Im VERY satisfied and proud of ALL the ARF's I have built!
I think through experience, I have become a pretty good arf assembler,now with that said,I have seen some pretty poorly looking asembled new arfs, so I think you have to have a little patience and talent even with ARF's.
You just don't throw an ARF together if you want it to look desent and im particular on cosmetics of the plane.
As for the builders of kits,unless they are retired,I do not see them at the field very often,either working or building the airplane,I myself like to fly and not build,I am in the process of building a kit but a very slow go..hard to keep focused.