So. Unique Painting & Decorating

We had Bob and his team paint our 11 year old house in Livermore early this winter. I sought quotes from several companies in the area, and Bob made us feel very comfortable and quoted a fair price (in the lower end of the range of the companies we investigated).
Bob spent a good deal of time helping us to select the color palette, was always relaxed and friendly, and patiently addressed all of our questions.
His crew was neat and orderly, did no damage to the home or surrounding areas, and did a good job of caulking and finishing the work. We pointed out a small number of discrepancies, and Bob had them right back out to take care of them. We even later changed our mind about the color we chose for some trim pieces, and he had his crew repaint them for no charge.
We would happily use So Unique Painting again for our next paint job, and recommend you consider them as well.

This was the 2^nd time we used So-​Unique for a large interior painting job in a newly purchased home and we are very happy we did. Bob was responsive, professional, knowledgeable and friendly. He was flexible with our schedule, took last minute changes in stride, and helped us select the perfect colors. The crew was prompt, courteous, efficient and tidy and we were extremely pleased with the quality of work. They even touched up spots in other rooms so the house felt new. It was nice to see the same guys who painted our other home years before… experienced professionals. Great customer service and very reasonable pricing. We highly recommend them. Thanks again, Bob!

Just had my interior painted and it looks amazing! Bob was great during the estimate and the crew that did the painting was prompt and cleaned up very well when it was all done. My place is small, but they didn’t hesitate to meet me for an estimate and I was blown off by 3 other places. They will get my business again!

Just had the exterior of my home painted by So Unique Painting and I can’t tell how many people drive by and stop to look at it. It looks amazing! It took one day to power wash and only 1 day to paint the entire home. The crew did a fabulous job and the attention to detail they put into painting the trim, doors and garage was amazing. I will use them again and I will recommend them to everyone I know that needs a professional painter because So Unique Painting defiantly uses professionals.

So easy and so great. From start to finish I was very happy. They went beyond my expectations. They even painted my old hose rack. Clean up was done after every day. It took 1 day to power wash and 1 ½ days to paint. I will use them again and recommend them highly.

We initially selected So Unique Painting because they were responsive (unlike several other painters who responded days later) and prices quoted were fair.
Later, we found out that So Unique also had excellent customer service. Bob helped me select the colors for our living/​dining room, guest bedroom/​bath, family room, kitchen, and main door. I was struggling between 3 shades of Benjamin Moore beige, 3 shades of gray, 2 shades of green, 4 shades of navy, and 2 shades of white. Who knew colors could be so complicated? Bob made some helpful suggestions and we ended up with a palette that worked great together.
The painters who came were all polite and very efficient. The paint job was done very well but with large jobs, there are always little areas here and there that need touch-​ups. So Unique was very accommodating with touch ups. I put together a detailed list and the painter (they have touch up specialists) did all the touch ups without having to look at the list!

They say you get what you pay for and I got it shabby workmenship work was not up to par on what I was told they were going to do as to pre prep before paint was applyed after looking over the house in the few weeks there is paint missing all over the place also lifting paint { poor prep job } paint that was splattered on my concrete I was told by the painter on the job to clean it myself with goof off and I have a 5 year old that can cut better lines with a paint brush. haven’t herd from bob since he sold the job not one peep I really doubt they will come back to make it right (buyer beware)

This is the 3^rd time over many years that So Unique has painted our house (both inside and outside). Bob and the crew alway do a fabulous job! The prices were very reasonable, and best of all the crew painted the great room, large entry way, and two bedrooms in about 6 hours!!!
I highly recommend them!

Several of our neighbors recommended So Unique when it was time to paint the exterior of our home. The job is done and we love it. The crew was very professional, neat and did a fantastic job. Miquel and Landon were wonderful to work with. We appreciated the idea from Bob to use a dark color at the roof line to transition the house to the roof — a great decorator touch. We don’t anticipate any problems, but we know So Unique stands behind their work and will fix any problem like they did for our neighbor.

We highly recommend Bob and the So Unique Painting crew. A neighbor recommended them to us and we felt very comfortable from our very first meeting with Bob. We had So Unique paint the exterior of our 2-​story home and it turned out beautifully. Bob is a wealth of info on all things painting. He was extremely helpful throughout the process, his pricing is hard to beat, and the company stands behind all workmanship with an amazing warranty. The crew including our foreman Jose was polite, pleasant, professional and are employees (not subs). They helped us get some dry-​rot issues resolved quickly so painting could stay on schedule. We love the finished look and have already recommended Bob & So Unique to other neighbors and friends. In fact, shortly after seeing our results, another neighbor has since used them for exterior painting and has mentioned they too are extremely happy with their experience!

They painted my house a few years ago. Attention to detail was not good, and they were so eager to get the painting job done during a warm break in the weather that they didn’t have the courtesy to notify me ahead of time they were coming out. They ended up getting paint on patio furniture, the patio, a few sentimental garden ornaments that were presents from family, and then ironically, missed painting sections of the house which I later had to touch up.

We recently moved into a house that had all the walls stripped from years of wallpaper. So Unique textured the walls and painted the entire house and I cannot tell you how amazing of a job they did. The painters showed up on time every day, they were professional, our furniture was properly protected and they were exceedingly efficient. Best of all, the lead foreman did a great job of checking in to make sure they were painting the correct accent walls, that the different paint colors were being painted in the right rooms so I was always reassured that they understood what I wanted and made great suggestions too!
I would recommend So Unique to anyone because they were competitive on cost, did an outstanding job and our house looks beyond fantastic. Amazing what a good paint job will do!

