Why painting white may cost you more?

White is one of the most popular neutral colors being used in the condo and house painting.

White is coming back as one of interior designers’ favorite colors after gray has dominated condo and house painting for the past five year.

It is because white is simple and is easy to decorate.

However, as professional painters in Toronto, we know white is one of the hardest color to paint especially for color changes.

First, let’s look at how many white colors are available for condo and house painting.

White can be divided into three categories, stock white, soft white and cool white.

Stock white, it is the white color straight from the paint cans. it is used to make any other colors, such as gray, green, yellow and etc. It is considered as pure white and can be applied on walls. However, some people may not feel comfortable for their eyes because it is too white.

Soft white, it is the stock white tinted with color gold. one of the popular soft white is called cloud white.

Cool white, it is the stock white tinted with black. it is grayish white. one of the popular cold white is called decorator’s white

Soft white and Cool white are used often by professional painters in Toronto because they has better coverage than stock white. However, those two whites have less hide ability comparing them with other neutral colors, such as gray.

If you want to know more about white, read Kylie M’s blog “the 8 best Benjamin Moore white paint color” 

Now, let’s look at why painting white may cost you more

In this article, I am not talking about painting white over white or on new bare drywall.

I am talking about painting white over any none white colors.

First, let’s understand how professional painters in Toronto calculate the painting estimate. 

When you look for painting quote, the most question professional painters ask is what is the size of your condo or house.

The reason is that professional painters in Toronto need to evaluate how much time they need to spend on the job to calculate total labor hours by knowing the size of your house and condo.

The other reason is to calculate the material cost, for instance, the number of gallons of paint is used on the job.

Therefore, your painting estimate = the total number of labor hours + the total number of gallons of paint.

The less hours spend on the job, the cheaper the quote is.

Let’s look at the example below to better understand why painting white cost you more.

This is one of our painting projects in Vaughan Ontario. as you can see, the condo was painted with gray and deep brown on walls.

The new owner wanted to brighten the space and decided to go with Benjamin Moore color called snowfall white

In general, a two bedroom condo around 800 to 900 sqft requires total 24 labor hours and 6 gallons of paint to complete the job including all prep works, applying two coats on walls and clean up the space.

Since the new owner went with white, we spent total of 36 labor hours and 9 gallons of paint / primer to complete the job.

The reason we spend more hours and paint on this project is because white trends to be transparent and has less coverage and hide ability. Plus, white is the base for making any other colors. you are going backwards when painting white over any none white colors.

For this condo painting project, we applied total of three coats to cover the previous color completely. 

The room that normally requires two gallons of paint needs three gallons due to the additional third coats.

If you still remember the formula professional painters in Toronto use to calculate the estimate mentioned above, I think you now understand why the price goes up.

It is because painting white requires more labor hours and paint / primer especially for color changes.