Strong Ge morphological modifications were observed upon an ordered C-pre-covered Si(001)-c(4 x 4) reconstructed surface used as a template as compared to the growth on bare Si(001)-(2 x 1) substrates. While on bare substrates, the Ge wetting layer of the Stranski-Krastanov mode has a critical thickness of approximately 3-4 monolayers (ML), with the c-(4 x 4) template, island nucleation already occurs after 1 Ge ML and growth proceeds in a Volmer-Weber mode. This suggests that the C-rich surface derm associated with the c-(4 x 4) reconstruction is able to strongly affect the Ge wetting.