Is this contractor right regarding one coat of paint?

Shpigford

So we're currently getting bids from various contractors about painting the entire interior of our new home.

We'll just be getting walls painted (no door frames, baseboards, etc).

The walls will have a "primer" white already on them from the builder.

A contractor told me today that he could undoubtedly paint all the walls a light-medium beige color in one coat without a problem using any mid-level paint (such as "top of the line Behr" or a Sherwin Williams SuperPaint).

Is this guy yanking my chain? Or is that really doable?

Workaholic

You can do it, it just kind of depends on what shade of finish is selected.

More than likely he will try to lay it on heavy and hope that you will not be to picky. In all reality if you look at the walls you will see very faint white in the roll and maybe the cut in.

Another way to do this is to roll a quick coat on the walls, cut in the room, go right back over the cut in and then put the top coat on walls.

Both of these are not true 2 coats of finish.

If you are wanting a quality job then pay someone to give you 2 coats of desired color with a sanding of the walls thrown in, and maybe fixing any drywall problems as well. Of course to do this you will have to pay a premium rate.

I would stay clear from behr paints, they are not a quality paint.

__________________
Sean

slickshift

Yup
Basically he may "get away with it"
But it's not a premium job
I would wonder what other corners he's going to cut also


...and there's no such thing as different quality "lines" of Behr
Just one
Different products, yes, but there's no premium/mid/cheapo lines or anything
It's all cheapo stuff
(and pretty overpriced crappy stuff at that, you can get the same quality at Job Lots for less)

Da Vinci

Ummm, Behr and Super Paint in the same sentence? I'd think twice just on that comment.

That being said, a heavy coat of off white over white will look halfway decent, but not professional inspection good. If budget is tight you can try, just don't expect perfection. It would be better if primer could be tinted, gives topcoat better chance of working in one coat.

Bob
Alamo CA Bay Area Painting Contractor

slickshift

Yeah, a maintenance coat is different...same color done before it needs to be done

Workaholic

Without a doubt same color one coat, no problem.

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Sean