Straight answers to the questions we hear most. If yours isn’t here, call and ask. We like the phone.
Who paints historic and landmark homes in Berkeley and the East Bay?
Aurora Painting & Decorating has painted and restored the Bay Area’s historic homes since 1987, including landmarks by Bernard Maybeck, Julia Morgan, and John Hudson Thomas. Our restoration work has earned two preservation awards, with Aurora named on both: BAHA 2006 and AAPS 2021. We work across Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, the East Bay, and Marin.
What makes Aurora different from a production painting company?
Production companies are built for speed and volume. Aurora is built for prep and craft, the slow and careful work under the finish. Many of our clients have been through a production paint job and came to us for the opposite. The difference shows in two preservation awards no production company has.
Do you only paint historic homes?
No. Landmark care for every home is the whole idea. We paint interiors, exteriors, Victorians, Craftsmans, brown shingles, and plenty of homes with no plaque on them, plus select commercial work. Every house gets the same prep-first standard.
Are Aurora’s painters background-checked?
Yes. Every Aurora employee is background-checked. We also pay a livable wage, so our turnover is very low. You’ll know exactly who is in your home, and you’ll see the same faces from the first day to the last.
Will the same crew be on my job start to finish?
Yes. The crew that starts your job finishes it, and Carlo, Aurora’s owner, walks the job with you at the start and at the end. Low turnover makes that promise possible, and we protect it by paying our people well.
How do you protect furniture and floors?
Everything is covered before a brush comes out. Floors, furniture, counters, and landscaping get masked and draped, and we contain the work area. At the end of each day we close down clean: tools away, walkways clear, your home back to you.
Do you handle lead-safe work on homes built before 1978?
Yes, it’s our specialty. Aurora is an EPA RRP Lead-Safe Certified Firm. We sand with HEPA-filtered equipment, contain and collect debris, and remove it sealed from your property.
Are you licensed?
Yes. Aurora Painting & Decorating holds California Contractor License #721226, the same license that has carried our work since 1996.
What does a full exterior repaint cost?
Most full exterior repaints of historic homes run $25,000 to $40,000 and up, scoped to the home. The honest answer comes from a walkthrough. We look at the substrate, the prep it needs, and the details, then give you a written proposal.
Do you help with color?
Yes. Professional color consultation is available with our color specialist at $400 per hour. For a landmark home, the right palette matters as much as the paint.
What warranty do you offer?
Every job carries our 3-year workmanship warranty. If the finish fails because of our workmanship, we come back and make it right. You can read the full terms on our warranty page.
Do you serve Piedmont, Mill Valley, and Orinda?
Yes to all three. We work across the East Bay (Berkeley, Oakland, Piedmont, Kensington, Albany, Alameda) and in Marin (Mill Valley, Corte Madera), and we take select projects in Orinda, Moraga, and Atherton.
Ready when you are
Call (510) 973-2726, or send the contact form and we’ll call you.