Floor plan design for a hillside house with 5 children's rooms

I say, for this house the client and forty pages of forum discussion have planned more than the architect.

That's also our opinion. To be precise, he actually only copied drawings. Which is work in itself. But not that much, right?! He also came to the two appointments we had with him completely unprepared, didn’t bring a single suggestion. Really none at all and didn’t point anything out to us either. And now we received an email from management saying that this will now be kindly considered a change of the 2nd draft and won’t cost extra, but because the architect now has to redraw, we have to expect delays. ...Keep in mind that the architect already usually contacts us days or weeks after the date he firmly promised during the "normal" planning phase. I’m curious how long turning the staircase will take now. ...By the way, it wasn’t like this before signing the contract. It went much faster then. But maybe I’m misjudging. How much time does it actually take to turn the staircase in the above draft? This sounds like weeks of work here. I can hardly believe that.

Just this insight alone should be enough to wake someone up.

We had exactly 2 drafts and didn’t have to make any compromises except for our budget. The wife is happy and I am happy.

It’s great that you can be satisfied so quickly! I’m happy for you! If we could build a standard house for 2 to 4 people, we would probably also be "satisfied" faster.

I also think we are quite willing to compromise. But unfortunately, the consulting aspect is completely missing with our general contractor. We say we roughly imagine this and that, then it’s signed off silently and that’s it. No suggestions, no proposals, nothing. That’s really annoying. Well, hopefully we’ll be through with that soon and at least regarding the construction process, we’ve only heard positive things so far within the usual framework of construction.

And if it were a complete change and the architect had actually designed and drawn us two complete drafts so far, we would be willing to pay extra for that. But as it stands, I honestly find it cheeky to threaten with that.

How much time does it actually take to rotate the staircase in the above design? It sounds like weeks of work here.

Rotating it is not very complex here, since the floor plan of the staircase is almost square and the exit is near the center. The former essentially determines whether it can be done minimally invasively or causes a domino effect, the latter concerns the headroom in the roof.

It's great that you are satisfied so quickly! I'm happy for you! If we could build a standard house for 2 to 4 people, we would probably also be "satisfied" faster.

I also think we are quite willing to compromise. But unfortunately, our general contractor completely lacks the consulting aspect. We say we roughly imagine this and that, then it gets signed off silently and that's it. No suggestions, no proposals, nothing. That's really annoying. Well, hopefully we will be through this soon, and at least regarding the construction process, we have only heard positive things so far within the usual framework of construction.

And if it were a complete change and the architect had actually designed and drawn two complete drafts for us so far, we would be willing to pay extra for that. But as it is, I find it audacious to threaten us like that, to be honest.

As I already wrote above, all of this is somehow a sign that the architect doesn’t fit you. There is no need to get snippy about it now. The architect’s service isn’t only about turning the draft you cobbled together into a CAD drawing and submitting it to the building authority for approval. You are just as clueless as we were three months ago when we felt that a general contractor would not help us with a sloping site and the desire for 3 children’s rooms upstairs at about 135 m². We were just lucky that we found an architect who a) actually thinks along. For example, yesterday he came with an offer from an energy consultant, and that only because I mentioned I was dealing with the KfW55 application. b) He actually tells us his opinion when we have crazy ideas and talks us out of things with reasons. c) He gives us more time and experience than he technically has to according to the contract. The good man goes for a walk in the construction area every two weeks to see how far the development has progressed. And all that for a measly €4,500 that we pay the man for points 1-4. What I want to tell you with this is that you chose an architect who wants to take your money with as little effort as possible. Live with it and continue like that or pull the emergency brake now.

Addition: After sending this, I saw that it’s probably an architect you did not commission separately. Maybe the general contractor pays the architect as contractor too little and passes it on to you.

As I already wrote above, all of this is somehow a signal that the architect is not the right fit for you. There's no need to get snappy about it now.
The architect's service is not just about transferring the design you pieced together into a CAD drawing and submitting it to the building authorities for approval. You are just as clueless as we were three months ago when we felt that a general contractor wouldn’t help us with a sloping site and the wish for 3 children's rooms upstairs at about 135m².
We were just lucky to have caught an architect who
a) actually thinks along. For example, he came yesterday with an offer from an energy consultant, and that was only because I said I was dealing with the KfW55 application.
b) He actually tells us his opinion when we have crazy ideas and talks us out of points with reasons.
c) He gives us more time and experience than he actually has to according to the contract. The good man goes for a walk in the construction area every two weeks to see how far the development has progressed.
And all that for a mere €4,500 that we pay the man for points 1–4.
What I want to say with that is, you chose an architect who wants to take your money with as little effort as possible.
Deal with it and continue like this or pull the ripcord now.

Addendum: After sending I saw that it’s probably an architect you did not commission separately. Maybe the GC pays the architect as a contractor too little and passes it on to you.

That sounds great! We would love to have an architect like that too! And would also be willing to pay for it.
We chose the GC partly because before signing the contract, the architect actually made an effort. At least he had time quite spontaneously several times and listened to our concerns etc.
Well. That went badly.
And no, we really can’t switch because he is the BU’s architect.

I understand it on a human level too. There are currently about 50 house-building projects going on and all that with 2 architects. That IS a lot. And if he sends us something, it is often at 3 a.m. or on weekends. He probably really has a massive workload. And it’s not like he isn’t friendly.
We will endure it now and for us it’s actually good if the stairway is rotated. It doesn’t have to be perfect and our expectations are already quite well implemented.

Maybe the general contractor pays the architect as a contractor too little

The "line fees" for the "architects as subcontractors" are said to be no cause for pride, people say

It doesn't have to be perfect and our demands are already implemented quite well.

Thanks to initiative and help, yes. Without such things, what is actually built is often what is on the first plan.