These seem to be just average paints, anything more fancy you will pay extra for, i.e. Benjamin Moore Aura.

Pay your contractor for the paint -- maybe $350.00, maybe less or a bit more depending on his discount at SW, then choose the paint you want.

Standard for whom ? I don't think you can yell at the contractor. It is probably standard for him. You should of had it specified in the contract as to the type of paint.

I had our whole home interior painted and the painter ensured I selected a brand, line, color, and sheen before starting. You'll have to eat this mistake.

I disagree. I hired the contractor for a residential project and there was no discussion that he would be using a paint intended for multi units and rental properties. This paint is literally the cheapest stuff you can buy... you guys consider it standard? Come on.

Either way I spoke to him and he said his painter made a mistake and they will use this paint for initial coats and then use SW Superpaint. So we are fine now.

Glad it worked out, but "standard" is a meaningless word. It just means its .... standard, or what they usually use. If they paint a lot of rental properties then for them that would be "standard."

Maybe. But I am paying him $13k to paint 2500 square feet and nothing in any of our dealings would let him know that I am OK with cheap/low end materials or paint. The total project is close to $100k, and he knows I am not looking to cut corners. Based on my conversations with him, there is nothing that would let him know that we would be OK with him using cheap paint.

"Either way I spoke to him and he said his painter made a mistake and they will use this paint for initial coats and then use SW Superpaint."

And if you would not have seen this or called him out on it that Prop Solution and Pro Mar would have been on your walls and you would be none the wiser. Mistake my ass.

I believe the ProMar 400 is SW's Contractor-Top-of-the-Line paint and Super Paint is the first level in their specialty paint category. The ProMar 400 is less forgiving in its application i.e., your painter needs to be a, well, skilled painter. Have a look at how SW compares the performance of their various paints:

https://images.sherwin-williams.com/content_images/sw-pdf-quality-compare-guide.pdf

haha! He was just seeing what he could get away with IMO. You called him out on it and he says he's not going to use the contractor grade stuff.

My answer would be no to any application of the lower tier product - not acceptable.

Next question is how can you guarantee they're going to apply what you specify.

After what happened, it's not unreasonable to ask to see dated receipts and do a daily count of empty buckets until they're done painting.

You own the buckets the paint came in and you can tell them to save the empty ones for you. Either destroy the buckets (drill holes in the bottom) or take 'em home with you.

Because they will pull them out of the dumpster. You wouldn't believe what they'll come up with.

"$13k to paint 2500 square feet and nothing in any of our dealings would let him know that I am OK with cheap/low end materials or paint. The total project is close to $100k, and he knows I am not looking to cut corners"

But you did cut corners by not specifically stating the products that you wanted. Isn't a high-dollar budget requisite of a high-dollar discussion regarding products? Why did you accept standard without inquiry?

Don't assume that a contractor can infer your level of quality, luxury, expectation on every aspect. My project was $5,000 and everything was spelled out exactly the way I wanted it.

My standard word for this is haughty.

"nothing in any of our dealings would let him know that I am OK with cheap/low end materials or paint"

Apparently nothing in you dealings let him know that you WEREN'T OK with it either.

"But you did cut corners by not specifically stating the products that you wanted. Isn't a high-dollar budget requisite of a high-dollar discussion regarding products? Why did you accept standard without inquiry?

Don't assume that a contractor can infer your level of quality, luxury, expectation on every aspect. My project was $5,000 and everything was spelled out exactly the way I wanted it."

You're right. And I assumed that I would not need to specify every last thing to the general contractor; at the very least I thought he would want to set expectations with me, ask me about the things that were unspecified. But apparently you can't make any assumptions in this business. I'm glad you had enough foresight and expertise to specify everything necessary to guarantee a perfect outcome.

" Apparently nothing in you dealings let him know that you WEREN'T OK with it either. "

I figured "standard" paint was sufficient. If it had said "low-end" or "low-quality" or "economy tier" paint I would have called it out.

That quality level might very well be standard for that contractor, especially if he does lots of property management work. This seems to be a mismatch of expectations and I believe it should be the contractor who would specify the details of his version of standard. Standard is another way to say "the usual" "reasonable and customary" "the typical" and in this case cheap builder grade junk.

I see no need for a "big argument." Being reasonable and rational will get you much more goodwill. Simply explain what you've said here....that you thought the quote included a better quality paint and that you'd prefer he use XYZ paint instead. See what he says. Obviously you both failed to clarify what specific paint would be used so pointing fingers would be useless. Find out what it would take to switch at this point and be prepared to compensate him for the paint already purchased. Could the paint be used somewhere in the home less perceivable such as closets, maybe? Better yet, put it on Craigslist or a Facebook Buy Sell Trade page and see if you can sell it to recoup costs. There are lots of ways to try to fix your "problem" without a big argument.

And FWIW, our painting contractors used this "cheap builder grade junk" in our home and it looked great and held up great with four kids. We used eggshell in the Property Solutions.

Contractor-grade paints, properly applied, can look great and perform well. Higher quality level paints are more forgiving in their application by non-paint professionals--like me-- who are willing to pay more to cover in fewer coats because I detest painting.