After dealing with another painting company recommended here on Unilocal and having an absolutely horrible experience we decided to use So Unique. They were wonderful! Bob our consultant was kind, knowledgeable and professional. The painting crew were great as well… answered any and all questions I had. We painted the exterior of our home and it looks fabulous. Would recommend So Unique to anyone!

I used this company to remove the popcorn from my ceiling, and paint various walls though out the house. They were friendly, professional, did a great job and had good prices. I would use them again and again. Great company!

I have used this company 3 times in the past, and each time the job was great. I will certainly use them again in the future. They painted the exterior of my previous house 8 years ago, then last year they painted the exterior of the home we are in now. A couple months later, I had them paint about ¼ of our interior.
Each job was nicely done and they came back a week later to see about any needed touchups. I have always been pleased with the sales rep and he gives the straight facts, no upselling, and is always pleasant to work with him. Their pricing has always been better than most other quotes, so that is a plus.
The rating is not 5 stars, yet I don’t think I could ever give any company a top rating for painting. No matter how good they are, something is always going to go wrong to a minor degree. As for the important part… the painting, it is always superb and well done.
The cleanup is the main reason this is not a 5 star rating. Although the cleanup process is ok, its not perfect. I still have some paint on the concrete outside my shed that was never cleaned up. A screen door was accidentially painted in one area, but they did a great job of cleaning it. In one case, I had to get my son to help me move back some heavy yard items that were not put back in place. In my case, I think the cleanup is NOT the fault of the crew. They were rushed by the owner himself. I felt sorry for the crew because the boss came to the job site as they were finishing up the painting at the end of the day. He was literally yelling at them to say they should be moving faster. He probably didn’t see me sitting by the pool. This left me with the impression that while the crew wanted to do a great job, the boss thought that time and profit was most important. It’s something I would never do or like to see. Next time I call them to paint something, I’ll ask the boss to stay at the office !!!
Crew… they were working hard, nice people, polite, considerate, and careful with their work. That’s the important part to us. I bought them lunch for doing such a good job.

We had our 2 story, home painted by them a year ago. The owner is very knowledgeable and experienced but he hired inexperienced people to do all of the painting. He was not here during the painting, the coat was very thin and many areas were not covered. He had to go back, buy 75 gallons more paint and have the same day laborers spend several more days to finish. They sprayed over all of our pool equipment which can’t be removed and some of the areas still are not painted as I saw from just standing 15 ft in the air on a ladder putting up Christmas lights.
Update: He came back and re painted some areas, thank you.

In September of this year, we made the decision to paint instead of continuing to stain our all wood house. We had several companies bid on our job, and decided to go with So Unique based on our interaction with Mr. Bob Range. Bob was very knowledgable about what we needed to consider, and yet also was very comfortable to talk with. We did not feel that we were being given a slick sales pitch, and he answered all our questions from a position of experience and confidence. The price that he quoted was by far the most reasonable of all the bids we had received. His team came in and did a very nice job of painting our exterior walls, steps and porch. We have a mailbox that looks like our house, and they asked if we wanted that painted as well. We had a few missteps like our hummingbird feeder that went missing during the job, and overturned planters… but these issues were quickly taken care of by Bob in the most positive manner. We are very happy with the job that was done, and more importantly, we are very satisfied with the exceptional customer service experience that Bob gave us.

5 stars for the quality of the paint job and people they used.
4 stars for the quality of consultation (but the very experienced consultant tried to steer us to particular colors they commonly used, perhaps to reduce their own costs) On the other hand, the consultant should have known better than to assert that the color painted on a small swatch would appear the same as color painted on a wall – bad advice!
2 stars for poor communications (the consultant didn’t read all of our detailed messages, didn’t carefully read the ones that he did read – thus, and failed to remember or not commit to memory information we previously provided to him, so he didn’t respond to us in context at times) and lack of integrity in dealing with us. (This is our perception of the business behavior, not a personal attack.) That’s why it’s very important to get things in writing.
Despite our earnest, repeated, constructive, and respectful attempts to communicate openly with So Unique and address our concerns, So Unique’s decision in the end was to treat us disrespectfully and blow us off, and in the end the consultant had the gall to resort to a personal attack, an outright lie (though from his perspective, he may have believed what he said), which we really didn’t appreciate. Our concerns could easily have been addressed through open communications, negotiation, and follow-​through, but So Unique didn’t want to spend any more of their time dealing with us because we were an opportunity cost to them.
In summary, so Unique wouldn’t own up to their own mistakes and ultimately did not care to make the customer happy. We still believe that So Unique is a respectable business. Just be aware that they are run by savvy business people who know how to manage public perception. They are a business, and their goal is to maximize their profit (or cut their losses), not customer satisfaction. That’s our takeaway from having dealt with them.

We had our house exterior painted in by So Unique in August, 2010. I’ve waited a number of months to write a review to see if I am still happy with their work.
I am still very pleased with the quality of the work that they did painting my home. We collected many quotes. So Unique was in the middle of the pack, but we liked their overall approach and the length of time they had been in business.
Once we paid a deposit, they put us on their schedule, about 5 weeks out. And they stuck to that schedule — showing up exactly as expected to start pressure washing the house.
They took care of all the detail work without anyone reminding them, and they finished right on time. The house looked great when they were done, and it still looks great now, even with the rains we’ve been having this year.

The paint started crackining after only 1 MONTH! Instead of taking responsibility for the faulty paint job So Unique expended more effort making excuses than actually re-​doing the work. The fixes made are poor quality, and they have not returned yet to complete others.