Cycle Art does not generally "cut corners", but they do have various paint quality levels or categories (1, 2, 3, etc). They also charge to put decals on, and then clear coat over them. So someone wanting to go cheap could have the paint job done, then apply the decals themselves over the clearcoat. You may be able to contact Cycle Art (Jim Cunningham) with photos of the bike and they could tell you what the situation was with this particular bike.