Need some paint, don’t want to pay the earth but obviously dont want the cheap and nasty, false economy stuff either.

Where to buy the best value paint?

B&Q, Homebase, The Range, Wickes, Wilkinsons, Boyes?

Dont want anything fancy, just white and magnolia emulsion.

Insight much appreciated.

Ta.

B&M or Screwfix.

a builders merchant. somewhere that does the trade dulux stuff. like travis perkins. it is much better than the consumer stuff you get in b&q

it is much better than the consumer stuff you get in b&q

but (particularly for white and magnolia) the chances are you’ll get a better price for Dulux trade paint in B&Q than you will as a cash customer at a trade counter. The ready mixed own brand stuff in B&Q is so-so but the Trade dulux stuff is- err trade dulux stuff.

if you can get it in b&q then by all means go there.

Costco for Dulux

20% off with a trade card at b and q. Quite easy to open a trade account with a fake business card, I’ve heard 😆

Find your local Johnstones trade centre. I always use Johnstones trade and have recently decorated our new extension with good results. Make sure you get trade paint as generally has a much higher solids (colour) content. With paint you definitely get what you pay for. Oh, don’t skimp on the brushes either, Purdy are my favourites.

I use Fired Earth 😳 But seriously I have always found it provides a good finish and lasts. Everything else seems like a bit of a lottery and I don’t relish the opportunity to prepare it all again to try another brand of paint to save a few quid

Dulux have decorating centres where you can buy trade paint even as a retail customer. It is pricey but better that the general retail options.

You might end up shopping around to get the best deal.

If you are going over strong colours then you can start with cheaper stuff to get some hiding then save the expensive stuff for the last 1 or two coats as needed.

Builders merchants are like kitchen shops, all their prices are at least twice what you pay if you get a real trade account with them.

E.g. I opened a trade account with my local merchant for this workshop project and automatically get 60% off most things, but I can still buy some materials, eg Celotex, up to 40% cheaper online (40% cheaper than my 60% discounted price)! So obviously, my Joe Bloggs trade account is still pretty rubbish compared to a large builder’s trade account and with many items, B&Q are still cheaper!

As for builders merchants list price, that’s about 2x what B&Q charge for the same thing, which is about 1.5x what ToolStation sells it for..

aye B&Q are expensive or crap for a lot of things but for good paint (trade white/magnolia emulsion) and for mixed colours (which were dulux but are now something else) they’re hard to beat without a good trade account at a counter. They’re cheaper than dulux’s own trade counters for dulux paint, even with a dulux trade counter discount card

Find your local Johnstones trade centre. I always use Johnstones trade and have recently decorated our new extension with good results. Make sure you get trade paint as generally has a much higher solids (colour) content. With paint you definitely get what you pay for. Oh, don’t skimp on the brushes either, Purdy are my favourites.

+1 for this, some are leyland. The painter and decorator I know sent me there and they were really helpful. I was given half a tin of Farrow & Ball paint and they matched the colour with a really nice paint we got loads of coverage from. We did the whole house and they sorted out paint for kitchen units, bathrooms, and exterior. Saved loads going there and would def recommend.

I’m not sure how true the comments about trade v DIY are regarding solids content.

I have just finished a job working for Akzo Nobel (Dulux), working on a new paint manufacturing facility. From discussions with the chemists there, Trade paint simply dries quicker, because painters want to recoat fast, and they are expected to cover the entire wall sufficiently in one pass.
DIY is more forgiving if you need to go back and touch up bits you missed, but as a result takes longer to dry.

Dulux Decorator Centres are positively the best places. They will give you free, friendly and expert advice and sell you all the accessories AND the paint is of a better quality than you can buy in the shops, meaning fewer coats, easier application and a better finish.

Paint can be formulated in a thousand different ways and you get exactly what you pay for – with cheap paint you get lots of cheap carrier and thickener and not much expensive opacifier.

Years of decorating have taught me this.

a builders merchant. somewhere that does the trade dulux stuff

This.
The trade paint is so much nicer to work with than standard Dulux – thicker, more even application.
I won’t use any other paint now.

DrP

we’ve just decorated the whole house, opened an account at a Dulux Centre. Decent paint, good to water down – proper coverage. Gliddens matt emulsion was cheap and decent for ceilings and mist coats, that’s also from Dulux. Nice folk at the Sheffield one too.

They are nice at all Dulux Decorator Centres, like at Apple they are employed for being nice and for their experience.

Dulux Decorator Centres are positively the best places. They will give you free, friendly and expert advice and sell you all the accessories AND the paint is of a better quality than you can buy in the shops, meaning fewer coats, easier application and a better finish.

Not true. If it is the same tin, it is identical to the paint sold anywhere else (including B&Q).

B&Q’s Value range silk magnolia was incredibly good for the money it cost when I got some not long back – it covered a plum coloured wall spot on in two coats (after a quick cost of cheapo white emulsion admittedly).

On the other hand, I’ve bought cheap white matt emulsion before and you might as well use skimmed milk it was that thin. So who knows! It’s a bit of a lottery I think.

Might be worth trying something cheap before coughing up for a more expensive ‘better’ paint?

Locally we go to a place called Glenwoods – they have Johnstones and Leyland mixing machines and can copy pretty much any paint you ask – Fired Earth, Farrow and Ball etc etc using trade paints.

They also do 10% off if you ask. It’s still not cheap but way cheaper than a normal DIY store.

cheers for the help, picked up 10litre of Johnstones in B&M for £17 an its done the trick nicely 🙂