Painting your house can be a fun and exciting time.
The ability of a simple can of paint to transform your living space is almost remarkable.
If you have yet to take on a painting project and experience the satisfaction that it can give, we strongly urge you to consider doing so.
The only real problem with taking on a large painting project is that the price of paint tends to get quite expensive.
To do a project right, you must use primer and two coats of topcoat paint.
Certainly, the costs of this project are going to add up quite fast.
If you have ever wondered why paint is so expensive, we have all the answers you need.
Why Is Paint So Expensive?
1. Coverage
Paint is expected to cover an area and keep it covered for quite some time.
When you purchase a lower quality paint, the coverage is not going to be as good.
Not only will you have to add extra coats, but the paint will not last a long time on the wall either.
Excellent paint is designed to give an area complete coverage and allow it to totally hide the wall and any imperfections.
Of course, in order to do so, the formula for the paint needs to be highly engineered.
Not only do paint manufacturers need to make sure that the paint is going to cover, but they have to make sure that the color and the longevity are in place as well.
Therefore, there is quite a bit of engineering that goes into a single can of paint.
All of this engineering will eventually result in a higher cost for the person purchasing the paint.
However, for people who are purchasing paint, this reason for the higher expensive should be fairly well justified.
You will not want to have any issues with paint over the long term, and the thick and complete coverage will ensure that.
As fun as it can be to transform a wall or a room of your home, you won’t want to have to do this every few years.
In fact, having to do it every ten years is sometimes too often.
When it comes time to purchase paint, spend a little more and get something that will give you great coverage.
2. Color
If you have been at all involved in a painting project, you know that white paint is not white paint.
There are hundreds of shades of white paint, and you will get a headache trying to figure out which one is the best for your home.
It can take people weeks just to choose that perfect shade of white that they need for their home.
The fact that there are so many color options and that the color in the paint cannot fade is a reason paint is so expensive.
You will notice that, over time, certain paint colors will fade, or they may start to yellow a bit.
However, most homeowners will not expect this to happen for many years.
In order to create hundreds of colors, paint manufacturers have to have very sophisticated coloring formulas, and they have to make them available to a general database for paint shops to use.
There is also mixing and testing that is involved in the paint and coloring process.
Overall, you will find that the fact that you have access to so many colors to paint your home is undoubtedly going to add to the cost you pay for paint.
Some high-quality paints are only available in certain color combinations, and that is done so that the color will maintain its intensity throughout the life of the paint job.
When it comes to interior design and the overall look of your home, the colors are very important.
As crazy as it may sound, if the color is off by just a shade or two, there will be very noticeable differences.
If you talked to the major manufacturers about the color issues and managing and creating these colors, they will tell you it’s a major part of their business.
Keep this in mind the next time you purchase a huckleberry blue for your dining room.
Chances are it took quite a long time and several people just to come up with a name and a formula for the color!
3. Longevity
Paint manufacturers have an interesting dilemma.
Paint needs to be made to last, yet it also needs to be safe enough for us to be around.
If you have noticed the recent trends, paints are becoming more and more environmentally friendly.
For many years, the harsh smells and fumes were making people sick and giving them breathing issues.
Paint manufacturers are now releasing low VOC paints that are just as durable, yet it won’t hurt you to be around them.
Although this is a positive for the paint industry, it has certainly increased the prices that we pay for paints.
The hardest part for the paint manufacturers is that paint needs to last.
People expect to get between five and ten years out of a paint job.
They also expect that the paint will hold up well against children’s fingerprints, dust, dirt, a dog’s muddy tail, and anything else that it may encounter.
If the paint is chipping off the wall or discoloring just by people going through their day-to-day life, then this is going to create a bad reputation for the paint manufacturer.
Trying to create products that will hold up, be safe enough to use, and maintain their color is quite expensive.
When you purchase paint, the manufacturer assumes that you won’t be a customer again for several years.
As we have discussed before, on these types of infrequent purchases, you almost always see an increase in price.
The price increase comes from the cost to acquire a customer and taking advantage of selling to that customer while you have them in front of you.
Longevity is going to increase the price we pay for paint.
4. Ability to Transform a Space
When you paint a room, it can be completely transformed.
The fact that you can change your entire home by simply using a can of paint will make it quite a bit more expensive to purchase.
Most of the time, when you think about home renovations, people think thousands of dollars.
However, sometimes a $50 can of paint can make a space completely new again.
Not only can paint be used on walls, but it can be used on cabinets and furniture as well.
The versatility of the product and the ability of the paint to change the home will increase the overall price.
When people purchase homes, they will look at the overall cost of the home, and then they will look at the money they will need to spend to fix it up.
You will hear most people say something like, “It just needs paint.”
This is considered a positive because of the lower cost of paint compared to other expensive design interventions.
Of course, this also gives the paint manufacturers and the retailers a bit of room to charge more for the paint that they sell.
Certainly, it’s hard to argue the cost of the paint when you know how different it will make your house.
The problems don’t really start to come up until you look at doing a few rooms or putting paint on a deck or other outdoor area.
Outdoor paints tend to cost quite a bit more than indoor paints, and this is typically because of the type of conditions that the outdoor paints need to be capable of handling.
5. Marketing
The price that we pay for any product always has some marketing cost wrapped up in the total.
The marketing costs helps the manufacturer to win the business of its consumers.
You may not think that there is much marketing involved with paint, but you would be wrong!
Two of the main paint companies are Sherwin Williams and Benjamin Moore.
These paint manufacturers both make high-quality premium paints designed to hold up for quite some time.
Using these paints is considered to give homeowners a better finish and a richer look to their homes.
Of course, Home Depot and Lowe’s are also going to compete to try and sell their paints, which are generally priced considerably lower.
Most professional painters will tell you that, for certain projects like painting a closet or using a primer, the Home Depot and Lowe’s paints are more than adequate.
However, there are times for high-end finishes and difficult paint jobs where the formulas from the premium paint manufacturers will stand out as the best.
Benjamin Moore has a line of colors called the Historical Collection.
Many Homeowners’ Associations across the nation will only allow you to paint your home with certain colors from Benjamin Moore’s Historical Collection.
This has all come about because of marketing and the concept that has been instilled in people about these products being premium and better than anything else out there.
Most of the time, a homeowner will become loyal to one paint brand, and every time they do a project, they will choose that brand.
This certainly helps when it comes to matching colors and getting help from the personnel at the paint warehouses as well.
Although a portion of why paint is so expensive is related to marketing, it is certainly not the main reason.
As long as you are able to determine what is a good product and what is not so good based on the truth and the ingredients, then you should have no trouble finding a great paint for your next project.
How to Save Money on Paint
Now that we have covered why paint is so expensive, it’s a good idea to look at how you can save money on paint.
As we mentioned, there are some brands that sell their products for considerably less money.
Although this is a nice benefit, the product is not necessarily as good.
One great way to save money on paint is to purchase when there is a sale and to buy in bulk.
If Sherwin Williams or Benjamin Moore is running a sale, make sure you think about all of your painting projects for the next few months.
Sometimes, if you spend more than a certain amount of money, they will give you a bit of an extra discount.
Another option is to let your painter purchase the paint for you.
Painters get significant discounts, and if they are doing the project, ask them to purchase the paint using their discount.
This will save you quite a bit of money and make things run a little smoother as a painter picks out the product that they prefer to work with.
Although paint can be an expensive product, you can truly change the look of your home with a gallon of paint.
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