Tom just finished painting the interior of our house, and we are thrilled with the results. Several of the rooms required taking off generations of old paint as well as repairing broken drywall and filling in multiple holes. The interior is completely transformed. He provided good color consultation, including the much-needed input that the colors we had picked weren't going to work. He suggested an alternative and it came out beautifully .He started and finished the job on time and came in under budget. He cleans up at the end of every day and is calm and very professional. I'm so happy with his work and would recommend him without hesitation. read more

After 16 years of indecision about what color to paint our puke pink - beige dining room, DH and I finally agreed on a color and a friend referred me to Tom Lawless Painting. Tom made the mistake of loaning me a color wheel, and then had to wait for a while for us to decide on living room and foyer colors. He made some suggestions that kept us from having a living room that looked like a bowl of Cheetos (too orange). The price was right, and we set a date for work to start. Tom and his employee showed up on time, did the work, cleaned up and were gone in 2 days. We were left with three gorgeous rooms (at least the paint job). I used to hate to go in my dining room...now I just sit in there and smile. Oh, and Tom took some extra time to repair the previous sloppy paint job on the "beams" in the dining room - this is where his fine arts background and experience really shone - I would have botched this for sure. He was able to hide the paint that got on the wood by putting several different shades of paint on the overpainted areas, so it matched the existing wood - he even painted in what looked like wood grain - you can't tell there was ever anything wrong! I plan to hire Tom again - I have some more ugly rooms. read more

I needed lead remediation, so didn't want to wait for a painter that had millions of positive Yelp reviews to be available. I was a bit nervous contacting Tom as most of his reviewers have done fewer than 10 reviews, and most of those reviewers only had done 5's, or only 5's and 1's. But there were one or two reviewers whose ratings were distributed and that therefore I felt I could trust. I'm glad I did, and now I can be the reviewer with over 200 distributed reviews. The requirements: scrape off all peeling paint, remove all paint debris including anything there before the job using an EPA-approved vacuum, encapsulate the scraped areas with primer. What Tom and his worker did: All of the above plus: colored the primer to match the remaining paint that didn't need to be scraped, primed and painted some new electrical pipes, scheduled around multiple storms, waited long enough after the last storm to do the painting so that things had dried out, re-vacuumed when storms loosened additional paint and blew down additional paint chips - twice. And then took 8% of the job total off my final invoice because it turned out to be less work than expected! Yes this is a five star review. Reviews do the business no favors if they don't mention things that didn't go right, because it raises questions as to whether the review is legit. Was it perfect? The paint job itself was. They did miss a fairly obvious spot, which I noticed ***after I had paid in full***. I sent them a photo, and they came back after yet another rainy spell and a dry day or two and painted it - without my having to remind them about it - and it looks like it was part of the original job. They left the hose they had moved from the side yard to the back yard instead of moving it back (easy for me to remedy). One or two other minor things which I can live with. I'll take an honest contractor who stands behind their work over perfect any day (if perfect is even available, which it isn't). They finished the job as promptly as weather permitted, letting me know when they were going to be there and showing up when they said they were going to show up. And they were pleasant to deal with. And my next-door neighbor had a couple interactions with them - most outside paint jobs impact next-door neighbors - and found them pleasant to deal with as well. Since some contractors are not neighbor-friendly, I appreciated that. I would hire them again. read more

We had Tom and his guys paint one large flat (1,750 sf) and paint all the doors and jambs in another flat (1,900 sf). In general, they did a very professional job, and were very punctual and trustworthy, as the flats were empty and they always locked up well. Tom is soft-spoken and very easy to deal with...you won't get "run over" by him which happens with some contractors that don't have time for your opinions. He obviously knows his stuff in terms of painting in general, but more impressively, in terms of color theory, mixing pigments, etc. which can really be a big help when you have to match existing paints. What really stood out, however, was his honesty. At the end of the agreed upon tasks, we met to review the work. He stated that he had overestimated the time it would take for some of the work and offered to rebate $500, about 8% of the total which was not necessary as we were already very satisfied. As we had additional items to work on, he agreed to take care of them in lieu of the rebate, which was a huge unexpected help to us. Anyway...good guy, excellent work. read more

