You should certainly have a front door fitted before internal doors and kitchen are installed. That is absurd and I'm not surprised the bank won't pay. I guess you must…

From looking at your front elevation, it doesn't look like you would have much room for a colonial top light. Has your builder told you it is possible? Personally I…

I would definitely go square. It has good balance with the ground floor window and the square garage. I think an arch would look odd.

Gables are purely a design feature - there is no benefit over a hip roof. As the others have stated, you lose the ability to have an eave for shading…