Wow - that's bad! I would get EVERYTHING in writing - even what they told you initially.

For the average cost of Hardie siding, it should be perfect!

I am so sorry but that looks like a cut and paste job! I worry now what else he might have "known was the right way", I agree you need a rep out there to look at it, at least you will have a leg to stand on, and do not pay him in full!

Met with the builder and the paint guy today. They said they hand painted which gives it a thicker coat and which is better than spraying. They said that with the hand painted it will have those spots underneath where paint dripped. They charged us 6k extra to paint the Hardie. I feel like that is a high price to have paint look like that. I would have preferred to just do the prepainted had I known. They said they are going to “fix” by caulking the back porch area where it shows.
I wish I knew more about building houses!

You do NOT want to caulk the bottom of the siding. That will just let water get trapped under there.

You're getting a total bs job. If you don't get an actual Hardie rep out to see this, you will be stuck with the mess and the cost. IIRC, the Hardie company only uses "certified" installers.

Ask for his certification documentation.

Rule number one about exteriors : water in water out.

@Kris G CALL HARDIE BOARD. when you dont know you call the rep, or the dealer... honestly please do not let them caulk anything!!

The only place caulk should be used with Hardie is where it meets trim, like cornerboards. Joints and the lap seams should never be caulked. And the joints should have flashing behind. From the Hardie installation lit:

And, while too late for the OP, for the lurkers out there, whenever I've used pre painted Hardie, it came out looking great with no additional painting needed. Sure, the installers have to be a little more careful in handling but that was not a big deal. Here it is on one of the houses I built. When I sold it 14 years later it still looked brand new:

ETA: Don't have a closer shot of the siding. This is actually a cropped photo of a trellis project I was building which was off to the right, to be attached to that horizontal 1x12.

Knowing what I know now I would have gone with prepainted Hardie.

Hello! Long time lurker on Houzz. This thread has been really helpful. I’m sorry OP about your poor looking paint job and I hope it gets resolved.

ArchitectRunnerGuy, the photo of the house you built with the prepainted Hardie Board was good to see. We are starting a build project and I’m trying to make many decisions as early in the process as I can. I know I want a pink and white house (don’t judge LOL - it’s what we’ve had for years and it’s adorable and I love it, no plans to resell, this is our home for now and probably forever). But I was unsure if trying to find samples of the prepainted Hardie Board was worth the hassle, and the answer appears to be yes.

We used prepainted Hardie siding (finished a few months ago) and it came out very well. We did not paint the Hardie, used flashing on lap seams like in the picture above, and only caulked the ends. The dealer had caulk that was matched to the standard Hardie colors, and HD could also match the colors for paint touch-up. The only place that needed touchup for nail holes was the top row because it is completely visible (nails not covered by the row above).

I also looked at using Hardie trim, but decided to use Boral trim because it had more size options. It is manmade product that is also dimensionally stable and does not rot.

Bruce

Ahh the knowledge I learn here is amazing.

Kris, I suppose you are going to start a ruckus with your GC shortly, so just be ready, and I think you should be proactive in contacting the right people and have them present when you approach the conversation, this way the GC can't try to back his way out of it with a caulking gun lol.

following

We painted on site our hardie and it looks nothing like yours! What you have is totally unacceptable.

Are those walls part of a remodel or reno? Something about the installation and product application looks shoddy. Maybe the hardie was not a quality product. In addition to the comments from other people above, try to find out who supplied the siding and how it was handled (sourced, purchased, delivered, handled, stored, etc.) Perhaps some was leftover from another job, or was stored improperly. You may not get a straight answer. Ask different people or in a different way. You could also look around for leftover paint (there is always something to go off of for touch-ups; leaving some cans in the garage is typical) to determine exactly what product was used on the Hardie, then find a local paint supplier who sells a lot of that specific brand. We spray Hardie board on almost every job and I can't make sense of why the paint would come out looking that way unless 'the paint guy' is really just a handyman and not a tradesman. Also, unless your house is small, $6000 to handpaint all that sounds off. Of course if the subcontractors are fly-by-night solo acts, it would pencil out.

Thanks for everyone’s input.
It isn’t a remodel- a brand new construction 4200 total sqft home. The whole house isn’t Hardie. We also have brick.
Met with our builder, owner of the painting company, and Hardie rep. They are going to clean out all paint drippings underneath and replace any boards that are not flush. Hoping it gets resolved soon.