ᐅ Welds on Painted Handrail – Assessment?

Hello everyone,
we are currently building, and I think most people know that this can be quite a stressful process. You sometimes have to overlook minor defects, but when it comes to the welds on our new railing, I’m not sure if these can still be considered small cosmetic flaws or if they are already major visual or even structural defects.

Here, of course, I deliberately chose one of the worse welds.
There are also paint damages that are so obvious that, in my opinion, any reputable tradesperson should have fixed them before final acceptance.

Friends with welding experience who have seen this say such work is unacceptable. Unfortunately, I’m not an expert myself, but this is the response I received from our construction supervisor via the contractor:
“The welds are flawless!
I don’t know what expertise the owner has to claim that the welds would not hold...
The two ‘paint damages’ probably occurred when lifting the 180 kg (400 lb) railing.
We will retouch these with a paint pen so they are no longer visible.
Corrosion protection is fully ensured anyway, because the entire railing beneath the paint layer is hot-dip galvanized.”

What do the welding experts here think about this? And do you know what options I have? Are there special expert inspectors to whom I should turn?

Thanks in advance!

I would rate the weld as unattractive but acceptable. It is located underneath, not directly in the visible area, and is additionally painted over. Therefore, it serves its purpose and can be overlooked.
The paint damage would bother me more. You will always see it. It is right in the visible area, you can feel it when you run your hand over it, and touch-ups with a paint pen never look good. Sorry.
At least you will always notice a difference compared to the rest.

The welder was generous, but neither the excess material nor the weld spatter—which I believe I’m seeing here rather than "paint damage"—was cleaned up. It seems this was painted after welding without any post-processing.

---

https://www.instagram.com/11antgmxde/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-jetzt/

The saying "You get what you pay for" probably fits perfectly here.
It will hold up, but it’s not visually appealing. The top clearly has a defect; a touch-up pen won’t be enough to fix it (a touch-up pen is not actual paint, and the "new" paint is not applied over the existing primer, so it doesn’t bond as well to the surface as the rest of the paint does. This defect will always remain visible and noticeable.

The lower weld seam probably won’t be considered a "defect," unless you ordered (and paid for) ground and polished welds.

"Beauty" is hardly something that can be contractually guaranteed.

Not attractive. After the photo, it should hold.

Sand down the paint damage and repaint. Not with a pen, but with a spray can. Apply thinly, using the same paint and primer as the rest. Mask off generously due to overspray.

Of course, the weld is strong. It just looks bad, and it certainly wouldn’t be suitable for a gas pipeline. For a railing, though, it’s fine. It doesn’t have to bear any heavy load.
Paint is tricky, but arguing about it probably won’t help much.

Have you paid for this nicely?