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Universe Painting
Category: Home Services Painters Painters [Edit]
1029 62nd StSte A
(between Baker St & Herzog St)
Oakland, CA 94608
Serving Oakland and surrounding area
(510) 520-2171
- Hours:
Mon-Sat 7 am - 7 pm
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
30 reviews for Universe Painting
30 reviews in English
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Review from Gary M.
Walnut Creek, CA
11/8/2011
I couldn't be more pleased with our experience with Universe Painting.
I invited them to bid on our work based on the positive Yelp reviews. I hired them because Asen was a true professional who made a great impression. (I also received a quote from another company with great Yelp reviews who made a good impression, but was almost exactly TWICE the price.)
The team kept to the schedule (even accommodating my request to delay the start by a couple of days). The painters showed up on time every day and worked hard all day long, leaving the property just as clean as they found it when they arrived. Chris showed up more than once to check on progress and to be sure we were pleased. He answered all of our questions and addressed all of our concerns happily and professionally.
One area for improvement is that painters on site didn't seem to have the same level of detail as in my discussion with Asen (like using non-VOC paint on the interior work). But I was home when they were doing the work, and was able to communicate with them myself. When the time comes to freshen up the house again in a few years, I will have no hesitancy using UP again. Nor do I have any hesitancy giving them my strongest recommendation.
Thanks, UP. The house looks great, and you were all great. -
Review from Fran B.
Oakland, CA
10/31/2011
We just had our house painted by Universe Painting. We started getting bids for painting this summer. We got a total of 5 bids. Asen's bid came in as the second lowest but I was most impressed by his responsiveness (called us back within the day and scheduled to come out and give us a bid within the week), his knowledge of the prep work that would be needed and his ability to discern what would be the best service for us.
I cannot tell you how happy I am that we went with UP. Asen's brother Chris was our project manager. He couldn't have been nicer or more responsive. Hugo was the crew leader and those guys were amazing. They had excellent attention to detail, were very respectful, cleaned up the site every single day and our house looks beautiful now. We've already received many compliments from our neighbors (who were not disturbed during the job at all). We are so pleased with the entire experience and highly recommend UP for any painting job. -
Review from Jonathan S.
Berkeley, CA
8/19/2011
This review is intended to help a particular type of homeowner (people who want the best they can afford and appreciate quality, as opposed to those who love and live for low prices).
I got bids to paint my house (exterior) from 5 companies. They were all responsive to the request for a bid.
Two of the five wrote a number on a piece of paper and offered a few references. No thanks.
Two others submitted actual proposals (one off the charts high, the other too sloppy to be considered seriously).
Universe Painting was responsive to the original request and Asen brought me the best proposal I've received from ANY contractor. It was thorough, informative and his price was competitive. He was also very thoughtful with suggestions and accurate in his prediction of scheduling.
But that is only part of the reason why he rates a 5 star recommendation.
The team that painted our house was simply terrific - hard working, exceptionally courteous and really great at what they do. They got going on time, worked long hours every day and cleaned up completely every day. They prevented my wife from complaining and that is no small feat!
Final thoughts - very well run company, great painters and a paint job that we really, really love. At a fair price (not the lowest price, but worth every penny). -
Review from Pasha G.
San Francisco, CA
1/22/2012
I am a landlord of a four unit building. I have hired Universe Painting for the job of painting the whole house, scraping and painting the front wooden door and remodeling one of the apartments. The remodeling involved replacing the ceiling in the living room, replacing one of the walls in the dining room with installation installed, and painting the whole apartment.
First, the good. Asen has taken detailed notes about the work that needed to be done. He was very professional and produced a very detailed estimate. The price for the job was not the cheapest bid I got, but it was very aggressive. Asen drew a detailed contract, and I decided to hire Universe Painting for the work. Asen's brother, Chris, was supervising the work, Rodrigo was the foreman and Victor was Rodrigo's right hand man. Everyone I dealt with very extremely nice and the work has started on time.
Now, the bad. Rodrigo and his crew are lacking in skill, and they were cutting corners everywhere they could.
