Look at your first picture. That is not the stroke of a paint brush. Not to mention a builder doesn't brush, he sprays . That is IN the trim casing.......and the regularity looks like the backout on trim casing . Is it on backwards?? A "put together" gone wrong? : (

Get the foreman over there......in person.

Same thing here.....left looks like brush, the right ? no

Had the same thought: that's the wood. It can probably be fixed by sanding, priming and two coats of good quality enamel.

What are the paint specs in your contract? Does it specify a brand and type of paint? My guess is you're getting cheap trim and cheap paint.

One looks like a pocket door frame. I would ask that both pieces be replaced. Inspect all other trim work!

It looks like the trim board is made up of several pieces of wood, and one piece of wood has an irregular surface and finger-jointed with other pieces of wood with a flat surface.

As Mark alludes to that is finger joint wood bleed through. Again however, you have a developer/tract type home I would predict they will tell you that is a case of it is what it is, unfortunately. Never hurts to ask though.

As others indicated at times you see it on a finger-joint molding especially when it's primed this will be more noticeable and you will know how it will look when the final paint coat is applied it will look about the same.

When I did trim I use to kick aside pieces that would catch my eye and use them on the inside of closets etc in the least noticeable places.

Some trimmers will do that, most will just trim everything out without paying attention to such details.

Here is a better example to give you an idea of what others mentioned here as you can see one side is smooth the other is more grainy and the quality of this finger joint most likely come through the paint, especially if there is a raised grain like in your case.

That said if it really bothers you and you lose sleep over it, ask them to replace that leg or do it yourself it's very easy just take another better-looking leg from inside the closet and put this one in its place.

Good luck

Thanks for your professional answers. I have these finger joints almost on every door frame. Do you think it's better to ask the builder to sand and paint them? Or just ask them to replace all of them? ( Is it possible to find something without these noticeable wood grains?)

Do you think it's better to ask the builder to sand and paint them? Or just ask them to replace all of them?

At this point in the build, either one of those is a huge ask. You should have specified the trim at the get-go. Be prepared for a 'Not only no, but hell no'. Or a bill into the multi thousands of dollars.

When you have furniture ? You won't be staring as much. You will totally slow your build. By EONS, re doing anything.

When in? Go room by room, sand, prime and re do the paint in the obvious , in your face spots. Sorry.

Is this a tract build or a high-end custom home? What does your contract specify? When we built our lake house, all the trim was clear pine, unpainted. Unless your contract calls for a higher grade finish, you will probably have to deal with this yourself after closing.

Wow, who would have thought that an upgrade to real wood, as Verbo said, would be problematic. Sympathies.

First , the OP hasn't been back. We don't know what she paid for, my bet is she doesn't either.

White trim. Which white? Because using finger joint will make the white selection matter more. For instance? "Simply White" Ben Moore is notoriously poor coverage, even with primer, and in some instances may need even a third coat. Few builders are up to a third coat, and few owners would want to pay for it.

This is why I don't stick my nose up at primed MDF. : ) I do still miss oil based paint. .....particularly on trim.

She has multiple threads where she is having "issues". She bought a developer/tract type home. FJ wood does not always cover as well with paint, just a fact. On this type of build they do not select the trim, they grab a piece and nail it up. Time is money and this business model requires speed. Not all things will be perfect, as nothing ever is.

Aha! The issues truth rears its head lol

Why would anyone think that this is acceptable and that the builder doesn't have a responsibility to make it right? I would be looking at the model home and determining if the trim they used looked like this or not. If not I would demand that my trim look like the model homes trim.

I have seen some pretty crappy work in models, poor quality trim work, poor paint jobs, poor tiling jobs, but when you see that you know this is not going to be a quality build and you should expect the same in the house that you are having them build.

Nobody says it's "acceptable". But you can expect, that in the community type bang em up build taking place nearly everywhere USA, that if the op goes into a neighbor at same community? The trim and paint quality is the same.

Real world. Models? Those are meant to sell a build. Never use "model" for anything other than the layout. Basically its a case of "ohhhhhh...........you want it to look like THAT one? That will be MORE".

Unfair? You bet. As is life. That is bang em up spec community, empty nester, hurry, hurry, build.

"Why would anyone think that this is acceptable and that the builder doesn't have a responsibility to make it right?"

