It's not all white!

I've had a lot of jobs this year where I've had to paint walls and woodwork that were in a slightly darker colour and going to all white. Now this itself isn't a problem, I mean it's simple isn't it painting everything white. My issue is with certain products not doing their job.

Ok so most of these jobs want the walls in a durable matt finish, if it was a colour tint I can virtually guarantee that two coats would be ample. 100% covered. Not in white anymore. These walls are taking three or four coats to get a uniform finish, sometimes five coats. This isn't just taking up my time on jobs it's also incurring more costs as I need more materials. Who swallows these costs though? I can't pass it on to my customers as I am the one who is choosing the paint, so it's on me. Ok so I should probably specify that it requires three coats on the walls, which I'm having to do now, but these are premium products I'm using. Shouldn't I expect them to do the job I know they used to pre covid?

As you would know, I'm a Dulux Select Decorator so I do mainly work within the Akzo Nobel range. These are Armstead Durable and Dulux Diamond Matt for durable finishes but I have also used Tikkurila Optiva 5, Johnstones Acrylic Durable Matt and Crown Clean Extreme this year on walls and every single one has had the same thing happen. I've needed to put extra coats on (please don't anyone mention Good Home Durable, I will not use that product again!). I know Dulux Diamond has been reformulated so maybe that will work better but when you are paying around £45 for 5 litres you expect it to work without all this messing about. You finish the second coat thinking that looks solid, 30 minutes later it starts grinning through and picture framing and you're getting the rollers back out again. To all brands Sort It Out!!!