Money always works. But you do need his services to plan a significant alteration. Skip the designer and the builder who are both WRONG and leading you astray.

@juneknow can you help me understand why I need him? No walls are coming down. We are remodeling the kitchen, bathrooms, flooring and fixing plumbing, electrical and the roof. It’s all staying exactly in place, just replacing the old with new.

Then why does the builder “need” the architectural plans? You’re not “remodeling” by that description. Much less “significant remodeling”. You’re redecorating. Which barely involves a builder, but most certainly involves an interior designer.

I think yu need to talk to more contractors and designers. These two seem like PITAs.

You can probably find a drafting service that will measure the house and create floor plans. Your contractor should know someone. The kitchen would have needed to be measured anyway as accurate as-built measurements will be needed there. The original plans may have been hand-drawn so this would give you electronic versions that are much easier to share with designers and contractors.

I don't see the need for original drawings either - unless someone actually produced as-built plans (recording each and every deviation from the original), which I highly doubt.

When we remodeled our kitchen, the cabinet maker came to the house to get rough measurements before giving me a bid; he came back after the old cabinets had been removed, and before he started "slicing and dicing" for the new cabinets, to get accurate, real-life measurements. My ceiling height varies almost 1/2" over 10' - I'll bet that wasn't in the original plans!