Rant: I kept ignoring plain white paint for my rentals until one tenant told me the truth

I've been painting my rental properties for 8 years and always used off-white or beige because I thought plain white looked cheap. Last month a tenant told me straight up that the beige walls in her unit made the place feel 10 years older than it is. She showed me a photo of her friend's identical unit down the street with bright white trim and walls and it did look bigger and cleaner. I tried it on my latest flip in Omaha and the painter even said it cut his time by a third because no cutting in around two colors. Has anyone else had their mind changed on something this basic by a single comment?

3 comments

3 Comments

angela_harris1mo ago

That beige situation in Omaha with the two-color paint job, how much longer did the trim work usually take you before you switched? I'm wondering if the time savings was the real eye-opener or if it was purely the tenant's feedback on the look. Maybe it's just me but I feel like painters always low-key hate dealing with extra colors so that 33% cut sounds like it would be a big deal for scheduling.

tarabell1mo ago

4 years ago I timed it and that two-tone Omaha job took me almost 8 extra hours just on the trim, mostly because of the taping and cutting in. Those extra colors add a ton of drying time between coats too, which messes up your whole week's schedule. So honestly I'd say the time savings is way bigger than the tenant feedback, even though the cleaner look is nice.

henryp401mo agoTop Commenter

Did your friend ever try just doing one color on the walls and trim to compare the timing yourself? I had a buddy who painted houses in Lincoln and he said the first time he bid a two-tone job he was losing money on it for a full week... Learned real quick to charge more for those extras or just push for a single color on everything.