The hand built wheels I got did not have proper tension out of the box. I had the LBS go over them a few times and the rear finally stayed true but the front would wobble in less than 30 miles. I trued it again myself and basically started over from scratch and it has been solid for 2 years now.

The cheap machine wheels I bought needed two rounds of truing and about 100 miles before they stayed true and they have not budged in the last 1500 miles or so.

Whenever I bought Mavics or Fulcrums, I never ever had to touch the spokes but the front axle was a few mm's off center in the last set of Fulcrums. Once I figured that out, the wheel was great. Seems they they had high tension right out of the box while the other wheels were just assembled and not tensioned or finished very well.

I guess it boils down to luck of the draw unless you get them from a real craftsman.