A1 Paint Removal Painting and Restoration

We own a 1910 "Old Portland" style foursquare home in Uptown Vancouver and hired A-1 Paint Removal Painting and Restoration to strip layers and layers of paint from it so that new paint would once again adhere. A three year-old paint job was failing already and we wanted to create a clean canvas for the new paint that would last a long time. Richie and his crew did an amazing job of stripping the paint using heat guns and scrapers. Each area worked on was tarped and contained as is best practices when working with old lead-based paint. The crew arrived on time every morning and worked diligently to complete the job in 6 days. If you own a historic home, skilled paint preparation like this is important to maintain its beauty and value. We recommend A-1 Paint Removal without reservation and would definitely hire them again!

My 1920s home was in need of repainting. We opted to have all old paint removed and carpentry repair as needed to restore and make intact the exteriors both of the house and the detached garage. A-1 absolutely fulfilled its commitment to quality throughout the process. Predictably, the paint removal part of the process was elaborate and one which required us to be absent from the home during the hours of their work. This was well explained beforehand. Carpentry, priming and final repaint was performed with meticulous care to detail. Members of the A-1 team were always smiling, friends and approachable. The outcome of this large project truly exceeded our expectations.

I recently hired A-1 to strip a portion of my house. This was a difficult job due to the height of the house and close quarters with neighbors. I also have mature landscaping, and I requested that A-1 make every effort to work around the shrubs and trees with minimal damage. The job was done well, the impact on the landscaping was minimal and the site was kept very clean. A-1’s crew worked hard under difficult conditions. The final product was as promised. Strong recommendation.

All jobs and or services whether to remove paint or to paint the inside or the outside were all done extremely well, see previous comments for further detailed information above. They have completed Exterior Painting and removal interior painting as well as pressure washing at both of our homes on more than one occasion since 2011. See posting of picture of Paint removal its amazing

Richard and his team removed the paint on the exterior of our home, and then repainted. The new paint job was beautiful, but took two weeks longer than expected (and did not start on time as it was pushed out to due to continued work on another job). Shortly after painting, one side of our home began to bubble. A1 guarantees their work, and we were assured they would come fix the issue (strip and repaint). They asked us to wait a few weeks so that they could be certain the paint would not bubble further. There were significant communication issues, and months passed before A1 scheduled a date to return and correct the issue. A1 asserts the issue was with our contractor's poor communication. Our contractor asserts it was A1's unwillingness to make our "correction" a priority. I, personally, also struggled to communicate with A1, and I find them to often "pass the buck" when it comes to taking responsibility in conflict, so I struggle to determine where fault lies. In the end, after posting this review, the company did return at the end of September to restrip and paint the areas that were bubbling, and the paint job looks fantastic. I do think that Richard, the owner, has a fantastic eye for detail and design, and was able to provide great ideas and insight, and we very much liked the "lead" on our project, Arturo. Again, the work is nearly flawless, and I don't think the bubbling that occurred was a result of A1's work. I'm grateful that it looks as beautiful as it does, and A1's attention to detail can't be beat. The work on our home is nearly flawless.

They did an excellent job of removing the paint, but did an inordinate amount of damage to plants in the beds near the garage.  As instructed, I cleared a 2' corridor on all 4 sides of the garage, including transplanting several plants and pruning back a barberry hedge and a couple of juniper trees.  I expressed concern about my plants & was assured they would get "tender, loving care".  Because of a recent electrical fire at the house, I was staying in a hotel. When I got to the house that morning, I found workers had put jackets, etc, into a bed on top of several small perennial plants, and I asked them to please remove.  No one stepped forward to introduce himself as supervisor and the worker did not appear to speak English, though he did remove the items.  I had to be away most of the day, and when I returned, they were gone.  I found various items on a different bed, one trunk of a double-trunk juniper broken and lying horizontal atop my barberry hedge, & several plants crushed.  There were damaged plants and even a broken solar light well away from the work area.  I sent photos to the company but did not get any useful response.

Hands down - a great company to work with - you cannot go wrong. They are meticulous, hard working, and will not stop until your house looks amazing.

I originally contacted Richard at A-1 to provide paint removal services on a project that involved vinyl siding removal, paint removal, carpentry, and new paint on a 1920's era home in Portland. In my meeting with Richard he expressed his interest in restoring old homes and asked me to consider A-1 to for the entire project. His bid was not the lowest, but I got a feeling through our discussion that he cared about his work and had a good sense of aesthetics. I called three references who had their houses stripped and re-painted by A-1, and they all had nothing but great things to say.

This was a huge, nasty project, but the outcome is amazing. Our house looks like a historic home again. Yes, there were times when I'd wished that the communication was a little better, but I also understand the demands that they were under since spring and summer is a busy time for exterior work in Portland. The house was painted in the fall, the rain was coming soon, so Richard said that he would contact us in the spring because he wanted to touch up some areas that he wasn't happy with. Everything looked fine to me and I didn't expect him to call, but he did and the touch ups are being made now.

Nice people who care about their work and will do a great job.

We were very happy with the quality and price of A1's work, but we rated A1 with a "C" for Responsiveness and Professionalism, as these were the closest category to what we would describe as "follow through."

In particular, the following are things that were promised by A1:

1. A portable toilet on site for the workers - they were working 8+ hour shifts for 6 days and facilities were not provided.  2. A machine to provide positive displacement of air, forcing clean air from the inside to outside of the house - this was never provided. 3. When we were getting the quote and discussing their EPA certified practices, Richard said A1 owned a high-end HEPA vacuum; however, the crew only used a standard shop-vac with a HEPA filter, which is a fundamentally a different thing.  
When the above issues occurred, we communicated our concerns directly with Richard.  He answered the phone and spoke with us about it, but A1 still did not take care of the above details.  

