- Marco Smit
Builder's grade paint
Why do painters use cheaper / inferior paint? The cost of using a premium product is only about $5-10 / gallon more (contractor pricing). This adds up to $100-$200 more on an average house. Most customers would be more than happy to pay for this extra and have a product that is more durable and washable. But most customers are not given an option. These are some of the reasons:
Cost savings, $100 - $200 is still a savings especially if you don’t care about the customer.
Cheaper product sometimes hide better than the more expensive product, the painter might be able to save on an extra coat.
The products have a lower sheen and will not show up the imperfections in the drywall as much. This is why a lot of builders insist on using these types of products. If the drywall is done bad the faults will not show up as much.
Easier to do touchups. Because of the lower sheen it is easier to touchup damages after the wall has been painted. With the premium products if there is damage in the middle of the wall after it has been painted, you might have to repaint the whole wall not just the damaged areas. This is the main reason builders insist on these types of product. After the painter paints the house other trades still have to do their jobs, like electricians, flooring, plumbing, etc. These trades can do damage to the finished wall. Touchups will hen need to be done and the painter will back charge if whole wall have to be painted again.
We at Hi-Tech Painting only use the premium acrylic paints. We care about how the walls look, even after 3-5 years. Using premium paints will triple the life of your wall.