I was in a paint store in the east end of Toronto and I overheard a conversation between the associate and a homeowner.  The basic gist of the conversation was this “I had a quote from so and so

painter and he’s supplying X brand paint. I think the reason that he’s using X brand paint is that he’s getting a big kickback from them.”  

The homeowner seemed to be implying that his painter was using inferior paint, and getting a big kickback from the manufacturer for doing so.  His solution was to supply the paint himself, and just have the painter price out his labour.

Is supplying your own paint the best approach?  Are painters getting kickbacks from the paint store?  Well let’s find out….

It’s true, painting contractors get volume discounts on paint

Just like any other business, if you buy a lot of product you get a volume discount.  A typical homeowner might buy a few hundred dollars of paint every few years. A painting contractor typically buys thousands of dollars worth of paint each year.  This amount of business is very valuable to a paint store, so volume discounts are offered typically between 15-30% depending on the product.

What should a painting contractor do with those “kickbacks”?

Some painting contractors mark up the paint, so that the end client is paying more for the paint than if they supplied it themselves.  This is quite common, and in the free market system, a business should be able to quote whatever price they deem fair.

At CAM Painters we pass on some of the discount to our clients and keep some of it.  Why don’t we pass on the entire discount? Our clients don’t have to go to the paint store to pick up their own paint, using their own gas and time.  They don’t have to research all the products to select which one is the best for their particular application.

Keep in mind that this time and effort on the part of the homeowner is on top of paying full retail for their paint.

Because it’s our time going to the paint store, it’s our gas that we use to pick up the paint, and it’s our time spent researching products, we feel that keeping a portion of the discount compensates us for this.  

So why don’t we let customers supply the paint?  Are we simply doing that to get a discount or kickback?  Actually, when we supply the paint we can offer the best customer experience, let me explain…

We use the best quality paint so we can offer an excellent warrantee

Even if a homeowner was to supplies us with top-line paint from a reputable manufacturer that we’d typically use there can still be potential issues.  We can’t be sure how long it’s been sitting around, or if it was stored at below freezing temperatures, or anything else that could affect its integrity.  

When we supply the paint, we can confidently stand behind our warranties, which is 3 full years for exterior work and 5 full years for interior work.  This also includes 1 hour of free touch ups each year, to keep your home looking its best!

It makes sense for us to supply the most durable product so that it will hold up for the duration of our warrantee.

It allows the work to flow efficiently

When we supply the paint, we can accurately calculate out how much paint we need.  This saves a homeowner purchasing extra gallons which aren’t used.

On the reverse side, if we don’t have enough, we can go out and get more, and the price to our client doesn’t change.  Consider this, if a homeowner purchases the paint and doesn’t purchase enough they have to go out and get more. What if the painter runs out of paint in the middle of the day, either the homeowner has to leave work to go get more paint, or the painter has to wait until the following day to get more paint.  How inefficient is that?!?!

We know what products work

Painting is what we do.  We know which products work better than others because we are the end users.  We also have strong relationships with paint stores, so we can get the best advice.  So our clients get their homes transformed with products that have been selected collaboratively by both the applier and the manufacturer, which is the best of both worlds.

In conclusion

In order for us to provide the best painting experience for our wonderful clients, it’s essential that we supply the paint for our painting projects.  So if you’d like us to Transform Your Home With Lasting Beauty why don’t you book a quote?