The interior work:
1) The new ceiling had to be redone. The first job on it was extremely poor. It was not smooth at all with every stitch between the Sheetrock visible. Their second attempt was better, but by no means perfect.
2) The wall that had to be replaced was just fixed.
3) Furnace room was not painted.
4) They left one of the power outlets in the dining room hanging. When I pointed it out to them, they said that it was like that from the beginning. Well, it was not. Plus, they definitely had to remove it to paint the woodwork, and they should have put it back in.
5) They have screwed up the electric wiring completely. It blew the fuses, and lights were not working. I had to call the electrician after that to fix the wiring, replace the fuses, and replace the broken thermostat.
The exterior work:
1) THIS IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM that I had with their work. The back wall started peeling two days after they finished. The paint also had started bubbling in other places. Near the roof, the paint was peeling badly and had to be completely redone. We were meeting every weekend for about a month and a half to fix it.
2) Same with stucco back wall. It was peeling badly. At some point, Chris and I have decided to stop fixing it now and meet in March to do it as part of warranty work.
3) Front wall has stains after the painting which they could not fix.
4) The crumbled filling between the boards was not replaced. Instead, each individual crumbled piece was painted.
5) There was not enough prep work done sanding the front door.
On top of that, they have clogged the drain with paint chips and left sharp objects outside which my tenants with kids complained about. At some point, I asked Chris to get another crew, and he brought in Hugo to finish some of the repairs.
So would I hire Universe Painting again? This is a tough question. I definitely would not work with Rodrigo and his crew again. I would like to see the kind of work they do in March. If they manage to fix everything, then yes, I will hire them again. My advice is, make sure that Rodrigo is not the person working on your property. -
Review from Rosalyn C.
San Francisco, CA
7/20/2011
The word on the street is that there is a recession going on.... but apparently, the recession does not apply to SF restaurants (Packed every day - I'm talking to you One Market for lunch and Frances for dinner) and SF painters.
After a month of searching for painters and getting bids, I must have talked to at least 8 painters, many of whom passed because the job is too small (only 4 rooms), or cannot commit on a starting date for the project (looking for a bigger project) or just flat out don't respond.
Asen was a breath of fresh air, prompt, professional and responsive; on top of that, gave a very aggressive bid, not the lowest, but very very close. His guys, Alex and his crew started 5 days after I met with Asen and finished in 3 days. It is worth mentioning they were pretty on time, give or take 15 minutes - which is definitely on time for contractors.
The project is more complicated than their original expectation due to the wall paper behind existing paint, lots and lots of plastering work, chunks of the wall fell off as the work progressed that needed patching... Even with the additional work, they didn't ask for extra money and finished only half a day beyond the original estimated schedule.
All in all, two thumbs up, and the finished product looks terrific!! -
Review from Rene G.
Berkeley, CA
8/13/2011
I've contacted half a dozen painting contractors through Yelp. Universe Painting was one of them. Asen came by and described in detail their painting process and gave me a fair estimate. Based on that, plus their great Yelp reviews, I decided to have my home painted by them. My neighbor across the street also praised their painting work on her house. Chris, his brother managed a crew of 2 people. The workers were courteous and polite and always call me by my name. They did a great job painting and left my house clean and tidy at the end of their work days. They missed a couple of spots of unscraped old paint but they were minor enough, that they still merit good recommendation. I will most likely use them again for future painting needs. 4.5 stars.
Update. As soon as I posted my good review, Chris contacted me and offered to fix the minor paint problems. They did the fix and I'm a happy camper. University Paint definately want their customers completely 100% satisfied. They're a 5 star company in my book. -
Review from Candice N.
Mountain View, CA
10/31/2011
Asen and his team (especially Carlos!) is fantastic. Now that they've painted it, everyone keeps saying my house looks like one of the "happy houses" on Desperate Housewives. Great team of professionals--even did two more coats on the front door because I thought I may have seen a streak.
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Review from Lola M.
Union City, CA
10/14/2011
I contacted Asen because I was unhappy with the interior paint job done on my home by a contracted painter, and I wanted his professional opinion on the quality of the work performed and an estimate on what it would take to complete the job and bring it up to par.
