The Sherwin-Williams Company
Big repaints, stucco exteriors, and any job where running out of a custom color on a Friday afternoon would cost a whole day.
- Founded
- 1866 — Henry A. Sherwin and Edward P. Williams, in Cleveland, Ohio
- Headquarters
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Ownership
- Public. NYSE: SHW, S&P 500 component. No parent company.
- Price per gallon
- About $45–$110 a gallon
The story
Where Sherwin-Williams came from, and who owns it now.
Henry A. Sherwin and Edward P. Williams founded the company in Cleveland in 1866. Some historical accounts add earlier detail about Sherwin buying into the Truman Dunham partnership first, but the company dates itself to 1866 and that is the year to use.
The milestone that actually matters came in 1873, with a product called Guaranteed Strictly Pure Raw Umber in Oil. It is credited as the first ready-mixed paint. Before that, a painter ground pigment into oil on site, by hand, on every job. The Cover the Earth logo followed in 1905 and is one of the oldest continuously used industrial trademarks in the country.
The acquisition history explains a lot about what you see in Southern California. Duron and Paint Sundry Brands came in 2004, M.A. Bruder in 2007. On September 16, 2013 Sherwin-Williams bought the U.S. and Canada arm of Mexico’s Comex for about $165 million, and that is how Frazee, Kwal and General Paint became Sherwin brands. Most of the old Frazee stores across San Diego were converted to Sherwin-Williams. Then in 2016 they agreed to buy Valspar for $11.3 billion, closing June 1, 2017, the largest coatings deal in U.S. history at the time.
Today the company is public – NYSE: SHW, an S&P 500 component with no parent – at roughly $23.6 billion in revenue, about 64,200 employees and around 4,850 stores across the Americas. Heidi G. Petz is Chair, President and CEO. The company began moving into a new global headquarters at 1426 West 3rd Street in downtown Cleveland in 2025.
The honest read on why painters use them: the real product is the store network and the rep, more than any single can of paint. There is always a store nearby, the pro desk knows contractors by name, they deliver to the job, and the account system was built around painting businesses. On the product side they are strongest in enamels, in colorant depth, and in exterior masonry and stucco coatings, which is exactly what this housing stock needs.
One thing worth clearing up. Sherwin-Williams also owns Valspar, HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams, Cabot, Minwax, Krylon, Dutch Boy, Thompson’s WaterSeal, Pratt & Lambert, Purdy and Frazee. The Valspar and HGTV Home paint at Lowe’s is not the same paint as what is on the shelf inside a Sherwin-Williams store. Same parent, different product, different price.
Where it stands out
What Sherwin-Williams does better than anybody else.
The store network. Roughly 4,850 stores across the Americas and about 252 in California, including contractor-only commercial stores.
Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, which broad contractor consensus rates as one of the best waterborne cabinet enamels made.
Loxon, the masonry and stucco system. In counties built out of stucco, that matters more than any wall paint.
The 1873 ready-mixed paint, which is genuinely why the modern trade works the way it does.
Contractor infrastructure built for painting businesses: jobsite delivery, account credit, dedicated reps and a reorder app.
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
Availability is unmatched. In practically any Southern California ZIP you are ten to fifteen minutes from a store, often two.
The pro program is real: PRO+ pricing, free scheduled jobsite delivery, account credit, a reorder app, and a rep who knows the business.
Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel sprays flat, cures very hard and barely yellows compared with oil.
Loxon is a genuine advantage on stucco, and most of the housing stock down here is stucco.
Duration and Emerald Exterior build a thick film, which means fewer coats on rough stucco and better fill on hairline cracking.
Cons
Emerald flat and matte can flash and picture-frame on touch-up. It is the single most documented technical complaint against this brand. If a wall needs spotting in later, we often end up coating it wall to wall instead.
Emerald Urethane cures slowly, commonly quoted at seven to thirty days to full hardness, and it is sensitive to film build and temperature. Put cabinet doors back too early and they block to the jambs.
Sticker shock on list. Emerald sits in the $85 to $100 range and a homeowner walking in cold pays all of it.
The discount cycle makes list price close to fictional. Sherwin runs 30 to 40 percent off sales constantly, and account pricing varies store to store and rep to rep, so two contractors in the same county can pay different money for the same gallon.
Line sprawl. Emerald, Emerald Designer Edition, Duration, Duration Home, SuperPaint, Cashmere, Captivate, ProMar 200, ProMar 400 and Harmony, plus Valspar and HGTV Home at Lowe’s, which are different paint from the same parent company.
Product lines
What to actually ask for at the counter.
