This is not a building defect, this is saving at the wrong end, or simply ignorance. For some, it happens during construction, for others during car repair or whatever. Depending on the adhesive and reinforcing mortar, one can often save the use of dowels. If the insulation, besides the plaster, has to bear additional loads, e.g. natural stone windowsills, then dowels are used pointwise.
Microcracks exist in the plaster, which can expand more or less depending on the material thickness and can absorb moisture. Where the dowels are, the mortar layer is thicker, hence the unevenness. This often happens when the plaster is not painted afterward.
Good results are achieved by painting the facade after the plaster is applied, for example with a "lotus effect" paint from a specialized retailer and having algicides and fungicides mixed into the paint at the store. The lotus effect ensures that water adheres less to the surface and algicides and fungicides ensure that no algae can grow on it. And paint twice, then everything has been done properly.
The money for the dowels would have been better spent on good paint. Lotusan G is, for example, a good paint, but there are other good ones as well.