I called Asen at 9:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning expecting to leave a message on his answering service. To my surprise he answered the phone and kindly listened to my painting woes.
We made an appointment to meet the next day. Asen was on time (I was late). He spent an hour with me going through the house explaining to me what was done well, what needed improvement, and how it could be corrected. I learned a lot about painting that day.
Asen provided me with an estimate and was prepared to deploy a crew to finish the work the same week. What I really appreciate about Asen is that he did put down the other contractors work, but gave me a fair and factual assessment. He did not pressure me to sign a contract with him, but encouraged me to try and work with contracted painter. He was kind and compassionate and really wanted to help me achieve a favorable outcome.
Because of the time Asen spent with me. I was able to clearly articulate to the contracted painter my concerns and we were able to resolve the issues.
Asen has since followed up with me to make sure my needs have been met. What can I say - Asen is my hero! When I have a future painting job, Asen is the man I'll be contacting. -
Review from Gary F.
Oakland, CA
12/13/2011
We are very pleased with the work done on our home in Oakland by Universe Painting. One of the most important part of painting is the preparation. They water blasted the whole house, patched damaged areas in the wood trim and stucco, primed and finished with two coats of paint. The house looks great. Also, they cleaned up and did touch up on surfaces that had drips and over spray. The two gentlemen that did the work were friendly, courteous, and hard working. I recommend them highly.
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Review from Todd C.
Oakland, CA
7/30/2011
Asen and company are top notch. I say this having worked as a painter for 8 years myself. I am *picky* when it comes to choosing a painter. I got several bids for painting the inside of my house. Asen's bid was 40% lower than the next lowest bid, saving me $4000 (gotta like that).
I gave him a fairly impossible deadline (start next week, finish about 11 rooms in 5 days) and his team knocked it out. They worked 13 hour days. They worked on Saturday.
I asked if he could use low VOC paint and his response was "do you want low VOC or no VOC?" Perfect. Could he match things to paint we already had? Sure. Could they work around builders who were working there at the same time? Yes.
A separate shout out is needed for Carlos, the foreman, who managed the crew. Carlos kept me appraised of how things were going every day. He was patient as I went back and forth on paint colors. He brought in an extra man to knock things out quickly. When they were done he gave me a roll of tape and asked me to go around and mark any spots that I was unhappy with so they could touch things up. He was available as early as 7:30am and as late as 9pm to discuss things.
The last bonus I'll say for this company is that they are all reachable by email, and respond FAST. Most contractors I've worked with only want to play phone tag and often take 24 hours or more to get back. Carols, Asen, and crew respond usually within hours over email. -
Review from Ryan y.
Bay Area
8/29/2011
I'm happy with the job provided by Universe Painting. Chris, Foreman Alex, and their team did a really great, very professional job painting the exterior of my house - I am absolutely, totally satisfied with the outcome and quality of their work provided.
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Review from Angela L.
Palo Alto, CA
5/18/2011
I had to write Asen a review after the great work he provided for my Auntie. My dad grilled Asen on what he does to prep a house as he used to paint exterior buildings. He said Asen had all the right answers, so he gave my Auntie okay to have him paint her house.
Not only did Asen and his team do a phenomenal job, but his team was very neat. Asen and his team cleaned up everyday. She and I greatly appreciated the fact that it didn't look like other painting company work sites with trash, plastic and paint everywhere. We would highly recommend Asen and his team to paint for our friends and family. He was nice, very passionate about the quality of his work and extremely professional. -
Review from Leanne L.
Oakland, CA
5/24/2011
While we ended up using a different painting contractor for our project, I wanted to write a short review to comment on their excellent customer service. They were professional, polite, and knowledgeable with all aspects of our interaction with them, from the initial visit, to the completed proposal.
Of the 4 companies we interviewed, Universal had the lowest price, but a two year warranty. Ultimately, we felt the longer warranty from the other company provided some additional piece of mind. Next time, Universe, next time. -
Review from james k.
