Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

"Duane Bozarth" wrote in message
I'd strongly expect them to use the same vendor(s) for all, but there's
certainly no guarantee that won't change. Last year they told me it was
Sherwin-Williams.

But that does not mean the quality is the same as you'd find in a SW store.
My guess is that Wal Mart is giving them specs to meet. Could be better,
could be worse.

Oh, most certainly! Didn't mean to imply anything other than the
manufacturer name. That's the way they purchase any/all products of
such magnitude. One would expect solids content, etc., to be less w/
the W/M branded vis a vis the S-W, or at least the "best" W/M would more
nearly equate to a mid-range S-W branded. I noted that when I was there
last year, the price differential was not very great between what would
have been, in my estimation, the closest matches between grades--roughly
$1/gal was all.

For the large volume I required for the barn and house I ended up w/
Behr in large part because there is only one independent paint dealer
left in town and they were unwilling to dicker at all even for an order
of over 100 gal (primer and topcopat). On top of which, they didn't have
oil-based in stock except in 1 gal cans and refused to order 5-gal
buckets.

HD, otoh, gave significant discount and even offered to send the
shipment directly here to the farm, 60 mi from the store in another town
if it were necessary/convenient! I had no problem storing it for a
while so just took delivery and brought it home, but compared to local
S-W store, the service was most excellent.
It's now been over one winter so far and all seems well this spring. Am
waiting after rain last couple of days for it to dry up enough to finish
some touch up prep and the last wall on the barn we got primer on but
not topcoat before it got too cold last December. It went on well
(sprayed, then brushed out) and covered well. Used a high gloss rather
than semi-gloss to add additional surface protection and reflectivity in
our high UV environment. Was blinding in the direct sun to look at
although has dulled just slightly w/ some dirt/dust collection...