This happens to my home as well. the builder said wood shrinks when the weather gets cold. You just need to caulk it:)

Do we need to caulk it or do they?

I ask because I have not noticed it in friends houses.

Hi Illiana, This has happened to two of my new construction homes. Each time I was the one responsible for it. Although you just had it painted- they might come out and do it for you. Did it look like this right after they painted it? This may happen every winter:( as it does at my house.

All houses can expand and contract from season to season. Some regions it can be worse than others. I'm in the Pacific Northwest and see a lot of this. There is painter caulk that is expandable to some degree that may help, but the cracks maybe too wide to help.

This happens every winter in our midwestern house (especially in the new kitchen and addition), Cracks that appear at the seams in winter disappear the next summer, then come back the next winter, then disappear, and so on and so on. Extra caulking at the ceiling seam can minimize this, but the cracks probably will come back when the weather cools again.

If it's over a year, it's your baby.

Thanks everyone, it has been over a year but I did mention it 4 months in and they said it would improve again in the summer. It kind of did but now it's worse than last winter!

I say whichever of the two come and fix it should get a good review on whatever websites they advertise on. The problem is both of their faults, but also neither of their faults...lol! I personally would make the trip for the quick fix if you were my customer, because the referral would be much better if I did! Whichever cares more about their reputation will be the one to fix it! That being said, a little caulking is good for the soul.. LOL!

It's not the "fault" of either if it was tight when they left; that's why the quality contractors offer a one year warranty to deal with stuff that results from settling/drying issues. Someone told me how much a house can shrink over a year with the heating/cooling cycle; it's mind-blowing.
I put up crown molding for a customer who has a problem with truss uplift. I had to nail it into the trusses rather than the top plate so it would move to keep the crack covered. If the drywaller had hung the board differently, a crack might not have opened.

As Lia said, caulk it. Use the caulk that always stays somewhat soft (flexible)

Get up on a ladder yourself. It's just part of general home maintenence issues that you are responsible for and should learn how to do.

Xulon Floors above has the right attitude :))

It's a 4500 sq foot house so a lot of molding!! Not just a touch up here and there. Otherwise it would definitely be easier to do it our selves. In our previous house our contractor came and repaired things like this a year after. We decided to use a different painter for this one so they keep shifting the blame to each other. I wasn't sure if the installation was tighter if the cracks would be as bad.

If I had to choose one of them to follow up on this type of "warranty" work, I would say the contractor. You really can't hold the painter responsible for seasonal movement. I think it is pretty much expected by builders that they may get called back to fix up such issues within a year or so of doing such work. I would say it is pretty lousy of the contractor if he refused to step up and do these relatively small repairs.