Yikes: A Big Error at The Front Door, Of All Places

While at the construction site today, my builder said he wanted to talk with me and “Am I sitting down?"  Whereupon he informed me that the architect’s foundation page on the plans did not match the rest of the house (!).   He was extremely stressed because  A) she screwed up and B) he screwed up by not double-checking that it matched the other pages.   So, the short version is that where my front door was supposed to be inset underneath the stairs, it’s now flush with the exterior shell wall.   With poured concrete walls, this is quite a big deal.    Below, the red line depicts where the front door opening is now, while the brown “x” shows where the ICF walls and foundation were supposed to go.   Yikes! 

While it’s not ideal and I’m disappointed that this even happened to begin with, they both couldn't have been any nicer about the mistake.  Apparently I'm supposed to be freaking out, but I'm not whatsoever, because I should be so lucky to even have a home, much less stress about a front door error.

WEIGHING THE OPTIONS: 

I'd love opinions...

1.  They could cut out a 6-foot section of my concrete wall (!), pull the subfloor up, manually dig a trench with a shovel and repour a section of the foundation and patch the error.   My question is, who pays for that?  And does it compromise the concrete wall, how is that done anyway?

2.   I'm wondering what it would be like if we left the door at the red line and then slightly inset it to the interior of the ICF wall for a full swing, and let it open into the cavity under the stairs, which would have to be stick built.   This would "save" the airtightness of the ICF walls but I wonder 1) if I open the door to guests from the inside, does it leave a tight tunnel?   and 2) does it look weird from the inside looking at a door that's inset into a tunnel?  My builder feels we can make the "tunnel" wider with a barrel effect and work this out.  

3.  My builder is also checking with the ICF people to see what effect it would have if we just kept the plan exactly the same, but just inset the door with a stick build instead, and then pump it up with spray foam insulation to hopefully achieve that airtight quality of the ICF walls it will connect with.

4.  I've asked the architect to please come up with some different elevation scenarios around the front door - who knows, maybe it'll be something I like even better now.  

Per item #2 above, I'm also wondering how this affects the symmetry of the staircase landing/window scenario in the foyer.  Not to mention that it dramatically will affect what the outside elevation is around the front door now. 

 

Hmmm.

Mediterranean Entry design by Atlanta Architect Summerour Architects