I'm having two houses and a garage painted and found a crew to do the power washing and painting along with replacing some T-111 siding on one house. Their labor seemed about in line with today's high cost and they can start in a couple weeks so I thought I better line up what brand and type of paint, and the color.

I was surprised there were few independent paint dealers left. The Benny Moore store closed down so most people I talked with said around here it's pretty much Lowes, Sherwin Williams, and Menards. The few contractors I spoke with used S-W so I stopped by the S-W store and found their "cheap" acrylic exterior paint was $60 and their top of the line was $130! Needless to say one could save 30-35% catching a sale at the right time or getting a contractor discount but that still means almost $90 for one gallon of house paint.

Given what labor costs, buying cheap paint doesn't make sense so I'll just pay the price but I was a little taken back because it seems like it wasn't very long ago that top of the line exterior paint sold for $40. Anyway this is my bitch.

Sherwin Williams Superpaint is about all I use for interior painting.
Not cheap, but it's good stuff.

We've been lucky to catch sales & it's more in the $40-60/gal range

Back in the 1960"s remember a brand "Mary Carter" that was as low as $2.00 per gallon and the high end paint was $5.00 per gallon...... drill sgt.

I think I saw paint at Walmart for $15 last year and Walmart brand is what's on the one house now actually.

Sherwin Williams has always been expensive paint

I painted my kitchen back in 2009 and remember their paint was like 80 bucks a gallon when HD was $25-30

For me I use Behr brand from HD, the second down from their top of the line stuff works for me and with veterans discount is around $45 a can

We just recoated the roof of our houseboat - $180/gal for the highly recommended urethane plus $165 to ship 4 gallons. To make it even worse the mixed color was no where near their color chip so not only did we spend a grand on 4 gallons of paint, but it's a light blue vs bright white. Good news is that the paint itself looks like it's going to live up to the hype and I'll just have to deal with a blue roof until we recoat in 5 years.

I remember when $100 got you a 5 gallon bucket.

You think that is expensive, go price a gallon of good quality automotive paint.....get braced!!

Want an another shock. Look at bottom paint for boats.

I know some car and specialty paint costs over $100 per quart. But we're just talking house paint, 3 big old wooden structures and I'm going to need at least 25 gallons.

Why aren't your painters buying the paint for you? They get a big discount. Here all of the painters and companies supply the paint, otherwise they won't warranty it if there are any issues. I get the same discount they get on SW and Emerald exterior paint, 5 gallon buckets were around $225 a bucket.

The painters don't care but actually prefer I buy and pick it up.
I negotiated a 45% business account discount with S-W but even at that their Satin Emerald lists for 112 a gallon or $535 per 5, so $294 with the discount.

I just bought 10 gal of S-W latitude exterior paint for a rental house. $60 a gal. Sherwin Williams paint is all I use. $1500 labor to spray the house with 2 coats, washing the house a few day prior with TSP was done by me. They are starting on it this morning. I'm hoping the 10 gal is enough.

That's nothing. Paint the bottom of your boat. My bottom paint runs $86 per quart. Takes 4= quarts to paint the bottom.

My guess is that your painters don't have an account with SW, otherwise they'd get the contractor price on the paint, add a bit of markup and still be well below SW's retail prices.

I help my painter contractor paint from time to time. They entry level interior paint is $30 and exterior is $35/gal. Then it goes up from there to about $60+/gal. The Emerald stuff is pricey, but not as much as you've quoted.

Anywho, good luck with the paint job. Prep is half the work.

Paint is expensive these days. Your price with discount at SW is in line with our cost as a contractor but not a painter and we don’t buy a lot of paint. A real painter buys large quantities will get a better discount.

I would be a little cautious about a painter that wants you to buy the paint. A real painter will get a better discount and have a relationship with the local shop.

quote:

Originally posted by Calif Phil:
I just bought 10 gal of S-W latitude exterior paint for a rental house. $60 a gal. Sherwin Williams paint is all I use. $1500 labor to spray the house with 2 coats, washing the house a few day prior with TSP was done by me. They are starting on it this morning. I'm hoping the 10 gal is enough.

I'll bet your neighbors are green with envy!

quote:

Given what labor costs, buying cheap paint doesn't make sense so I'll just pay the price but I was a little taken back because it seems like it wasn't very long ago that top of the line exterior paint sold for $40. Anyway this is my bitch.

Titanium dioxide is the expensive culprit. It is the main ingredient in paint as well as Oreo cookies. I toured the Dupont plant here and saw how huge the profit margin was on that stuff.

They have a sale on Sherwin Williams right now for 35 percent off. "SUPEREMRLD" is the code.