Starbucks vs. Store Brand

I was having a conversation this morning with a kid who buys supplies from us. I call him a kid, he is probably 25 but that is a kid to me! We were discussing the price of the urethane coatings we use on the floors we refinish. It is a fairly expensive product. We feel it is among the best on the market. It is manufactured by Bona Kemi and it is called "Traffic". We pay around $100.00 per gallon. The "Kid" was saying he gets some stuff at Home Depot for $30.00 a gallon. He admitted that it was not as good but it is affordable. So we got into a discussion as to why there would be such a big difference in price. I will try and explain it as best I can. Modern day waterborne urethane is composed of 2 major components. (note: this is a drastic over-simplification in case any of my techie buddies are reading this.) Solids and water. Once the product is applied, the water evaporates and the solids are left. So then the question is, what is the percentage of solids. Well, in the "Traffic" product it is 34%. Many of the cheap products come in at under 20%. There are certainly other things that influence how well the urethane will wear. For example, the quality of polymers and resins used, the type of catalyst (if any) etc. I often have people ask me "How many coats of urethane do you apply?" I suppose that is a fair question but it does not really tell the whole story. It would probably take 5 coats of the cheap stuff to equal the same mil thickness of 3 coats of our stuff. But, as you now know, mil thickness does not equate to wear properties. I hope that helps explain it!