I'm trying to construct an up/down staircase two levels below my main floor, but for some reason my mason isn't doing it. I have stone on all floors which is not forbidden or anything, I have up/down stairs on the floor above it, and I have a mason idling around. Why isn't he building the stairs?
I also noticed that when I built the up/down stairs that are one level down, it took a long time for my mason to start. I didn't notice anything change when he finally started, so I would like to know why it's taking so long.
Best Answer
I looked at the save and here is the problem that I saw: The mason must be on the same level as the stairs he is trying to construct. As the fortress currently stands that level is not reachable, because the stairs are not built yet. A dwarf can build down stairs one z-level above his current position if there are up stairs on the current level to connect them to, but building up stairs one z-level down doesn't work that way. My solution was to dig out an auxiliary stairway off to one side so that the mason could get down one level that way. I am not sure how you built the up stairs in the middle level, though there is some evidence in the map that you did dig an auxiliary stairway there.
In regards to why it took your mason so long to build the previous set. He has all his hauling labors enabled, and thus may well have been distracted by other tasks.
Hopefully this helps some.