Covering the Spread: PVA Innovations Hit Low-VOC Sweet Spot for Contractors

By Tara Lyn Conley, John Rabasco, Linda Adamson

Paint purchasing decisions for commercial and institutional architecture are influenced by many cooks in the kitchen, from architects and designers to building owners, building managers and more.

In addition to dictating color and sheen, these stakeholders are specifying low- and ultra-low VOC coatings in order to gain various green building credits as well as building certifications.

In a 2015 survey of commercial paint contractors commissioned by the Paint Quality Institute (PQI), 90% of respondents said specification plays an extremely important, very important, or moderately important role in paint selection. The survey further revealed that the commercial paint contractor’s biggest application challenges involve overcoming problems relating to paint coverage. Top complaints included inconsistent coverage,