Today we are looking at one of the most common questions we get from homeowners before they sign off on a painting estimate. At Simplify Painting, we provide professional residential interior and exterior painting services to homeowners across Colorado Springs, including Peregrine, Flying Horse, and the Black Forest area.
If you live in Peregrine, you already know your home takes a beating. High elevation sun, dry air, hail, and wide temperature swings between morning and afternoon all put stress on exterior paint that homes at lower elevations simply don’t deal with. So when you’re comparing quotes and one painter mentions Benjamin Moore and another mentions Sherwin-Williams, it’s a fair question to ask which one actually holds up better on your house.
Which paint brand is better, Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams?
For most homes in Peregrine, Benjamin Moore’s Aura and Regal Select lines slightly outperform comparable Sherwin-Williams products in color retention and fade resistance at high altitude, but Sherwin-Williams’ Duration and Emerald lines perform just as well in terms of durability and are often easier to source quickly in Colorado Springs. Neither brand is “bad.” The real difference comes down to the specific product line, the prep work behind it, and who’s holding the brush.
We say this a lot to homeowners and we’ll say it here too: the paint brand matters less than most people think. A mediocre paint job with premium paint still peels in three years. A well-prepped, properly applied job with either brand will look good for a decade. But since you asked, let’s get into the actual differences.
Why does altitude and sun exposure in Peregrine matter for paint choice?
Peregrine sits at roughly 7,000 feet, which means more direct UV exposure and faster moisture evaporation than paint jobs at sea level, and that combination accelerates fading and chalking on lower-quality paints. This is why we steer homeowners in this neighborhood away from builder-grade or big-box “good” tier paints entirely. You need a top-tier line from either brand, not the mid-range stuff, because the sun here is simply harsher on pigment.
What’s the actual difference between Benjamin Moore Aura and Sherwin-Williams Emerald?
Benjamin Moore Aura uses a proprietary Color Lock technology that keeps colors true longer under UV exposure, while Sherwin-Williams Emerald is formulated with better flexibility for temperature swings, which matters more in Colorado’s freeze-thaw cycles. On paper, Aura wins slightly on color fastness for deep, saturated exterior colors like navy or dark green trim, which are popular in the Peregrine and Flying Horse area. Emerald tends to have a slight edge on flexibility, meaning it resists cracking a bit better when your siding expands and contracts through our 40-degree daily temperature swings in spring and fall.
For interiors, the difference is even smaller. Both Aura Interior and Emerald Interior are excellent low-VOC, washable paints. If you’re painting a nursery, a kitchen, or high-traffic hallways, either will hold up fine.
How much more expensive is Benjamin Moore than Sherwin-Williams?
Benjamin Moore’s premium lines typically run 10 to 20 percent higher per gallon than comparable Sherwin-Williams products, but on a full exterior repaint the total price difference is usually a few hundred dollars, not thousands. As of this year, expect Aura or Regal Select to run somewhere in the $75 to $110 per gallon range depending on sheen and color, while Duration or Emerald from Sherwin-Williams typically lands in the $65 to $95 range. On a typical 2,500 to 3,000 square foot Peregrine home exterior, that’s a difference of roughly $200 to $500 total, which is a small fraction of the overall project cost once you factor in labor, prep, and equipment.
We mention this because a lot of homeowners assume paint brand is where the big cost savings are hiding. It isn’t. Labor and prep are 70 to 80 percent of your quote. If a painter is significantly underbidding a competitor, the paint brand is rarely why.
What actually happens on real jobs in Peregrine
Here’s what we’ve seen after painting dozens of homes in this neighborhood. On stucco and hardie board exteriors, which make up most of the housing stock in Peregrine, both brands perform well when applied over a properly primed surface. The failures we get called out to fix almost never come down to “wrong brand.” They come down to:
- Painting over chalky, unprimed stucco
- Skipping caulk on trim joints before painting, which lets moisture in behind either brand of paint
- Applying exterior paint in direct afternoon sun when temps are above 90, which causes the paint to skin over too fast and lap marks to show
- Using an interior-rated primer or paint on exterior trim to save a few dollars
We’ve stripped and repainted homes where the previous painter used excellent Sherwin-Williams product but skipped priming on bare wood fascia, and it failed within two years. We’ve also seen Benjamin Moore paint applied over old oil-based paint without the right bonding primer, which led to peeling in sheets the following spring. The brand wasn’t the problem in either case.
