Getting What You Paid For?
Colour matching services are offered by many paint manufacturers and/or retailers in the industry. Whether through apps on mobile devices allowing you to photograph samples, or bringing the samples themselves into stores and having them scanned at ‘mixing stations’, you don’t have to look very far to access some form of colour matching service.
However, did you know that many ‘colour matching’ services are not actually mixing you a paint that matches your sample? What they are doing instead is providing you with a paint that is the closest match to your sample from their own range of colours, which we think is a bit mis-leading.
The illusion of colour matching is maintained by the mixing machine itself, perpetuating the idea that you are getting a custom colour mixed to your specifications right in front of you – that you often pay a premium for, which only makes it worse.
Is Close Enough Good Enough?
It's true that often the difference in shade will not be noticed, particularly if purchased through a large procurement system, as what has been provided is close enough that the buyer is non-the-wiser, or happy enough with the result regardless of any difference in colour. However, this is something our customers increasingly tell us is not good enough.
When there are so many possible colours (millions) and even the largest of paint ranges only covers a tiny fraction of these, it’s inevitable that there will be many occasions where you will not get what you wanted – by which time it’s too late to do anything about without adding considerable expense in time, effort and cost.
It doesn’t help when manufacturers are able to hide behind the variables of lighting, finish, adequate stirring, number of coats etc. It’s all a bit vague and allows any differences between the sample you submitted and the paint you received to be all too easily excused away – and invariably ending up being your responsibility.
That’s not to say some of these factors don’t have an effect, because they do – but when the sample you’ve submitted already has such a very slim chance of being correctly matched in the first place, these variables are only going to make things worse, not better. It’s a poor starting point in the effort to get it right.
Paintfinity doesn’t do things like other manufacturers; in fact, Paintfinity prides itself on doing things differently and not following what the industry sees as being ‘standard’ – because Painfinity is not standard.
Paintfinity paint is superior in just about every way, with the focus being on the quality of the product and value to the user. By staying true to its values Paintfinity offers a true colour match service using our infinite colour solutions technology and five step process managed by our colour specialists. We can custom mix any colour from any published colour range i.e. RAL, BSI or NCS colours, or we can match any material sample you provide. Send us anything from a fabric or wallpaper sample to tile, stone or metal sample and we will match it and send you an A5 painted sample within 48 hours. In the highly unlikely event we don’t get it right first time we will supply one further sample to your specification free of charge.
Step 1, Scan – We use the latest in laboratory measuring instrumentation to scan your product sample.
Step 2, Calibrate – We set a colour calibration formula unique to your sample.
Step 3, Mix – We mix a sample paint quantity unique to you.
Step 4, Paint – We paint an A5 sample card of your paint colour with the number of coats recommended.
Step 5, Check – We check every sample by eye in various lighting conditions. If we are not 100% happy we go back to the beginning of the process until we are entirely satisfied.
If you would like more information on Paintfinity products and how to specify Paintfinity with your decorating contractor, please get in touch on 01962 711 640 or contact us below and we would be happy to help