Painting entire house interior - Dulux or trade centre for best deal?

I have just looked through my builder's spec and he has specified Dulux Vinyl Matt Emulsion as the paint they will use throughout the house.

• is this a good idea or should I request that he go to a trade centre or factory shop for a better deal?
• has anyone used Dulux Easycare paint and found it worth the extra money? I've just had a baby and am hoping to have more so I expect the walls (planned to be off-white) to go through a bit of bashing!

Thanks!

Hubby is a painter and sez that the trade centre should make up any paint that your builder is looking for and this would be the best value. He also sez that the easycare paint is not worth the extra money.

He says to be careful of how much they say the paint is costing - they will have a receipt and he suggests that you ask for it. If you need any more info give me a shout!!

Best of luck with the work.

Don't interpret scals's "best value" too cautiously. It's not slightly lower quality at a much lower price; it's the same quality at a lower price.

Professionals generally use "trade paints" because they are as good as other paints, but at a better price. They frequently come from the same production lines as the premium branded paints; they don't carry an advertising/promotion overhead, which is a major reason why they are cheaper.

Ok so is my builder just stupid then for suggesting Dulux? Seeing as I am living in a different country I wouldn't be surprised if he is planning on buying trade centre paint in a colour matched to whatever choice I make in Dulux....

and seeing as Easycare paint says you can literally scrub it you're sure it's not better value? I am choosing an off-white for basically the entire house and I have a baby so.....

I have some of the Easycare in my place and does stand up well to srubbing off the occasional mark.
Leo

Dulux is being specified because if he said 'X brand' paint most people would go 'what rubbish is that?'

By specifying Dulux you have the comfort of knowing its a brand name paint with brand name customer service and backup. The fact that your builder might save 10-15% by buying the trade brand version ususally is fair enough as you will have agreed a price based on what the market price of Dulux paint is. He needs a small margin to cover collection etc and if anything is wrong with the product.

As far as Easycare goes, any paint that is washable or has low VOC content is well worth a few extra euro. Imagine the cost of repainting in 2 years to remove handprints? Much easier to wash the walls several times and repaint in 4-5 years.

Interesting....so am I better off sticking with Dulux and upgrading to Easycare or should I find a trade centre that offers a washable paint?

If the paint supply is your detail I would stick to the Dulux and pay the extra for easycare. That way there can be no issues with bad batches or other problems.

If your builder is supplying the paint and you have a specification that indicates what you need. If the paint falls short of the mark, it will be his problem.

Personally I would be going for Colourtrend if it was my choice. Sorry, don't mean to upset the apple cart by confusing the issue.

Just make sure that if you are paying the extra for Dulux or easycare - that that's what the builder/painter is actually using....... Im not being overcautious - hubby often has to redo work that other painters did - but they used inferior paints.

hi , you should consider using Colortrend washable matt as it is the same price as dulux easycare but much better quality. i have been painting most of my life and find colortrend far superior than any dulux paint. if you consider how long colortrend lasts it works out much better value in the long run. it is 100% acrylic so is scrubbable and the colours are fantastic. well worth further investigation.