Benjamin Moore Wins Top Interior-Paint Spot in J.D. Power Ranking

Interior paint and coatings products from Benjamin Moore & Co., Porter Paints and The Sherwin-Williams Company finished one-two-three in the newly issued J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Interior Paint Satisfaction Study, reported to measure customer satisfaction among purchasers and users of interior paint during the past year.
Benjamin Moore ranks highest in customer satisfaction with interior paint with a score of 791 on a 1,000-point scale, J.D. Power said in announcing the results of the study.
Hard on the heels of Benjamin Moore were Porter (789), owned by PPG Industries Inc., and Sherwin-Williams (788).
Benjamin Moore “performs particularly well in three of the six factors: application, product offerings and design guides,” J.D. Power said in announcing the rankings.
The study’s customer satisfaction index rankings are shown in the chart here. Survey findings are detailed at Interior Paint Study.
The study, now it its fifth year, examines five key factors of the “painting experience”: application; offerings (including variety of colors and finishes); durability; price; and warranty/guarantee. The study, however, focuses on retail consumers and not professional paint users.
J.D. Power said overall satisfaction with interior paint brands increased considerably, to an average of 770 on a 1,000 point scale in 2011 from 754 in 2010. Satisfaction has increased in five of the six factors included in the study—all except design guides. The most notable improvements have occurred in the warranty, product offerings, application, and durability factors, the company said of the study’s findings.
“The highest-performing brands in the study also benefit from the highest levels of customer loyalty,” said Christina Cooley, senior manager of the real estate and construction industries practice at J.D. Power. “Among customers of some of these brands, the proportion who say they definitely will purchase the brand of paint again averages as high as 50%, which is considerably greater than the industry average of 36%,” Cooley said.

The study finds that a majority of customers—54%—rely primarily on their past experience with paint brands when shopping for interior paint. More than one-fourth (26%) say they rely on recommendations from store salespersons, family and friends or a contractor or designer professional. An additional 10% of customers consider paint brands primarily based on the in-store product displays.
“It’s particularly important for consumers to do their research prior to purchasing paint at a retailer; with brands constantly introducing new product lines, customers may limit themselves if they don’t consider the new offerings available,” said Cooley.
The study also finds that paint customers choose a paint brand primarily based on past experience, quality and color and texture.
Increase Noted in Hiring of Painters to do the Job
The study findings also include the following key trends:

• A majority of customers in 2011 indicate they applied the paint themselves (82%). More customers in 2011 say they hired a painter or handyman to apply the paint for them (16%), compared with 2010 (11%).
• More than one-half of paint customers (53%) say they do not apply primer to their walls prior to applying the first coat of paint. The percentage of customers who purchase paint that includes primer, however, has increased from 12% in 2010 to 17% in 2011.

The 2011 U.S. Interior Paint Satisfaction Study is based on responses from more than 8,900 customers who purchased and applied interior paint within the previous 12 months. The study was fielded between March and April 2011.

Guesstamating vs. Estimating

Let's say you go out to a job and there's 100 feet of wall 9 feet high that needs to be primed and painted 2 coats. You look at the wall and figure that will take about a day to do. You go out to another job and there's 120 feet of wall 9 feet high that needs to be primed and painted 2 coats. You look at the wall and figure that it will take about a day to finish it. Guess what, you're guesstimating!
If you really want to make money consistently on each and every one of your jobs you need to estimate your jobs, not guesstimate them. Accurate estimating is crucial to your long term financial health.
Let me tell you how paint estimating should be done if you want to make money. Everything you do needs to be measurable for labor, materials and equipment. How do you do that?
Using our wall as an example, we need to find out how many squre feet of wall can be painted one coat in an hour. Let's say you know from experience it takes an hour per 300 sf to apply a coat of paint. So, for the 100 foot wall, 9 feet tall, you need to bid 3 hours per coat, or 9 hours toal, plus 3 gals of paint. For the 120 foot wall you need to bid 3.6 hours per coat, or 10.8 hours total, plus 4 gals of paint.  When you're guesstimating, which way too many contractors do, you're frequently either leaving money on the table or over bidding and not getting the job. Most of the time money is left on the table because you're eager to get the job.
Estimating is not a perfect science, but it beats the heck out of guesstimating. You may be asking yourself "how do I really know that I'm using the right standards for my estimating?" How do you know for sure that it takes 1 hour per 300 sf of wall per coat?

Estimating and Job Cost - the Secret to Making Money

In order to be confident in estimating, you need to measure your results. That's the only way to be sure that your estimating correctly is to measure your results. In the wall example above, let's say it only took 8 hours to paint the wall. You probably would modify your time for future estimates from 300 sf per hour to 338 sf per hour per coat.
That's how you make money consistently from job to job to job. Do everything in measurable units, measure the results and adjust your estimating for future projects.