Benjamin Moore & Co.
Deep, saturated color and brushed trim you want to look sprayed, on a job where we can plan the material a week out.
- Founded
- 1883 — Benjamin Moore and his brother Robert, in a Brooklyn basement, with one product
- Headquarters
- Montvale, New Jersey
- Ownership
- Wholly owned by Berkshire Hathaway since 2000. Not separately traded.
- Price per gallon
- About $40–$120 a gallon
The story
Where Benjamin Moore came from, and who owns it now.
Benjamin Moore and his brother Robert started the company in a Brooklyn basement in 1883 with a single product, Moore’s Prepared Calsom Finish. A third brother, William, joined shortly after. In 1907 they opened one of the first industrial paint research laboratories in the United States, and the identity that still defines the company – lab-led, formulation-first – starts right there. In 1982 they shipped the Benjamin Moore Color System, one of the first computerized color-matching systems in the industry.
The defining event came in 2000, when Berkshire Hathaway bought the company for about $1 billion. Warren Buffett made a famously un-contractual promise to the independent dealer network that Berkshire would stick with the dealer system forever.
That promise is not trivia. It is the entire strategy. Buffett personally rejected a Home Depot distribution proposal from then-CEO Robert Nardelli. In June 2012 he removed CEO Denis Abrams as Abrams neared a Lowe’s distribution deal that would have broken the pledge. The replacement, Robert Merritt, lasted fifteen months and was gone by September 2013. Benjamin Moore stays out of big box by ownership mandate, not by market accident.
Today it is a wholly owned Berkshire subsidiary headquartered in Montvale, New Jersey, selling through roughly 4,200 independent dealers across North America, with Insl-X, Coronado, Corotech and Woodluxe under the same roof.
What the trade actually respects them for is Gennex. Benjamin Moore makes its own waterborne, zero-VOC colorants instead of buying universal tinting colorant like everyone else. Conventional colorant carries surfactants and glycols that add VOC at the tint machine and soften the cured film, which is why with most brands a deep base is measurably less washable than a pastel of the exact same product. Gennex largely removes that trade-off. It is the reason designers who work in saturated color gravitate here.
One local detail worth knowing: in Orange County and San Diego, a large share of Benjamin Moore availability runs through Vista Paint company stores, which are authorized dealers alongside their own line. If you buy Benjamin Moore down here, there is a good chance you are buying it at a Vista counter.
Where it stands out
What Benjamin Moore does better than anybody else.
Gennex, the only proprietary zero-VOC colorant system in the mainstream market. The paint stays zero-VOC after tinting, deep bases included.
The reference off-whites. Chantilly Lace, White Dove and Simply White are what every other brand gets compared to.
Advance, the best-leveling waterborne trim enamel on the market. Brushed trim that reads as sprayed.
Scuff-X, a single-component scuff-resistant wall paint with no real equivalent in the Sherwin or Behr ranges.
Insl-X Stix, the bonding primer half the trade reaches for on glossy, laminate, tile and previously oiled surfaces.
The honest ledger
Pros and cons, set in the same size type.
The cons are not buried at the bottom in small print. If a brand has a known problem, you read it at the same size as the good news.
Pros
Gennex is the strongest genuinely technical differentiator any mainstream brand has, and it shows up on CALGreen, LEED, school and healthcare specs.
The best off-whites and the deepest saturated colors in the mass market. Their deep colors do not go muddy.
Aura hides exceptionally well. On a same-tone change it can genuinely be one coat, which takes some of the sting out of the price.
Advance gives you brushed trim that looks sprayed. Nothing else waterborne does it as well.
You cannot walk into Home Depot and buy the same paint, so nobody second-guesses the material line on the estimate.
Cons
The most expensive mainstream brand in the country. Aura lists around $88 to $105 a gallon and Century tops $120.
Aura's open time is very short. It sets fast, it punishes hesitation, and it gets worse in inland heat where holding a wet edge on a long wall is already hard.
Aura goes soft under aggressive cleaning. A detailed contractor test found it went soft and sticky and could be scratched with a fingernail, which is why several pros will not put it on cabinets or bookcases.
Availability is the real weakness in San Diego and Orange County. No big box, thinner dealer coverage than Sherwin or Dunn-Edwards, shorter hours. Run out mid-job on a Saturday afternoon and you can be genuinely stuck.
Advance takes up to 30 days to fully cure. Cabinet doors reassembled or loaded early will block, print and dent, and that causes more callbacks than anything else about the product.
Product lines
What to actually ask for at the counter.
- Flagship$88–$105
Aura
Flagship interior. Best hide in the line, Color Lock fade resistance, very high volume solids. Aura Bath & Spa and Aura Exterior are the same family.
- Premium$70–$82
Regal Select
The best-seller and the real backbone of the brand for more than fifty years. Balanced washability, application and price, interior and exterior.
- Premium$68–$80
Advance
Waterborne alkyd for trim, doors and cabinets. Levels like an oil. Plan for up to 30 days of cure before doors go back on loaded.