Tom is a godsend! We needed a painting job done asap because family was arriving within a few weeks. I called a few recommendations, but Tom was the only one who even returned my call! He came right out and took a look. He gave us a good estimate, but couldn't promise he would be able to meet our deadline, as he was in the midst of another job. We took a chance and hired him. He was he friendly, super neat and professional. He gave us a few color choices and put them up so you really see the color in different lighting. He patched our cracked plaster ceilings so beautifully I couldn't believe it. But the kicker was that he got the job done in the nick of time! Every time I look around at the beautiful job he did I am so thankful we found him. We can't wait to work with Tom again! read more

Tom just completed painting the exterior of our house in Oakland. It looks amazing and we've already gotten so many compliments from neighbors and people just walking by the house! We have an almost one hundred year old house. The house had many layers of old lead paint. With a one year old toddler in the house, I was looking for a painting contractor who was certified to do lead abatement work. He and his helper were punctual, professional and perfectionists. Tom's a really nice guy, with an art degree to boot. He uses high quality paints too. Will use him again for our indoor painting. Highly recommended!! read more

Tom is an excellent painter. He has now painted almost every room in my house and done an impeccable job each time he has worked for us. With 2 small children and a dog it was also important to me to have someone that could do safe work on our lead paint and was kind and easy to be around. Tom has taken classes in safe removal of lead paint and has all of the necessary equipment - i think he is one of the few people certified to do this. Tom is a really nice guy - cleans up each day, completes work on time, and is punctual - all perks in a busy household. read more

We recently had Tom work on some lead remediation painting work in our place. We got about 4-5 total estimates and while one of the reasons we picked him was he was reasonable (not too high/ not too low), I just got a good vibe from him - he seemed honest and unlike many of the other people we looked at didn't approach the bid like a car-salesman or seem like he was wrapped up in some old-boys network. I was glad we trusted our instincts - he was detailed oriented, overall did a fantastic job, and even took care of a few extra challenging areas we hadn't expected. He also isn't one of these folks who manages a crew - he does the work himself and is onsite so you know he'll take care. He was prompt with his communication (both email and phone) and left the place spotless. Definitely consider hiring him for your next project - he'll do a wonderful job!!! read more

Tom has done several indoor painting jobs for our house in Oakland over the years. He is great in every way and we will use him again for any future work. Tom is honest, reliable, shows up when he says he's going to, and does excellent, professional work. And he's a really nice guy, too. Tom is also great with color. We initially went to a color consultant for our bathroom, which Tom just painted, but weren't happy with the recommendations. Tom gave us his opinion and we went with it. He was exactly right and the bathroom looks great. read more

I recently called Tom to come by and give me an estimate for a fairly large interior paint job. He scheduled a time to come by my place and take a look within a day or two. When he showed up, he was right on time & very professional, following up with a thorough, detailed estimate. I agreed to have him do the work and sent him a $500 deposit. However, I'm also working with a decorator friend who is helping me make purchasing choices on a somewhat limited budget. After assessing my furniture, my decorator advised me to spend money on pieces rather than paint at this point, so unfortunately, I had to cancel Tom's job just 2 days before it was scheduled to begin. Tom was completely understanding of my predicament and offered to refund the entire deposit. What a classy guy. Although I didn't have him do the actual job, our short business together proved him to be an extremely decent, honest, and professional businessman. Tom will definitely be the first person I call for my next painting job. read more

When I needed to hire a painter for a rush project to paint a bedroom, Tom Lawless was highly recommended by another firm. He arranged to come by to estimate the job the day I called. The color had been discontinued, but he returned first thing the next morning with newly mixed, beautifully matched paint for both the green walls and the off-white trim. His prep work was thorough and meticulous, and he worked quickly and efficiently; his manner is professional and thoughtful. The room looks terrific and I am happy to recommend him highly. read more

When our kitchen remodel was done, we needed to paint the kitchen, attached living room, and hallway. We hired Tom Lawless Painting b/c of his good reviews and lead abatement certification. He did an excellent job and I am not an easy customer. I am very detail oriented and somewhat of a perfectionist. I was delighted to realize that Tom was too. His attention to detail, professionalism, and amazing job make me smile every day! After the paint job was done, we had a few small items still needing to be completed in the kitchen and we needed to move back in to the space. Tom told me to call him when all was done, so that he could come back and do any needed touch-ups, in case we dinged the wall when moving our couch and furniture back in. Well, we and our kitchen contractors both made some dings on the walls and Tom came back, did all needed touch ups, with zero problems. And, I really appreciated how he cleaned up each day b/c I'm sure my kid would have loved to play in all the paint and equipment. Now, I'd like to have a couple more rooms in my house painted. When we are ready, we will be calling Tom. Thanks Tom for exceeding my expectations. read more