Which paint is better for kitchen cabinets, Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams?
For cabinets, Benjamin Moore Advance is generally considered the better choice because it self-levels more smoothly and cures to a harder, more durable finish than most Sherwin-Williams cabinet options. Advance is a hybrid alkyd that gives you the smooth, factory-like finish homeowners want on cabinets without the strong odor and slow cure time of true oil-based paint. Sherwin-Williams’ ProClassic is a solid alternative and costs a bit less, but it doesn’t self-level quite as well, which means a painter has to work harder with the brush or sprayer to avoid visible strokes.
If you’re refinishing cabinets in a Peregrine kitchen, we’ll usually recommend Advance unless there’s a reason to move faster, since Advance needs a longer cure time before you can load shelves and close drawers without them sticking.
Mistakes homeowners make when choosing paint brand
The biggest mistake we see is homeowners spending hours comparing Benjamin Moore versus Sherwin-Williams online, then hiring the cheapest painter who cuts corners on prep. Paint brand is maybe 10 percent of how your finished job looks and lasts. Surface prep, primer selection, number of coats, and application technique are the other 90 percent.
The second mistake is assuming higher price always means better quality. Both companies make excellent premium lines and both also make cheaper, lower-performing lines. Ask specifically which product line is being quoted, not just the brand name. “Sherwin-Williams” and “Benjamin Moore” are companies, not products. SuperPaint is not the same product as Duration, and Regal Select is not the same product as Aura, even though they’re all under the same company name.
The third mistake is picking a color without testing it on your actual siding at different times of day. Colorado’s intense sun can make colors look noticeably different at 8am versus 4pm. A color that looks great on the sample chip can look washed out or overly saturated on a south-facing wall in Peregrine.
When does it make sense to choose Benjamin Moore vs. Sherwin-Williams?
Benjamin Moore tends to be the better fit when you’re going with a deep or saturated exterior color, refinishing cabinets, or you have a specific preference for their color-matching system, since a lot of interior designers and architects spec Benjamin Moore colors by name. Sherwin-Williams tends to be the better fit when timeline matters, since their stores are more widely available in Colorado Springs and reordering a matched gallon mid-project is usually faster.
Neither is the wrong choice for a typical Peregrine home. If someone tells you one brand is dramatically better than the other for every situation, that’s a red flag they’re pushing a preference rather than giving you the full picture.
When this comparison isn’t the real issue
If your current paint job is failing in under five years, the paint brand almost certainly isn’t why. Before you spend time deciding between these two brands for your next repaint, it’s worth figuring out why the last job failed. Was it sun exposure on a specific wall? Poor prep? The wrong sheen for the surface? That diagnosis matters more than which company’s logo is on the can.
Similarly, if budget is genuinely tight, spending extra to upgrade from a good Sherwin-Williams line to a premium Benjamin Moore line is not where we’d tell you to put your money. We’d rather see that money go toward an extra coat, better caulking, or more thorough prep work, since that has a bigger impact on how long your paint job actually lasts.
The honest bottom line
Both Benjamin Moore and Sherwin-Williams make excellent, professional-grade paint. For most Peregrine homes, the choice between them comes down to the specific color, the surface you’re painting, and minor preferences in finish. What matters far more is proper prep, the right primer for your surface, and a crew that knows how to work around Colorado Springs’ weather instead of against it.
At Simplify Painting, we focus on the details that determine how your paint performs long after the job is finished. We’ll help you select the right products, prepare surfaces correctly, and create a plan that fits your home’s needs and Colorado’s climate.
Get a professional recommendation for your Peregrine home with a detailed estimate, transparent pricing, and a painting approach built for lasting results.
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