Do you like the work he did for your family members? If it's just one bad house I wouldn't be too concerned.

Is it possible that he is trying to save you money by not spending time on detailed lighting plans and custom touches?

Fortunately you have time. I would ask to see more of his work.

a lot of our "custom touches" were directed by us. our architect paid a tremendous role in drawing up our plans and designing around our vision but we went to him with a list of wants and needs. i interviewed five other architects before we made our final selection. additionally, things like kitchen design often are not the architect's area of expertise. same thing with lighting. many architects might offer these services or do a rough plan for kitchen and lighting, etc... but we've hired an experienced custom cabinetmaker and i am designing the kitchen with his help as well as the very experienced and thoughtful people over on the kitchen forum. some hire a KD, although i've never found one i liked well enough. i'm presently looking for a lighting designer.
while i'm sure there are many architects that wear many hats, there are probably even more that do not. to me a custom home is something that takes a lot more effort than going out and buying from a builder in a community. it requires the home owner's constant attention as well as vision. you pretty much have to direct those that work for you. if you're not happy with the level of detail or creative input from the architect then you have to tell him and decide where to go from there. good luck. while this is one of the most enjoyable experiences we've had it can get a little rocky at times. all the best, i hope you can come out of it with your dream house!

It would be highly unlikely for an architect to give you his CAD files so others could revise them unless that was included in the initial agreement or negotiated in a termination settlement. If that was the case, the architect would probably also ask that his name and stamp be removed from the project and that he be held harmless for the final drawing set. No architect would want to be held responsible for drawings he did not have complete control over. That's why only prints or PDF's are usually issued. However the architect might be willing to give you a "background" CAD file or print that only shows ghosted walls so that a lighting designer could add the lighting layout.

My advice, don't worry about him doing your kitchen design. Get a kitchen person to do it or trust those who have gone before you on GW Kitchen Forum...or both. The lighting plan will mostly be a waste of time. Your electrician should be able to do everything with you on a walk through after framing and do it right. Most lighting plans have to be altered after construction for one reason or another.

He's not going to share his CAD unless you pay him a pretty penny. Ditto everything MA said too.

While most architects can do well in more than one style, I do feel that each one demonstrates a preference and is likely not quite as smooth or efficient in other styles. Personally, I wouldn't have chosen someone who does well with ranch-styles to design a New-Old because of the great difference in details.

The OP's other comments worry me. Awkward spaces, and nixed arches left on the plans, too-bright bedrooms in combination with "dungeon-like" baths, and lighting solutions apparently dependent on [unwanted] cans...

I can understand the arches oversight, and actually don't disagree with"too-bright" bedrooms because it's always easier to shade a room than it is to add light. But there is no excuse for any bath to seem dungeon-like; and if someone actually *sees* awkward spaces that means there is a real problem in flow and in [imo] the basic design.

It seems to me that many if not most "custom" touches are instigated by the owner, although it depends on just what is meant by custom... There are two very different common definitions of the word "custom". A lot of people use the word as a synonym for "expensive" or "luxurious" or more-than-average square footage, and thus one might find a Wolf range in the "custom kitchen" (even though the owners prefer to eat most meals out) or four bathrooms for two people (everybody has a different idea of luxury). The other definition of "custom" means a floorplan/design drawn for a specific person/family, which contains *many* details suitable for that person, usually to make his/her life easier, more comfortable, more convenient.

5300 sf is not a small house, nor will it be an inexpensive one. Thus you apparently can afford to have good designs with an overall good flow, so don't hesitate to use specific specialists for the kitchen, and closets, and for the lighting. While there are certainly some electricians who understand the subject of lighting, a person who can plan suitable artificial lighting in conjunction with suitable natural lighting will give better results than the average electrician. All the specialists will need to work in conjunction with the architect. And after they are all through, get a structural engineer to okay the plans... one just can't move windows around on a whim. IOW, get all the details firm BEFORE the build begins.

