When painting the interior or exterior of your home, the choice of paints can be mind-boggling. If cost is a concern you might consider cheaper paints. You might think that paying top-dollar for the best paint isn’t necessary, because cheaper paints can provide similar quality, leaving you with the question: Are premium paints really worth it?

F & F Painting chooses to use premium paints from brands including Benjamin Moore and Sherwin Williams, and here’s why:

The downsides of cheaper paint

Cheaper paint doesn’t always go as far as your more premium brands. This is because the cheaper paint typically has less solids-content, so you need more of it to provide an even coverage – costing more money and time. Premium paints can require less coats, so the cost evens out.

One of the other major cost factors to consider is time. It can take a few hours to a day for a coat of paint to dry. Premium paints may not always dry quicker, but they require less coats, so less time waiting around between coats. If you’re paying a professional to paint your home, that means less time paying and waiting for them too.

Choose premium for a better finish

If you want a better or specialist finish, you may want to choose a premium paint option. Paints consist of three major components: pigments, resins and solvents.

Resins help to bind the pigment for even coverage and provides gloss. The more you spend on paint, the higher quality resins you have; this can help if you want certain finishes like eggshell, satin etc. A paint that says “100 percent acrylic” is a good indicator of good quality resin content.

Premium paints tend to have better-quality pigments than less-expensive paints, they can also be finer too. Finer pigments can help to provide richer, more intense color which is closer to the color on the swatch.

Choose premium for longer-lasting paint

You know what they say. You get what you pay for, and that goes for paint as much as so many other things. The more money you spend on paint, the greater the chance of it lasting longer without chipping, cracking or fading. Premium paints can last as much as twice as long than cheaper options.

The case for primer

A quality painter will use a primer before applying the paint for the best results. This can cost more time and money but it also helps to provide a more even coat, without unattractive patches and blemishes. When painting on-top of a darker color, primer can also help to provide a more amenable surface to apply the paint to, so less of it may be needed.

Some premium paints are manufactured with primer already in them.

Typically if your weighing up whether premium paints are worth it, you are likely to consider cost and time. Though cheaper paints can cost you less upfront, if you need more coats, you’ll be buying more, and if it doesn’t last as long, you’ll be painting it again sooner. If quality is important to you then it’s worth investing in the premium paint to give yourself the best quality finish; once it’s all done and painted you’re stuck with it until you next paint again, so you may as well get it looking the best if you can afford it.

So when looking for paint, or choosing a painting company, don’t simply dismiss them because they’re more expensive, but take the time to consider the benefits they can bring instead.