Did you specify a Level 5 finish from the beginning? If not, and it wasn't planned for from the beginning, 500 issues is excessive. A builder standard Level 4 finish isn't going to be perfect by a long shot.

I'd probably have to see pictures before I could comment.

I got a level 4 finish too (allegedly), although there are many spots which were pretty bad. This ended up being one of those battles I decided to let go. But then I know I'm a perfectionist too. So as time permits I've been fixing all the areas that bugged me.

My hunch is LWO hit the heart of your issue. Were you expecting a level 5 finish but spec'ed a level 4?

What are these levels you speak of?

I too have never heard of these finishing levels. I wouldn't be worried about dirty fingerprints and small dings. That is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, at least to me. I am not sure how this part of the process works as we are our own GC and we have done most of the finishing ourselves. If your builder was that upset, can you meet with him and talk about your issues face to face and come up with some kind of compromise? That seemed to work best with our builder in the early stages of construction. Hope you can work it out.

My best friend's Ex was a superintendent for a local high end custom home builder. He would often complain about the "2 rollers" on days he had them. As in they used an entire 2 rolls of blue tape to mark all the mistakes. But he fixed them all every time. Maybe you hit your builder on a bad day. Good luck.

Level 4 humpty dumpty bumpty is standard with most builds. With flat paint. Level 5 baby bottom smooth is a pretty big upcharge here, because most drywallers don't have the skills to do it. Only really upper end builds get finished to Level 5, and the price is almost double.

Here is a link that might be useful: 5 levels of finish

Ok, so we are just talking level of drywall finish. I got level 5. I have never even heard of this but we had the thin skimcoat applied evenly over the entire wall. I actually thought that was the primer initially. The things we learn on GW...

The "2 rollers" were for the entire house. Marking light switches that were "clicky", dirty windows, scratches, spots on the floors. Pretty much anything that was not 100% perfect. Not just walls. You may have gotten a little excessive marking 500 spots on just the walls, or alternately your drywaller sucked really bad.

Perfection? Was your house built by human hands? If so, there is no perfection. On the other hand, there should be good workmanship, which varies radically job by job and region by region.

All work should equal or exceed the standards for the given trade. Everything specified in your owner-builder contract should be provided, installed and completed according to the contract terms.

If you really used 500 pieces of tape just for partition work, then either you are very picky or your framer and dry wall trades did a really bad job. What about the punch-list for the rest of the construction project? Is the rest of the construction as deficient as the partition work?

From what you write, it seems you and your builder are very far apart. Sounds like an on-site discussion is needed with a full punch-list in hand.

Good luck on your project.

I read a difference in your statement. The builder asked for "dints and dings" and "on the walls".
You found 500, but beyond the walls, to floors and not all dints and dings and what I would call "structural" but "cosmetic" needing cleaning, touch ups, etc.
The input he was asking for is in the material, it seems and what you are offering back is perhaps his personal sloppiness along with that.
I would reconsider what he was asking for, and perhaps hire a professional cleaner to remove the residue of the builder's passing, once he is complete.
That way, he does his job, building. And you also get what you wanted.Make sense?
ANOTHER great idea? Ask someone else, a family member, friend, co worker to do the same as you did, and see what their results are.
What that would let you know is if you had possibly been over critical or not, see. Two heads are better than one, and they may see things you overlooked.

Hope this helps.

What level of perfection is realistic? None, perhaps. Perfection , I can't see that in home building.
But well-built vs shoddily done is found.
re÷al÷is÷tic
adjective
1.
having or showing a sensible and practical idea of what can be achieved or expected.
"jobs are scarce at the moment, so you've got to be realistic"
synonyms: practical, pragmatic, matter-of-fact, down-to-earth, sensible, commonsensical, grounded
2.
representing familiar things in a way that is accurate or true to life.
"a realistic human drama"