Because of your prior comments, and because I think your best plans will be the result of several different people's work, I strongly suggest that you make or have made a 3-D to-scale model after the floor plan is considered desirable and *before* any building begins. Most people find a touchable 3-D easier to relate to than even the best software, and potential changes are much [muchmuchmuch] less expensive to make in cardboard than in stone.

On the house that you visited, maybe the architect did just that the owners wanted, like in your case.
I can tell you that once in a while we have clients that want to do whatever they want and they do not listen to the architects advise. Thankfuly most of our Clients trust our advise.
I also heard here that some persons did not like an architect because he did not want to do what the client wanted - I guess it goes both ways.
For a residential project, about the lighting, I like the way Allison sugested. It is always good to walk through and make sure that the switches are placed the way you want them.
My personal preference is not to place too many switches in a wall (I never know which one is which and have to turn them on and off to find the right one)

If it is ok with you, post the plan here. You will find very good advise here.
good luck

Thanks for your help, people! I will post the plans soon and have the Kitchens forum go over the kitchen space. I like the idea of building a to scale model- sounds like a good craft project in my near future! Now, I"m off to find a lighting designer...

Many lighting stores will provide lighting design for free.

I agree w/ mightyanvil,
The lighting stores usually have several lighting designer that are very familiar not just with the amount of light that you need but with the size of the light fixture that is appropiate for the size of each room.

My take on it is this. Not every designer is perfect at every aspect of the plan. On a house of that scale, I'd say feel free to bring in specialty designers for the area's that you feel need for attention. I is, after all, your money.

we spend long time with someone who was not an architect but a residential designer--he basically wanted to just rework one of his existing plans for us--we went round and round trying to get some "personality" into his pretty basic designs...it was only when we really pressed him to think "outside the box" that he actually loosened up...
we did not build the house because at that time we wanted a larger house than we could comfortable get on that particular lot...
maybe your architect feels constrained because you have been really controlling the design with your vision--not a bad thing--but it could be difficult to 1)read your minds to certain extent and give you what you don't exactly know you want, 2) by giving you what you have asked for, other aspects have caused the "oddities" you mention...
sometimes you can't have your cake and eat it too...

did you take in photos from magazines of aspects in other homes that you found appealing and asked to have them integrated into your design?

We also worked with a "real" architect on another house but the developer just kept pushing back the time that the lots were going to be ready to buy and start building...
and prices kept going up in our area--it finally priced us out of building a home...
the architect was so busy that keeping out house separate from all the others he was doing just seemed like too much effort...

some of the best designed homes we have been in were done by local builder who basically did his own plans and took them to design firm to make blueprints and flesh them out with engineering specs...
they had good use of space, natural light, storage, and some unique touches -- like the dog room with high walls tiled for first 4 ft, a concrete floor with drain, high slider windows on two walls to get cross breeze, and a built-in pet door to back yard...was not that large but was a really neat touch...people he built the house for were doctors who had 2 hunting dogs and wanted them to have way inside if bad weather came up when they were on duty...

if you are just talking special touches--
would a pocket door be appropriate at some location and improve the function
what about using a barn-sliding door for a media room or a play room space
do your boys rooms have that make them magical?
do you have any unique windows--round or square especially in a series or an irregular patter perhaps--what about an eyebrow window
do you know what kind of trim you are using--are the designs showing that or just the basic floor plan?
Have you checked for any line of sight issues---that might be something that bothers you without your realizing it...
Are all your ceiling heights the same from room to room--that is boring--even if you want higher ceilings in most of the house--Sarah Susanka says that you need to vary the heights to give a cocoon effect in some spaces...
maybe a dropped ceiling in the breakfast nook if the kitchen has high ones---
maybe a barrel ceiling or like a trapizoid one in a bath to give room dimension...

don't know if any of those appeal to you or would make a difference....
it is possible for a house that large to be boring even if it is big...I know you are trying to avoid that...