Please let me premise this with the awareness that I KNOW NOTHING about the building process. But I ned your help with awareness about who I need to help me.

I bought a small house with room on the lot to build a second house. The current house is built to ADU specs and is very small - 800 sq. feet - it was built as the ADU with the intention of building the primary home later. The lot is big enough for a "normal" sized house and is 4 houses from the water.

I really like a particular builder and initiated the design process. (Their's is an ecological approach, using a prefabricated panel process that is ecological and economical.) I have no idea how to go about this and honestly felt like I had a good connection with the builder. He has good 5* reviews, and when we talked, he shared some very good ideas that were in line with my thinking for the house.

The initial step of his process is a design of the proposed home - we talked about the water view and capitalizing on the location. They produced an initial design that is very modern, 3 stories and up. The modern look will be quite different for the area (although there are others in the general area probably for this same reason), and frankly I don't hate it.

But I also do not love it, especially the stairs. Drive into the garage and go up to the main level, with an atrium and Master suite on the third level. Second and third levels have water/sunset views and a ton of windows (and I love that part of it.)

The drawings are soulless. There is no creativity. The only thing I love is the view and the workout spa/pool on the deck. Is it the drawings? Or is it the design?

For example, it occurred to me that if the garage and driveway was on the "high" side of the property, then you could enter the home at the second level - where most time will be spent.

Here is the catch - if I want a water view I need to go up and modern. The lot is also on a street with a 35-45 degree angle, This means that I will need to enter and go up and a fantastic home will have a ton of stairs if I want to retain the water view. I considered an elevator, but the home without the elevator is at my max budget.

The town is 150 years old and there are many Victorian and Craftsman homes in the area with a ton of character. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benicia,_California)

So who do I need to help with this? The builder does not use an architect - they are primarily builders and use a CAD program to design the home. Do I need a drafter? An Architect? An ext/int designer?

One thought I had was to abandon the water view and have a smaller house that captures the character and warmth of the area - instead design a house that I love and want to be in. Especially since the water is a 4 min. walk away. Then I thought I could probably have a cute and warm house with a roof top deck that wraps half the house to take advantage of the view in that way... that leaves me with only 1 set of stairs/ The primary value-add is then

the rental home on the property.

Any input is appreciated. I will attach a few pics for perspective.

Thanks in advance.

Existing ADU - water is 2 houses and a street away.