"painter says they will just spray one heavy coat". Two lighter top coats would be better than one heavy. With lap siding, backrolling along with the spraying typically isn't necessary. If you have any areas of sheet sidings such as t-1-11, those areas should include back rolling coinciding with the spraying. A level 3 is common for textured finishes with touch ups in problem areas. Some will paint over a level 4 for a smooth wall/ceiling finish, but imo it should be minimum level 5. Hardcoating is similar to plaster over blueboard which is superior to a level 5, again, imo.

You don't need a primer if the current coating is in good shape. My rule of thumb for spraying is that for any wood surfaces, you need to back brush or backroll so spraying would only be used as a tool to get the material on faster...you would still need to brush it. Aluminum and vinyl siding can be sprayed and left so for those types of surfaces it is really worth it. Also, for most people, spraying is not just something you pick up the sprayer and go....takes a lot of practice to get the techniques down, learn where your overspray goes, learn how to adjust for varying conditions so that your product atomizes properly, etc, etc so I don't know that it would be something for a novice to do, especially outside. Yes, Benjamin Moore stores have sales. If you use Aura, keep in mind that this stuff dries fast and will dry faster if there is any wind. I would just do one or two laps of siding at a time, all the way across, then do the next two, working from the top down, maintaining a wet edge at all times and use their extender.

To me, BM Decorator White is very stark (it reminds me of white poster board!), the Simply White is a true clean white without being stark, but compared to whites with more yellow/blue/gray/peach in them it would appear stark, so I also can see how people might call it stark if you held it up against those other whites. Can you paint a large enough spot on your house so that you can see it in all types of light from early morning to late evening? Also depending on where you have it on the house and what it faces it will reflect different light from greenery, even the sky. I have white white walls in my bathroom more along the lines of the decorator white so very stark and when it is late afternoon one of the walls in there looks very pale blue because of the way the sun hits during that time of day and the reflection of the sky if it's a bright sunny day. Kat :)

We just bought Regal Select from our BM paint store. The salesman said no need to pay for Aura, the Regal would do the job very well.