San Leandro, CA
10/28/2010 1 photo
We attended the South Bay Home Show at the Santa Clara Convention Center and found Universe painting there. We actually shopped a paint job for our house and it was between three companies. We chose Universe Painting because they went the extra mile prior to even the sending the bid out.
Asen spent the time with us to explain exactly what to expect. Our little cottage style house is over 70 years old and needed some prep work to get it up to speed and he made sure that we understood the scope of labor involved.
Once we accepted the "very fair" offer the appointment to paint was made.
Every thing that the contract had detailed was performed to a "T".
The team was gentle with our plants and belongings and careful to even mask off the neighbors car and property when it came time to painting.
Along the way one of the team would check in with us to assure that we were proceeding on schedule and that the details were covered.
The finished product is a detailed standout and the neighbors have all complemented on our house.
Universe Painting is all about service and the details. Don't be afraid to ask them questions, they are truly the experts and we give them TWO THUMBS UP! -
Review from meyer l.
San Francisco, CA
12/17/2011
What a terrific team and great work, at a excellent price! Universe Painting did an outstanding job of painting my 2-story Victorian house in SF. The whole process was stress-free and exceeded my expectations. Asen gave us a thorough inspection of the job and made very helpful recommendations. They always kept us informed and stayed in touch during the job. I was concerned since we get a lot of fog moisture and we wanted this paint job to be topnotch. It's a big investment. Happy to say, we were not disappointed. Our house is all wood and needed a lot of preparation, which was all completely done properly. The prep was thorough, even taping up neighbors' windows and car! They definitely have experience and knowledge, which was obvious in the setup, prep, speed and results of the job. And they always kept the site clean and the guys were so courteous. We highly recommend the company, especially Alex and his crew. We feel very fortunate to have found this company, and getting such outstanding service.
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Review from Karen N.
Albany, CA
2/15/2010 2 photos
My house was painted a year ago by Universe Painting. My home is 75 years old and had peeling paint around the doors and windows. It was desperately needing paint. I found Asen and Hristo and their team gave me some of the best customer service I've experienced anywhere. A week before they came by and painted samples on the front of the house so we'd have time to consider the colors.
During the job their painting team came and left promptly, cleaned up daily and were considerate through out. I have young kids so the last was very important to me. Also, they meticulously removed all the peeling paint. I know they did a great job because a year later everything is smooth as it should be. -
Review from Michelle R.
Mountain View, CA
6/14/2010
Asen & Chris,
You and your team rocks. Thank you for your patience as I tried to determine what color to paint the exterior of the house and for your recommendation. Your team picked up each day keeping our surroundings clean. The deck also looks wonderful - I just love how everything looks. -
Review from brian w.
Foster City, CA
8/12/2011
U.P. did a nice job on our deck. They completed the job and even had his people come back after the deck dried to help me move my furniture back. His foreman Carlos Santana and his team were very accomodiating and very friendly. When Carlos came back to help with the furniture, I mentioned I wanted to keep the leftover stain so I could stain some wood that will eventually go onto the deck. Not only did he leave me extra stain but he actually had his team stain them on the spot. A+ job and A+ service. Carlos went above and beyond the call of duty!
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Review from Melanie H.
Palo Alto, CA
8/26/2010
Universe painting did an excellent job on our two story home. They were meticulous. Asen made sure everything would be to our complete satisfaction from start to finish. Why can't every business care as much as Universe Painting?
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Review from Theresa R.
Oakland, CA
5/14/2011
We just had Chris and Asem clean and stain our deck for us - boy, did it ever need it! They were extremely responsive and prompt. When they found out we were having a party the following Saturday, they made sure to get the job done in plenty of time for the party. The deck looks wonderful, and I can't say enough good things about them. Highly recommended!
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Review from Ellen P.
