I contacted Stahlschmidt Painting & Restoration in April because we have an old house, and needed a lead-safe certified company in case lead was encountered in the painting process. Chris Quilty responded with a friendly email, letting me know that they were booked until late July, but he was happy to come take a look at the rooms we needed painted. Chris was kind and professional when he visited to look at the rooms, and gave us valuable professional advice about the likelihood of lead (low to none) and the extent of the water damage we had from a roof leak (not super serious). We asked him to add us to their calendar for late July. Late July arrived quickly enough, and soon Chris and his painting team of Freddy and Edgar (I hope I have their names right) were ready to paint our two bedrooms. We asked for low-VOC, moisture-resistant paint, and they were able to accommodate both requests. We were given a choice of colors within the existing color scheme, which is what we wanted. The two bedrooms had been in serious need of painting, and a lot of prep work was required. The team was friendly, professional, quiet, and exceptionally hard-working. They cleaned up every day before they left. The rooms look amazing! We are very happy that we contacted Stahlschmidt Painting & Restoration. We will absolutely call them again when we need more painting done. read more

Wish I could leave more than 5 stars. We hired Stahlschmidt to paint and restore the stucco on our house. Chris Quilty was our main point of contact and was an absolute god-send. He was incredibly responsive and patient as we navigated the 10,000 different shades of exterior white. He picked up many samples for us and came by multiple times to look at them with us and helped us narrow things down. All of the restoration work was so good, we had many 100-year old wood windows that needed a lot of attention and repair, and they look brand new. Our whole house was covered in ivy too, so there was a lot of repair to the stucco that was done perfectly. We are so happy with the results, looks like a brand new house! The crew we had were professional, friendly, on-time every day and SO clean. Everything was picked up and tidied every day. They quoted us 2.5 weeks for the job and completed right on time. I could not be a bigger fan of Stahlschmidt, would highly recommend! read more

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Amazing folks. Experienced team. Lovely, high quality experience all around. Would recommend them to anyone.

Fantastic from beginning to end! Very responsive, easy to work with, and thorough / meticulous. Responsive to my tenants needs and went beyond the call of duty in shoring up support for a back deck, helping with color selection, dealing with some wood rot in a few windows, and more. Not the cheapest bid but top notch work that will hold up for years. Highly recommended! read more

We had an extremely good experience with Hans Stahlschmidt's company. Hans himself was key in helping us reach decisions re type of paint and colors. The two guys who did the work (actually, Mexican brothers) were also excellent: always punctual, they also had opinions about the paints, and always kept the place clean. Their prep was thorough, and their presence was quite non-invasive. FWIW, they only painted the inside of our house. We would certainly hire them again. read more

Hans Stahlschmidt's crew did a superb job painting our house and restoring our shingles and decks. We have had our house painted twice before and Hans' crew provided a far superior job with regard to the preparation and attention to detail. The quality of paint was much better than the previous jobs and they were competitively priced. A special shout out to Chris for his easy going and professional manner. read more

The 100 year old oak woodwork in my living room needed restoration and Percy and Geraldo brought it back to its original beauty. They did a magnificent job, were always on time, and were meticulous in all aspects of the work. Hans was there every day to check that things were going well. I could not be happier with the work they did. read more

Hans Stahlschmidt first painted our house 20 years ago and he and his crew have been our "go to" for all painting jobs ever since. 3 things really stand out about Hans' company: The quality of their prep: That is KEY to any GREAT paint job. Second, Hans is a great think-partner when it comes to assessing a job AND in working through color choices. And finally, his work crew is meticulous, highly skilled and a real pleasure to be around. They care for the inside and outdoor spaces on top of doing great work. Pedro who led a crew on a recent small project was part of Hans' crew 20 years ago! Clearly a great employer, too. read more

Painted over dry rot: I am now discovering in 2021 that his crew painted over dry rot in my woodwork, resulting in further decay that was hidden by a layer of paint. His crew painted my house in 2014, and I failed to inspect the work thoroughly. Complete decay of wood garage door bottom rail resulted in failure this year - it fell apart. I'm now finding 1"- 2" deep decay under painted areas of windows and doors exposed to weather. I'm also finding peeling paint located on sheltered undersides of woodwork. He has refused to correct these problems because of the long time since the job. I understand this is a reasonable general policy, but in my case I think it's clear these areas were never properly prepped as called for in the contract. read more

