Is Buying Expensive Quality Paint Worth the Money?

Quality paint is generally more expensive than other paints, but not necessarily. The common saying, “you get what you pay for” is mostly true, but not always. It is the opinion of many professional painters that even the cheaper paints at your local Sherwin-Williams, PPG, and Benjamin Moore are higher quality than many of the “higher quality”, most expensive paints at the local big box store. When using cheaper paints, you will find that the coverage is not as good and requires more coats. In the long run, after painting multiple rooms, you will learn that more gallons will be required with cheaper paint than more expensive paint. At the end of the day, one could buy twice the amount of paint and spend twice the amount of time with cheaper paint than spending extra per gallon for quality paint that has better coverage. This applies to any exterior painting or interior painting you may be planning.

Why Quality Paint is Worth the Cost

Why do some paints cost more than others? If you know very little about the paint industry, when shopping for paint, the price per gallon may come as a surprise. Keep in mind many of the advantages that using a quality paint can provide. Once you learn the differences between expensive paint and cheaper paints, you will understand the higher price can seem the more reasonable price and the extra cost per gallon is well worth the investment. Some of the benefits include:

Better Coverage + Fewer Coats + Time Savings = Cost Savings

Paint Coverage – Cheaper paints use less of the essential materials that go into a quality paint. It may be hard to explain and better for you to try yourself, but you will notice a difference in how smoothly the paint goes on and the coverage. Quality paint is thicker and made to give even coverage in as few coats as possible, the type of coverage a cheaper paint cannot provide. What about paint + primer paint? No such thing. Just a thicker paint and still does not cover as well as using quality paint.

Number of Coats – Most painting projects only take 1-2 coats of paint when quality paint is used. When cheaper paints are used, you could find the number of coats could double or triple to equal the coverage of quality paint. This fact is especially noticeable when trying to paint over darker colors. To avoid multiple unnecessary coats, using quality paint can save on your overall materials cost.

Time Involved – Similarly, when using quality paint and having to apply fewer coats, less time is involved in the painting process. When you only need to apply 2 coats, that is also less time you must wait for the paint to dry enough for the next coat. Because of coverage and dry time, using better paint will allow whoever is painting to complete a room in 1-day vs multiple days. Less time equals less money.

Overall Cost – Between better coverage, fewer coats, and time savings, one can see there is an argument to be made that choosing a quality, more expensive paint can be less expensive overall than using a cheaper, less quality paint. When painting a large project, the price totals can add up quickly when you consider how many gallons of paint you will need. Even if the cheaper paint is half the price of a gallon of quality paint, if twice the amount of cheaper paint is used, one may believe it cost the same, right? Not correct, when time is factored in, there’s twice the amount of labor and dry time involved.

Durability is another difference between expensive paint and cheaper paint we have not discussed yet. As stated earlier, cheaper paint uses less material which also affects durability on top of coverage and other points we’ve made in this post. When customers ask us about durability, many are also implying the ability to hold up to their kids. Using quality paint could mean not just its ability to fade less over time, but wash-ability, scratch resistance, fingerprints, stains, or even nose marks (for the pet owners out there). Using quality paints could resist some of those scenarios better than cheaper paint. We will admit, however, there is no paint can hold up to someone or something putting a hole in the wall (oops).

Hopefully, we’ve helped you with any question you may have on the benefits between choosing quality paint over a cheaper paint. Whether you’re hiring a contractor of choice to tackle the paint job yourself, knowing the difference between paints can help you figure out which is the best option for your scenario.

Need a House Painter?

If you’re looking for a house painters Indianapolis that can serve your needs, weather interior painting or exterior painting, consider Legacy Painting. We not only use quality paints; we ensure a smooth project from start to finish. We primarily serve Indy and the surrounding areas of Carmel, Westfield, Greenwood, Plainfield, Greenfield, and Martinsville regions.

If you have a property in the Indy metro looking for a commercial, industrial or residential painter, contact Legacy Painting today! Call (317) 426-7228