- Flagship$85–$100
Emerald
Flagship interior wall paint. Best washability and hide in the line. The Designer Edition is a curated palette with a very flat chalky matte.
- Flagship$95–$110
Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel
Waterborne urethane-modified alkyd for trim, doors and cabinets. Sprays beautifully and cures very hard. Needs patience before reassembly.
- Premium$75–$85
Duration
Durable and stain-resistant, with an exterior version that builds thick film and is very popular on SoCal stucco.
- Mid-range$65–$75
SuperPaint
The workhorse, interior and exterior. Excellent hide for the money and the line most SoCal repaint crews land on by default.
- Value$79–$86
ProMar 200
Contractor-grade production interior for new construction, apartments and big repaints. The list price looks high because almost nobody pays it – this is a by-the-drum, account-price product.
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 Sherwin-Williams is known for.
- AlabasterSW 7008#EDEAE0
- Agreeable GraySW 7029#D1CBC1
- Pure WhiteSW 7005#EDECE6
- Accessible BeigeSW 7036#D1C7B8
- Iron OreSW 7069#434341
- Universal KhakiSW 6150#B8A992
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
Sherwin-Williams across all 12 attributes.
The same score that appears in the comparison table, with the reasoning behind each one.
One-coat coverage
4/5One-coat coverage: 4 out of 5Emerald hides very well, but Sherwin-Williams makes no formal one-coat claim.
Color depth
4/5Color depth: 4 out of 5More than 1,700 colors and fast matching, but deep bases soften with conventional colorant.
Durability and scrubbing
5/5Durability and scrubbing: 5 out of 5Emerald plus Duration plus Emerald Urethane is the deepest durable-product bench in the set.
Easy to DIY
4/5Easy to DIY: 4 out of 5Cashmere flows beautifully and SuperPaint is forgiving. Both reward a slow roller.
Low-VOC options
4/5Low-VOC options: 4 out of 5Harmony, ProMar 200 Zero VOC and Emerald are all low-VOC, but conventional colorant adds VOC at tint.
Local availability
5/5Local availability: 5 out of 5Roughly 252 stores in California, retail plus dedicated commercial and contractor stores across San Diego and Orange County.
Contractor support
5/5Contractor support: 5 out of 5PRO+ pricing (15 percent on sundries, 20 percent on case quantities, plus negotiated paint pricing), free jobsite delivery, a pro app, account credit, dedicated reps and commercial stores.
Warranty
4/5Warranty: 4 out of 5Clear published Lifetime Limited on the premium tiers. Replacement or refund, labor excluded, non-transferable.
Touch-up
3/5Touch-up: 3 out of 5Emerald flat and matte flashing and picture-framing on touch-up is the single most documented complaint against this brand.
Exteriors
5/5Exteriors: 5 out of 5Duration and Emerald Exterior build thick film, plus the Loxon masonry and stucco system. Purpose-built for SoCal housing stock.
Trim and cabinets
5/5Trim and cabinets: 5 out of 5Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel is broad contractor consensus as a top cabinet product. The caveat is long cure and real blocking risk.
Ceilings
4/5Ceilings: 4 out of 5ProMar 200 Zero VOC ceiling and Eminence are solid and stocked everywhere.
Warranty
What the paperwork actually covers.
Lifetime Limited on the qualifying premium products, Emerald and Duration among them. It covers peeling and blistering during the lifetime of the original purchaser. The remedy is replacement product or a refund of the purchase price. Labor is explicitly excluded, including removal and reapplication. It is not transferable or assignable, so it dies when the house sells.
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.
Harmony, ProMar 200 Zero VOC and Emerald are at or near zero VOC before tint. Watch the colorant: deep bases plus conventional colorant push the finished number up, so on a VOC-sensitive spec ask for the zero-VOC tint system. Orange County is under South Coast AQMD Rule 1113, the strictest architectural coatings rule in the country, and San Diego County is under APCD Rule 67.0.1. Flats and nonflats are 50 g/L in both. Industrial maintenance and rust-preventative run 100 g/L in Orange County against 250 g/L in San Diego, which matters on metal work. PaintCare is about $0.65 a gallon in California and is a line item on the receipt, not a cost the painter absorbs.
Juan says
“I can get any color anywhere in the county by four o’clock, but if we go Emerald flat I am coating wall to wall, not spotting it in.”
Sources
- Sherwin-Williams – company history
- Sherwin-Williams – Lifetime Limited Warranty (PDF)
- Sherwin-Williams – PRO+ pricing
- Coatings World – Sherwin-Williams completes Comex US/Canada acquisition
- Prudent Reviews – Sherwin-Williams paint grades
- San Diego County APCD Rule 67.0.1 (PDF)
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.