I am curious of your location and the weather at the time of application?

In our neck of the woods the exteriors could not have been painted in the last 5 weeks due to temp.

I am not an expert, but this is what I would do. I would find an expert who can diagnose why this happened and what needs to be done to rectify it. You could start with calling the paint company, they may have a regional rep than can come out. We had trouble with our wall finish and the "mud" company determined what happened (drywall guy thinned it with liquid soap). We also had a floor finish issue and I hired someone who testifies as an expert witness in court and he determined the problem (also helped with the claims from the floor guy that we were at excessively fussy).

I am a lawyer, but I don't think you should hire one...yet. Determine what caused the issue, determine what needs to be done to fix it, and if the fix has to wait until Spring get an independent quote on what it will cost to fix and hold that much plus 20% back from the builder.

We are in the MW and they painted when temps were below freezing to around 45. I questioned this and painter assured it was ok as long as above freezing. I caught them painting when it was 27. I asked them to stop and they claimed the builder was pushing them even though they knew they shouldn't be painting at this temperature. ??? After much research tonight I found this cannot be possible as no paint guarantees under 50 degrees unless it is special paint, which it is not.

Thank you sue for your advice! I am on this first thing. Contacted paint mfg and so far they are coming out tomorrow.

As I suspected, application at cold temps is the problem.

You need to talk to your GC. The painter or the GC could be in the wrong but a good GC would never have allowed the painting to be done at those temps. If he is trying to meet a deadline he may have pushed the painter. It is his job to this finished right and you need to as him how he is going to get this resolved with this painter or another.

The (non oil-based) paint "coalesces", the solids in the paint when properly applied and the liquid evaporated lie so close together as to preclude the ordinary penetration of water. Low temperatures prevent proper coalescence. Ideally, the paint should be applied on a dry surface, there should be no rain nor dew nor temperatures below 50 deg for 24 hours at and after application.

The surface must be warm also, not just the air temp.

I am more inclined to believe the GC, because the painter was borderline harassing me for money, calling my home number, leaving messages, wanting money to finish the job etc etc. The GC fired her, then she called me crying saying how broke she is and need the work. He hired her back (unknown to us) and that was the day I caught them painting at 27 degrees. Painter was instructed a week ago to have no contact with us. She showed up yesterday (probably thinking nobody would be there) and was basically begging my husband to let her complete the work next year. She also got on her knees and begged..isn't that a bit ODD?!

I looked the painting company up in the BBB and they have an F rating. I'm really scared. We are meeting with another painter and I'm going to contact a 3rd one. I am very very worried the cement siding will have premature failure. You can't just sand down cement siding or power wash it. We were given the bill for the siding last week and I just don't know what to do. Do I pay it? What if siding fails in a couple years? Can you still go after the GC to make it right? Thank you all for your posts..I read a lot about the coalesces..that is exactly what has happened. Across the whole side that doesn't receive any sun there are spots all over the place from tiny to 3 inches in diameter. It covers the entire cement siding. It would bet there was frost that caused this.

Both are responsible for making it right. You need to talk to the GC about how he will handle it. That's what you are paying him for. Discuss holding back money.

Why are you calling other painters? That is the GC's responsibility. You are going to have problems if you take over this. Who ever hires the sub is responsible for the job that gets done.

You are so right jmagill. I wanted a third to come in and offer an unbiased opinion. The other two are being brought in by the GC. GC said he understands we are holding back $$. He informed us he is filing a claim with painter's insurance company and is also going to provide us with her policy information for our records. We have gotten one quote today and it is going to entail sanding down all the cedar and removing all the caulking. No word yet on what to do about cement siding. It's very expensive, however we informed our GC we will not pay over what the original quote was from crazy painter. He said he understands and that is why he has liability insurance. I'm relieved he is being professional about this. Just hope it all pans out in the end.

That sounds like you have a good GC. Now that you have taken a breath and things look like they are on the right track thank your luck stars. It could have ended way worse.

Thanks Jmagill. So true.