2 plots are still free :D

Is there a plan for the street? There should be a sidewalk and/or curbs planned. Those are your reference heights.

The frost protection gravel comes at a friendship price, I don’t have the exact amount yet, I’m calculating 20€/ton including freight. For my design, I would have calculated with 700 tons, which is probably too much.

Including installation, that is 50 euros per m3. For 180 m3, that is 9,000 euros (variant 30 cm lower).

For 450 m3, that is then 22,500 euros (variant 75 cm lower).

Nice friendly service.

A freelance architect is obliged to provide you with a cost-optimized plan.

That is not the case with your contractor.

The additional costs of filling outside the house and the elaborate terrain modeling are not yet taken into account.

I definitely wanted to avoid the sandbags. The savings from 180m³ less would of course be nice2have, but the gutter at the street would have to be very pronounced. Unfortunately, a lot of water really came down there..

If necessary, the water can be routed around the house. With good planning, that is no problem.

Are there requirements in the development plan for enclosures, retaining walls, or the like on the street side?

Because the contractor is really making a fortune with the gravel. The more the better. Easy money.

Ask the neighbors what the leveling of the plot cost.

Our general contractor has nothing to do with the earthworks and the base slab, our contract with him starts from the upper edge of the base slab (except that he later insulates and plaster it on the sides).

Is there a plan from the street? There should be sidewalk and/or curbs planned. Those are your reference heights.

Including installation that is 50 euros per m3. At 180 m3 that is 9,000 euros (variant 30 cm deeper)

At 450 m3 that is then 22,500 euros (variant 75 cm deeper)

Nice favor.

An independent architect is obliged to provide you with a cost-optimized plan.

That is not the one from your contractor.

The additional costs of filling outside the house and the elaborate terrain modeling are not yet considered there.

If necessary, the water can be diverted around the house. With good planning, that's no problem.

Are there specifications in the development plan for enclosures, retaining walls or the like on the street side?

As far as I know, there are no planning documents from the street; the development area is about 30 years old. There are neither curbs nor sidewalks; the street is an extension of the old town center, so there are none because the street is quite narrow there. However, we will inquire whether or what is still planned.

As I said, we are doing most of the earthworks ourselves, which makes the solution "relatively" inexpensive. We have many family members who have already built several houses / helped with that.

We will keep the gutter/water drainage in front of the house in mind. The development plan only contains the following specification for enclosures:

We had a plan made by a garden/outdoor facilities planner regarding the positioning of the house and the heights, which helped us a lot.

I can only recommend that to the OP as well.

25 cm is not enough. In times of increasingly longer heat and drought periods, you have to let the plants root as deep as possible. A normal rose roots at least 120 cm deep; if it finds enough water there, it goes even deeper. A tomato can also root up to 100 cm deep.

Natural stones. Listen around if someone is breaking off. In old houses you often find beautiful stones in the foundation and cellar.

We would only plant vegetables in the lower area that is not raised, but for the middle terrace you are right. We will have a look at what shallow-rooting hedges/shrubs we could plant there.

We will also consult a landscape designer and directly discuss a possible lowering of the house and a "hollow" in front of the house for water drainage.. I could live with that, the material savings would be quite significant if we could build 30-40 cm deeper across the entire area.