Your contractor specified a "contractor grade" paint. Unless you were specific (in writing) about the EXACT paint you wanted them to use, or they used something different from what they promised (in writing), there's probably not much you can do.

I really do not understand why a painter doesn't give the customer a chance to upgrade the paint.

That must be so frustrating. Ask him what grade and sheen of SW paint he used. There is a big difference between contractor/builder grade and the best quality paints, even though they are all SW. Did he leave any leftover paint with you? The paint cans will show the exact paint he used. Before you meet wirh him take a look at the SW website and the different grades of paint. i hope everything works out for the best.

All flat sheens from any brand burnish. You’re polishing it to a sheen. Which you should not be doing. Someone is touching that wall way too much. You're not supposed to touch the walls.

"Not supposed to touch the walls." Really? I have 15 grandchildren! They touch everything! If this new build was in a development, the new owners simply don't understand that the developer/builder is going to use the cheapest paint possible to pass "inspection". Not their fault! They probably didn't even have the option to upgrade to anything better. But IF it was a "custom" build, they were totally ripped off, by not at least getting an explanation and cost breakdown, with the "opportunity" to pay for better paint.

Not sure if this is or was common knowledge, Sherwin Williams has contracted with Lowe's, to supply part of their paint. Reading on several different "pro paint" sites that Lowe's is the "first in line customer", and that has caused SW to have more of a shortage than BM dealers. My BM dealer in Minneapolis said he was having a few issues in the late fall, but not too bad.

I've had the experience of moving into a new build and contracting out for paint on a used home.

My current build, we moved in a month ago, has Sherwin-Williams paint, in flat. Most new production home builders do not give the homeowner the option of brand, sheen, line, or even color in some cases. We were able to pick our color. The quality of paint and painting is poor compared to what I know I could get on the market. I'm going with the pandemic and what was mentioned below between Sherwin-Williams and Lowe's as a reason why it looks so far.

In our first build, and 2013, we weren't given a choice of anything but color yet the paint experience was light years better than what we have now. Again I'm attributing this up to the pandemic.

In 2018, I hired out for painting a 2013 home. I chose Sherwin Williams, I chose the Emerald line, and I chose the color and the painter - it was gorgeous.

Now that I've moved everything in I don't see the paint as much as I used to, but there are some serious technical flaws that need to be fixed.

Since I paid ($2650) for this color, as Super Bright White was the only free option, I have to live with it for 5 years before I could pick another color. I believe it would cost $5k-$6k to paint based on the size of my previous house although in a different city.

While I could have done what Lori said, paint in the standard free color and then pick a color later before move in, the challenge was finding a painter because they're all tied up with new home builds and I didn't have time or opportunity to test colors to figure out what I would want to paint otherwise.

Contracting with Lowes was part of the issue, but the Texas freeze was the biggest problem. And it wasn't just SW that was affected. You also have to factor in that the demand is very high for paint with all the new builds and remodeling and they can't get caught up.

In my experience many painters get a kick back on the crappiest paint and that is why the crappy job. I had a great painter I used all the time when I had my renovation company and he was very forthcoming about kick backs and I have never used painters grade paint no matter what I have to pay extra it still beats having to repaint everything.I have no been experiencing paint shortages where I live so I feel for you.I do agree though that you should not be wiping the walls before the paint cures which is a different time for different paints

Sherwin-Williams Cashmere Interior Acrylic Latex. Our top choice is Sherwin-Williams Cashmere. This acrylic latex paint/primer combo stands out for its buttery smooth application.

I've painted with SW before and didn't like it as much as BM. We are building custom, so I made sure I had the builder use BM Aura. When they were painting Aura was in short supply, so most of it ended up in the Regal line.

We'll see how the Regal matte wears. In the past I was very happy with Aura matte and didn't have any problems spot cleaning or touching up with leftover paint years later.