- Premium$72–$82
Ultra Spec Scuff-X
Single-component scuff-resistant paint for corridors, schools, hospitality and gyms. Few real competitors in the category.
- Value$45–$55
ben
Budget interior and exterior. Easy, forgiving, lower durability. Fine for a bedroom, wrong for a hallway.
Approximate list prices per gallon, before any contractor discount and before the PaintCare fee. They move with the sale cycle and from store to store.
Signature colors
The colors Benjamin Moore is known for.
- Chantilly LaceOC-65#F4F6F1
- White DoveOC-17#EFEEE5
- Swiss CoffeeOC-45#EEECE1
- Revere PewterHC-172#CBC6B8
- Hale NavyHC-154#434B56
- SilhouetteAF-655#57504C
Screen colors are approximations. Monitors vary, and paint changes with light, sheen and the surface under it. Always confirm with a physical sample before you buy.
How it scores
Benjamin Moore across all 12 attributes.
The same score that appears in the comparison table, with the reasoning behind each one.
One-coat coverage
5/5One-coat coverage: 5 out of 5Aura has the highest volume solids in the set. On a same-tone change it is genuinely one coat.
Color depth
5/5Color depth: 5 out of 5Gennex zero-VOC colorant keeps deep colors durable, and these are the reference off-whites. Unmatched.
Durability and scrubbing
4/5Durability and scrubbing: 4 out of 5Scuff-X and Regal Select are excellent, but Aura specifically goes soft and sticky under aggressive cleaning.
Easy to DIY
3/5Easy to DIY: 3 out of 5ben is easy, but Aura's very short open time punishes any hesitation, and it is worse in SoCal heat.
Low-VOC options
5/5Low-VOC options: 5 out of 5The only proprietary zero-VOC colorant in the set. These paints stay zero-VOC after tinting, including deep bases.
Local availability
2/5Local availability: 2 out of 5Independent dealers only, no big box by Berkshire mandate. Thinner coverage and shorter hours than anyone else here. Its weakest attribute by far.
Contractor support
3/5Contractor support: 3 out of 5A good independent dealer is excellent and personal, but there is no national program and quality varies enormously shop to shop.
Warranty
4/5Warranty: 4 out of 5Clear published Lifetime Limited on Aura interior and exterior. Replacement product only, labor excluded, non-transferable.
Touch-up
3/5Touch-up: 3 out of 5Genuinely contested. Some pros rate Aura a 10 out of 10; others pair it with SW Emerald in the standard touch-up complaint. Sheen, film build and temperature decide it.
Exteriors
3/5Exteriors: 3 out of 5Aura Exterior is excellent but expensive, and the line is less specifically engineered for alkaline stucco.
Trim and cabinets
5/5Trim and cabinets: 5 out of 5Advance is the best-leveling waterborne trim enamel in the mainstream market. Full cure runs up to 30 days; reassemble early and it blocks.
Ceilings
3/5Ceilings: 3 out of 5Ultra Spec 500 flat does the job but is overpriced for a surface nobody touches.
Warranty
What the paperwork actually covers.
Lifetime Limited on Aura interior and exterior. It covers blistering, peeling and wearing through to the surface underneath, when the paint was applied per label to a properly prepared and primed surface. The remedy is replacement product at no charge with the original receipt. Labor is excluded, in capital letters, in their own document. It is non-transferable and runs only to the original buyer while they live in the house.
Every lifetime warranty in this industry gives you a replacement gallon of paint. None of them pay for labor, and none of them transfer when you sell the house. We read all of them to check. A lifetime warranty that hands back a $60 gallon is not a meaningful remedy on a $12,000 exterior repaint – the workmanship warranty from your painter is the one that actually matters.
VOC and air quality
What the California air districts require.
Gennex is the whole story here. Because the colorant itself is waterborne and zero-VOC, these paints stay low-VOC after tinting, including into deep bases. Most competitors can only claim zero-VOC on the untinted base. That matters on CALGreen, LEED, CHPS school and healthcare specs where VOC is verified at the point of application. Orange County sits under South Coast AQMD Rule 1113 and San Diego County under APCD Rule 67.0.1. Flats and nonflats are 50 g/L in both, but industrial maintenance and rust-preventative coatings are capped at 100 g/L in Orange County against 250 g/L in San Diego, which is a real difference on railings, gates and metal doors. PaintCare adds about $0.65 a gallon in California.
Juan says
“The color is the best there is and Advance is the nicest trim I brush, but I check the dealer has my gallons before I promise you a Saturday.”
Sources
- Benjamin Moore – Gennex Color Technology
- Benjamin Moore – Aura Exterior Lifetime Warranty
- Fortune – Warren Buffett and Benjamin Moore
- Berkshire Hathaway – acquisition announcement
- Prudent Reviews – Benjamin Moore paint types
- SCAQMD Rule 1113 Table of Standards
Product names and logos are the property of their respective owners. Where the sources genuinely disagree, we say so in the text instead of picking the tidier version.