Finally, we were grateful that the crew had done a great job of covering the interior windows with plastic to prevent the exterior paint removal dust from coming inside.  However, we discovered that we had been without a functional fire alarm for a week after the project was completed.  The alarms had been covered with plastic during the project.  A week later, we decided to do an annual check on the alarms, only to find out the crew had removed the batteries and we were not notified by A1 that we had been without our bedroom fire alarm the entire time. Had we not happened to check our batteries, we could have had months going by without a fire alarm the bedroom where we sleep, a very unnecessary and frustrating risk. 

We have provided this feedback directly to A1, as we hope this helps them improve the situation for their workers and future customers.  We would hire A1 again because of the quality of the work and competitive price; however, to achieve our level of comfort with lead based paint removal, we would have to keep a close connection with the work.  

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Richard is dedicated to customer service. He stopped by daily to check in on the crew and discuss things with us. If anything went wrong he immediately jumped on and attacked the problem aggressively to our satisfaction. The price for paint stripping a house is high, so you want to get what you paid for and be treated as an important customer. They did great on both. We have tons of people stopping and talking to us about how we got the house stripped so well. Many have even suggested clear coating it instead of painting it because it looks so good. Would definitely recommend for those who have the budget and a horrible looking house from all the previous sanding, power washing, and many layers of paint etc.

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Awesome job! From scheduling, to workers' arrival, to the lead mitigation prep, the quality of work done, clean up, and communication--there's nothing we can find fault with. The owner (Richard) took a lot of time to explain the process and kept in close touch with frequent updates. The workers were skilled, speedy, and professional. Our 87-year-old home is down to bare wood and ready to get a fresh coat! A1 was recommended by our painting company and they coordinated their schedules to provide a seamless transition to painting. We couldn't be happier with the job they did to prepare our home for repairs and repainting!

Richard was really cool and provided a fair price. Clean-up was subpar. It was a bit of hassle to be able to get into the house as they had set up a pad-locked chain fence around the house due to the lead paint. Richard was responsive to this.

Excellent job, very professional and hard working crew. Very trustworthy.

Excellent customer service from beginning to end. The company responded to all my inquiries in a timely manner and was very punctual with appointments and proposals. I was impressed with the long days the workers put in, the great care to follow abatement procedures and the excellent clean up at the end of each day.
Most importantly, besides the excellent job of thorough paint removal, the company protected all of my plants and flowers! Not one plant, leaf or flower suffered.
I also liked how cheerful the crew was despite the awful work they had to do to remove the paint.
I would highly recommend A1 Custom Paint Removal INC!

Overall the experience was good. They removed all the old paint, kept the yard clean and showed up when they said. The painter did complain a little about the roughness of some of the surfaces and said they should have left them smoother but he did not charge us more to do the extra sanding that was required. A1 recomended the painter who did a good job.

Quick and easy. Really great to work with, everything was done quickly and professionally and no mess was left.

A1 told us they follow OSHA guidelines, have frequent OSHA oversight, and did not use open flames, torches or heat the paint over 400 degrees. It turns out that their comments were untrue.

The work went great from start to finish Richard arrived promptly and gave us an estimate. He told us when he could start the job. We needed a little extra time and he was very accommodating. Richard's crew started on agreed date. Crew was very professional in how they set up their operation, worked in teams and were immaculate in their clean-up after each day's work. The crew was great to work with and did a great job of stripping our house. We are very happy with the job that they did.

It went good. The guys were very friendly and professional. Everything was taped and cleaned up. They took care in our home, putting down mats so they didn't track in mud.

I rarely enthuse over a company as I do over A-1 Custom Paint Removal. The 6 operatives work together in almost aerial demonstration coordination. Every thought is given to health and safety, including full Haz-Mat suits, air masks and safety lines tied off from the roof at all times. They cover the entire work area, clean up after every day's work, replace downspouts, phone-lines, TV cables and plantings. On the final day they leave the place as if they were never there-apart from superb original wood. All of their equipment, ladders, scaffolding attachments, gas lines etc are first rate quality. Our job took 2 more days than expected, because of a particularly hardened paint. Not once did they skimp the work and not once did the owner Richard Ostolaza even hint at a renegotiation of quoted price.

They came on the date they gave me. Were on time everyday. They did a terrific job. I am VERY happy and satisfied with their work. The clean up was impeccable. They are a very cheerful and hardworking group and it was a pleasure to deal with them. the price was great for the most excellent result!

We have used A1 Custom Paint Removal three times. First time was to strip all paint off all woodwork in living room, dining room, front hall, stairwell, back hall. Huge job. Excellent work. Super attention to detail. Cleans up after every day's work. Second time, stripped front porch floor. Third time, bedroom. When we have other rooms stripped, he will get the contract, no question.

A-1 removed all of the paint from the smooth trim (soffits, barge boards, and windows) on my house. They arrived ahead of schedule and 4 workers completed the work in 4 days, cleaning up completely at the end of each day. They were polite, professional, and took care not to damage plants around the house. I would highly recommend them for paint removal.

A-1 was referred to us by Brock at All Pro Painting. This job was originally scheduled for the end of July. We were quite happy that Richard was able to fit us in between other jobs and get this done less than 3 weeks from the date of the quote and about 1 week from our acceptance of the contract. Richard and his crew arrived on time, worked neatly and efficiently and finished earlier than we expected. They cleaned up more than their mess. We had not cleaned up completely after removing the siding. I found Richard (and crew) very easy to work with. I would recommend them to anyone.