Palo Alto, CA
1/13/2011
We just had Universe Painting come to prep and paint the entire interior of our home while we were away for a one-week vacation. We scheduled the paint job for a time when we'd be out of the house because we most likely have leaded paint, which is hazardous for our 3-year-old son and baby on the way. The Universe Painting crew did a great job even without us there to supervise-- we had a very detail-oriented house/cat sitter stop by each day, and she gave us great feedback about the progress each day and the professional care that the painters took with our house-- and we were happy to come home to a beautifully painted home. Our house needed a lot of prep work, and they took care of all that plus the paint job. The painters finished even faster than they originally projected, despite some setbacks (due to flaws in our house, not their fault). Highly recommended!
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Review from Mark M.
Richmond, CA
7/12/2010
Universe Painting rescued me from my own unfinished interior paint job. They came in on short notice, then worked efficiently and with great professional care and precision, I give five stars for professional, high-quality work, though they're a bit pricey. Want to save time and headaches? Universe took the stress out and put a professional paint job on my walls.
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Review from Tamar A.
Oakland, CA
4/7/2011
We just had the inside of our house painted by Universe Painting, and they did a fantastic job. Their prices were very competitive and the quality of their workmanship was even better than we expected. Asen was so easy to work with and very willing to accommodate a few last minute changes...one of which involved helping us finish a wall that we had torn down and couldn't get finished in time for the painters. Changes included, they still finished on time! The house looks beautiful. We've had a number of wonderful contractors at our house over the past month, and Asen has been among my favorites! I will definitely use Universe Painting again when decide to paint the outside of the house!
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Review from Pete U.
Belmont, CA
6/1/2010
We hired Asen and his team to paint the interior of our house from the 1940's. The majority of the walls were different textured wood paneling, some with mismatched boards and cracks. Asen helped us pick our colors, gave us an accurate estimate, and got started right away. The house looks amazing now. They sanded the walls, cleaned up the cracks, painted the interior of our cabinets, and put on multiple coats to make our walls look great. They finished the job two days earlier than they estimated and kept to their price quote. We will definitely use Universe Painting again.
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Review from L M.
Berkeley, CA
3/16/2011
Universe Painting was awesome. Asen was knowledgeable, reliable, responsive and helpful right from the beginning. He helped us think about the scope of our project (painting the entire entire interior of our home), the colors - spending over an hour with us on this and everything else. Chris, his partner managed the project and was absolutely great. We had an extremely tight turnaround time and they delivered well within that time frame. We were more than pleased with their work product. The paint job is impeccable, and they were quick to respond about last minute touch ups that are inevitable. I would highly recommend their team.
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Review from Susan H.
Orinda, CA
1/13/2011
Asen and his crew just completed painting my office. They were very professional. The paint edges are crisp and there were no paint drips anywhere. Very neat crew. I had this done while my office was closed. Each morning I arrived to disarm my alarm system and they were there waiting to begin. They went beyond the call of duty in moving things for me and returning everything to its correct place. I also used Asen's color coordinator, Carrie Yoshida to pick the paint colors. The whole process was great from beginning to end. I highly recommend Universe Painting.
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Review from Angelo D.
San Francisco, CA
10/15/2010
First Asen is an amazing sales men. He came to our home and gave us an overview regarding the scoop of the work, great presentation!s His brother Chris and their workers were very accommodating with all my request.. I had asked to see a few additional colors while they were working on the house. Chris would be here the next day with the color. The staff is very friendly and respectful of our yard and the neighbors yard. After the job was finished there were a few touch ups that were needed, they came back a few days later and took care of it. We are very pleased with universe painting and would highly recommend them.
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Review from Danny J.
San Francisco, CA
3/30/2010
Our project was to paint all the common areas of a three story condo. They gave us the best estimate, were neat and clean, and did an incredible job and ahead of schedule. We are very happy with the results and would use them again and recommend them to our friends.
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Review from steve s.
Los Angeles, CA
5/29/2010
absolutely 5 stars
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Review from Margaret B.
Mountain View, CA
5/20/2010
Asen at Universe Painting is professional, caring and knowledgeable about his work. When I asked Asen if he cleaned patios, he sent a crew who power washed my townhouse patio and I was amazed at the results. With Asen's help, my patio looks as good as it did on the day it was installed. Asen's crew were polite, respectful of the back yard plants and cleaned up after themselves. I highly recommend this company!