Its a tract home, they do not select the trim. The installers grab it off the stack and nail it. They are paid for production it is the business model. Unfortunately it is what it is. I have seen it tons of times and it will continue to be seen tons of times. I have sold moulding previously for years. The tract builders buy the trim as cheap as they possible can. I have seen projects where the trim was bought from a lumberyard where they bought two different patterns of the same trim and it was installed. Try looking at two different colonial caging patterns plus the finger joints if you want something that looks bad. Not sticking up for it or saying it is acceptable just stating the fact that that is what it is.

When you are purchasing the house based on the tour of the model it is the job of the person working with you when selecting all the options to explain the differences between your selections and those in the model and what will be an upgrade and what will be a downgrade.

I know they do their best work on the models and then sell and try to cut corners, but that is unethical and unacceptable. If I order a piece of furniture based on what is shown on the floor model, it is not okay if the furniture that is delivered is lower quality than the floor model.

Jennifer

Of course they will tell you the basic standard versus the model. Part and parcel of "Ohhhj...yes, that DOES cost more ,doesn't come standard on your model as you selected"

But if you believe more care in quality in finishing PROCESS doesn't go into that model? You b crazy : )

I had a walkthrough with my builder 30 days from closing to tag items like this for touch up/repair and then another one the week before to verify everything was done to my satisfaction. See if you will have that as well.

Also, my contract clearly stated not to assume anything in the model or any other home in the neighborhood will have the same “anything” as my house due to a variety of factors, so those likely shouldn’t be used as comparison for yours either.

The builder is Toll Brothers who claims they build luxury homes. Their price is higher than other production builders in my area. I thought that means better quality so decided to build this house with them. (Obviously, I was wrong.) I trusted them in the beginning. However, I started to notice so many issues and realized that they don’t have any quality control system. My house looks totally different from the model they showed me in the beginning. For example, there’s no such wood grains on the door frame in their model house.

A huge regret. I should have spent more money to build with a custom builder.

I didn't have any experience in renovation or construction in the past so I thought it’s better and easier for me to start from a production builder.

Thanks for all your advices. All of your comments are very helpful.

They will get away with the lowest cost possible that you allow them to get away with. You may have had the same issues with a custom builder. The game is all about making money.

When my sister was building her custom home with one of the finest builders in the area she still went to the house every morning when the workers were starting their day and walked through and asked what was being done that day and every evening after work when she inspected what was done during the day and took notes and contacted the builder with anything that she questioned.

It is a shame that we have to babysit everyone who does work for us, but it seems like this is now a fact of life.

Push back and fight for what is right. If they sold you a home with nice looking trim, I would be expecting nice looking trim. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

For example, there’s no such wood grains on the door frame in their model house.

Which likely has MDF trim because MDF costs less, paints up better and looks nicer. For the short term, anyway. But has very poor resistance to water; if it gets wet, there is no repairing it. And almost impossible to remove cleanly and in one piece. It is a one shot and dispose product.

Pros & cons to whatever you choose...important thing is to understand what those are and what tradeoffs you are making.

@Verna Lee : "A huge regret. I should have spent more money to build with a custom builder."

Please don't kick yourself, thinking this is your fault for not going custom. I can testify from personal experience that custom does not always mean higher quality, no matter the reputation of the custom builder. My husband has spent weeks working on our new custom home after it was declared completed and the CO issued. We will probably spend the next year correcting errors and cleaning up the messes made. The builder takes no responsibility. He just shrugs and complains about people not wanting to work and the low quality of labor these days.

We had second homes built by a tract builder in 2004 and again in 2019 while our primary residences at the time were custom built houses. There were far more code violations, mistakes made and sloppy finishes by the custom builders than by the tract builder. The only reason we went with a custom builder yet again was our need for a wheelchair accessible house and my husband's desire for a detached garage/workshop which would not fit on the standard lot here.

I hope your contract allows you to hire an independent inspector to make sure that the important things (structure and systems, not finishes) are done correctly. Don't just rely on your local building dept. inspectors.

"I hope your contract allows you to hire an independent inspector to make sure that the important things (structure and systems, not finishes) are done correctly."

Not a chance on a tract home.

Maybe I should not mention this, but the stucco finish on the walls bother me than the 'stripes' in the wood trim.

I agree with other posters - from the photos it doesn't look like those are brush or roller marks. Looks more like the surface of the wood isn't smooth.