It is plastic, but it is not cheap. Painting it will make it look more like painted wood.

Its important to make a distinction between "Azek" the company/brand and the cellular PVC trim material it's known for that looks a lot like wood.

Cellular PVC is very flexible and expensive so, except for possibly post caps, for adequate structural strength, Azek many railing options (Premier Rail, TimberTech, etc.) are made of a PVC and wood-fiber composite rather than cellular PVC.

The composite is formed into hollow sections with a polymer cap finish that is basically a hard plastic in a matte or gloss finish. The gloss finish looks very much like plastic.

So, what do you have? Post a photo.

I dont have a picture of the railings on me but here is the product in the package. It’s very shiny in person.

I had the same reaction to the Azek railings installed on our new home. They look very shiny and like plastic. We are thinking of switching to Intex. Any thoughts?

Your pictures have to be in jpg format to load.

We wound up going with the Intex product. I think the profile is Hamptons? It’s what my architect had specified in his plans so I’m not sure why the buikder bought a different product. anyway, the Intex is much better. Its less shiny and more simple/modern looking which is what we wanted. Wood will always look better but it’s not an option for the long haul.