Let’s imagine we make money painting:

Two painters with an airless paint sprayer can go at least 4x as fast as a couple of painters who will cut and roll every coat. That includes the masking they have to do that the rollers don’t.

Both teams of painters charge the same amount for an interior remodel, let’s say five thousand.

The boys with the airless paint sprayer will generate 20 thousand in the same amount of time as the ones without a sprayer make 3,000 bucks.

How did they do it?

The spray team sprayed the trim first, then masked the trim, and sprayed the ceilings, walls, and only had to touch up after the masking was removed.

So if it takes the sprayer crew 1 week and the traditional crew 4 weeks, (costing perhaps 2-3 thousand like this Graco 695 –  check price here) the sprayer pays for itself in a month and then multiplies the owner’s income every month thereafter.

Homeowner economics of owning an airless paint sprayer

It’s different if you just like having the right tool for the job. If you will be painting a number of rooms every few years or so, you will fly through it, but you don’t want to spend too much on your machine. I wrote an article about the best airless paint sprayer just for you.

My view: never buy a used airless paint sprayer. Why would anyone sell? Are they retiring? Maybe then I’d consider it, but like a used car, you are buying someone else’s sprayer problems. Wisdom from the old school!