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Hans has done work on our old Berkeley home many times (both interior and exterior work) and we have always been pleased with the results done at a reasonable cost and time. His crews have been with him for a long time and do excellent prep and finish work. They are very careful to clean up after their work. We trust Hans with any aspect of painting work. read more

Can't recommend them higly enough!!! Stahlschnidt and their wonderful crews have been painting our 1920's home inside and out for over 30 years. They are suberb and their skill and knowledge have helped us preserve and maitain a 100 year old house in excellent condition. Their craftsmanship is beyond compare. And their crews are considerate and are quite inconspicuous when they are onsite. Schedule them early if you can - they are quite popular and are well know for the quality of their work. read more

We have worked with Hans numerous times over the past 25 years -- he's painted both the inside and outside of our house, done touch up work, and repaired dry rot. He and his crew are excellent! Hans is great with color selection, his crew is tidy and professional, and they complete jobs on time and on budget. I would absolutely use them again and highly recommend them! read more

I have used this painting company for several years now and they have always been punctual and professional and did an excellent job. Highly recommend! read more

Hans and his crew are a 5 star operation, no question. The 'restoration' part of their name was what first got my interest in working with this company and it shows that they have expertise in this area. We've used them for exterior and interior painting and their work is outstanding. They take a long time doing careful prep, do the job right and clean up everything. We are pretty demanding and picky customers but they really work hard to make everything right. Our 80 year old siding looks almost new, it's amazing. I like that the owner takes care of his workers, most of whom have been with him for many years. He also actually help us nail a color combination that was just right. The crews are polite and hardworking. Couldn't have had a better experience really. A special shout out to crew leader Pepe whose eye for detail was much appreciated. read more

Stahlschmidt Painting does quality work. They painted my two story stucco building and did an excellent job. The preparation which is most important was done thoroughly and efficiently. They cleaned up as they went. The pricing was competitive and worth every dollar. It was a pleasure working with Hans and his team of painters. The results were outstanding, and I highly recommend them. read more

Simply the best painting outfit in the East Bay. From start to finish your house and you as a customer are well taken care of. Excellent preparation that makes the job last a long time. Well trained and friendly workers. Punctual and hard-working crews who you actually miss when they leave. You don't have to manage the job they do. They have hundreds of references and chances are that some of your friends are on their satisfied customer list. read more

Stahlschmidt Painting is simply the very best. Knowledgeable, helpful, efficient -- they do excellent paint-matching services, their work is neat and thorough. They spend a lot of time on prep and on clean up. We have experience with other contractors, and this company can't be equalled. I have used them to paint both the exterior and interior of our house, and I've been very pleased with the results. read more

This company is by far the best painting company I've worked with. They did my exterior a few years ago, still looks great, they did my interior a few years ago and ceilings, still looks great, put in new window trim and were able to match the subtle craftsman window framing style. Also renovated my wooden windows. I just had to use another painter because Hans was booked through July, boy, what a disappointment. Sloppy, messy, no attention to detail, after many coats of paint rooms still looked bad. This would have never happened with Hans. My suggestion is to wait for his availability. I just wasted 5k on someone else! Wish I had waited. :( read more

We first used Hans Stahlsmidt more than twenty years ago the first time we had our house painted. He has since painted my brother's house and my neighbor's. This was in the days before Yelp. He has a well earned word of mouth reputation as being the best in quality but for some reason folks think he is expensive. He IS the BEST in quality and he is NOT expensive - he is competitive. Here's how we know. We were feeling the recession and decided to get a couple bids on the paint job. Hans came in a very few dollars higher but wow!!! -- I know we got way more in value than the very small difference in price. His team spent two weeks on prep. Painting is ALL about prep. If your painter power washes your house, slaps on a coat of primer and paints your house you just wasted your money. The Stahlsmidt team sands, scrapes, power washes, makes cosmetic and repairs, and only when the place is truly prepped and ready to take paint do they start priming and painting. The painting was another week of very detailed labor. Wait! I'm not done! Did I mention that his guys have been with him for years and years, that they at all times take care not to get paint on anything but the house. They even took our 1920's craftsman front door down, sanded it, fill holes from old door hardware, stained it and gave it 3 coats of urethane and rehung it. If you want a paint job that lasts, if you want to the know that the guys working in your home are quality people and trained craftsmen, if you want the best....call Stahlschmidt Painting. And no, I am not related to him or in any way in business with him. I'm just so happy with the positive experience we just (last week) had that I wanted to share my experience and with Yelp I can. read more