lexmom- William Poole's St. Charles houseplan has the window/dormer combination you're asking about. (Very similar to the 2nd pic Renovator8 posted.) You can go with casement or single hung to meet egress requirements. As far as redraws & costs go, you could always take your plans and make a copy (to-scale) of the front elevation with the entire inside part of the dormers whited out (you'll likely want to make several copies). Then hand draw the desired windows in using the same scale. Draw several versions in different widths and heights, then stand back & look to see which one works for you. Use your inspiration pics to draw in the desired trim around the windows (again to-scale). A picture is worth a 1000 words and it is never more true than when you're dealing with a builder. Based on what the builder suggested, I'm guessing he is not seeing your vision--it almost sounds like he's thinking you want to squeeze a 1/2 round transom in on top of the window (by making the window shorter) & under the trim strip which creates the triangle in the upper portion of the dormer. Another option would be to try and contact Summerfield Designs on the GW board here to see if she would be willing to help with the dormers. She does awesome work, has a great eye for size & proportion (scale) and you'll be able to provide exact dimensions to the builder. Dormers are one of the most crucial parts of getting the exterior to look right on this style of house. Many I see aren't sized correctly when you take in the scale of the rest of the house (they're too wide, too narrow, too tall, not short or some combination of these), the overhangs are too wide or too narrow, they lack enough trim or are overtrimmed, the window in the dormer wasn't sized right when you take in the scale of the dormer itself (too short, too narrow, too tall, too wide, etc). Bottom line: be sure to get the dormers right as you'll be looking at them for a LONG time. The house that's pictured above that was built from the plan may have had changes made to the dormer &/or window size, so you definitely need to take a very close look at the plan you have in hand. (I could be wrong,, but it does look like they may have made the dormers a little wider). Better to take the time now to get it right on paper than waiting until they're built and realizing they're not what you expected and have to have them ripped out and redone ($$$ change request cha-ching $$$). I really like the idea of using the arched windows with the cross arch pattern--I think it will add a touch of elegance to the facade. The casement versions are the way to go IMO as they provide a 1pc seamless look. Plus, the 1 pc units should cost less than separate window/transom combination. Hope this helps! Here is a link that might be useful: William Poole St. Charles Plan

There's a difference between "recommended" and "allowable" minimum window size. As stated before, local codes vary. In my neck of the woods the ALLOWABLE minimum is 8% daylight and 5% egress/ventilation. So if the room was 10' x 10' which is 100 sq. ft., one would need a minimum of 8 square feet of glass and a minimum of 5 square feet of natural ventilation when the window is open. However, in my opinion that allowable minimum is somewhat small by today's standards. That's the amount I'd typically find in a house built in the 1950s. In newer homes it's more common to see the glass area be equal to about 15% or more of the square footage of the room. Windows today are much more energy efficient than those of the 1950s, allowing larger glass areas without the adverse effects of temperature extremes. Using the previous example, that 10' x 10' room would then have a minimum 15 square feet of glass (perhaps two windows 2' x 4'). It's brighter and more cheerful. My own personal goal if I were to build or remodel would be to shoot for 15%-20%, depending on the room. I hope that helps!

We need to see the elevations and maybe also a photo of what the build looks like so far.

So there you go. Problem solved. Glad to know DH is acting as GC. This way we will know to blame everything on him. I have built a home with a similar elevation. We used a shed dormer on the back to the house over the garage rather than dormers on the front. I'm not a big fan of dormers because of the potential of roof leaks and the lack of usable space. I suggest that the original elevation with the two larger windows aligned with the dormers is more pleasing than the three little window version. The three little windows seems busy and cramped to me.