Are the separated joints mitered or butt joints (or some other type)? Depending on wood moisture and humidity, miters do separate. On the other hand, if its artificial material rather than wood, it shouldn't be moving at all, I think.

Does your construction contract or warranty manual have a provision for warranty of general materials and work? A common standard is for a 1-year warranty, from date of substantial completion, for all work. But it all depends on what your contract and documents say.

Good luck with your project.

@virgilcarter:
Re: the warranty - the exact quote from the warranty booklet is as follows -
"After moving in, caulking becomes the homeowner's responsibility. Maintaining the seals inside and outside your home with caulk can be one of the best protective measures you can take. Since caulking is a critical component of homeowner maintenance, the builder will not be responsible for any repair to the home which is a result of the homeownerâÂÂs failure to caulk.

I've included a picture of the window trimming for your reference. I am not sure what type of joint these are - butt maybe?

That should NEVER happen. Get the GC involved. You might have a water leak.

Agree--whatever is happening you are not responsible and your GC should/will address this.

Here's another pic:

One more:

Wood shrinks as it dries out. While kiln dried trim should have been used for the trim, if the AC wasn't on for a couple of weeks before the trim started being done, it would have absorbed all of the moisture from the green framing, drywall mud, and general wet conditions that a new build has. This is what happens when wood dries out. It shrinks and leaves gaps. I'd wait until you've been through a winter season with all of it's drying before I'd have do any caulking.

But yes, what you posted can be "normal" wood behavior if the HVAC wasn't on. I personally wouldn't find that an acceptable practice, but from reports on here, it seems like many builders do that routinely. I consider it a failure of the builder to follow the correct order of operations. BTW, you should be examining your flooring as well for issues.

It appears to me that the trim board may be "cupping", i.e., shrinking as it dries out and creating a "bow" based on the direction of the grain. In all likelihood, the trim piece should have been inspected on both sides, with the other side applied to the interior face, so that any cupping would be on the inside not the outside of the trim piece.

Since it's on the inside of the house there is no technical problem with the trim piece other than its appearance.

Your warranty book does not describe your builder's warranty for his work--materials and installation--which typically is for one year. I'd call him to ask about his warranty since there may be more significant issues that arise before the 12 month period expires.

That said, it takes little time to scrape the joint clean of old caulk, apply new caulk, and smooth with a damp finger or sponge. You could easily do it in less time than it takes you to call and explain the situation.

Good luck on your build.

Thank you Greendesign2 & Virgil.

It makes sense that the trim would warp dry since there was really no HVAC usedn during trimming time - Late Winter /Early spring of this year.

The floors I know were 'conditioned' for about 2 weeks onsite & so far have not exhibit any warping.

We are self-contracting and have had to go back and re-caulk several areas around the crown moulding and baseboard due to a similar look. Its frustrating for sure. We attributed it to so much moisture in the air recently from tons of rain, then it drying out for a few days, then raining again, etc. I am hopeful that once the house is acclimated to several temperature and moisture changes, all will be settled and look like its supposed to!

Thanks for the feedback TaylotApple!

We had the same weather as you this summer & we thought our house was build tight enough with a good HVAC to handle all that moisture & movement.

But a new house is a new house & it will shift around until it finishes teething this first year.