Pasadena Elite Painting transformed our older home with fresh interior and exterior paint. The preparation work was thorough, the color coverage was consistent, and the finished surfaces look outstanding. The entire property now feels well maintained and updated.
Apartment Complex Painting in Pasadena, CA
Pasadena Elite Painting is Los Angeles County's commercial painting contractor for apartment owners, property management companies and general contractors, working on exterior repaints, stucco and elastomeric recoats and common-area interiors across Pasadena's multifamily stock. We handle projects from 20-unit garden buildings to communities of 200 units and above.
Our crews work garden-style complexes, mid-rise multifamily and mixed-use properties with ground-floor retail, phasing exterior and common-area work around residents so units stay rentable and walkways, parking and mailrooms stay accessible. Fully licensed (CSLB #585047), insured and bonded, with certificates of insurance, W-9 and references available on request.
From the first site walk and building-by-building takeoff to a final punch list and closeout package, our team handles the parts of a commercial job that decide whether it finishes on schedule.
Serving Pasadena and the surrounding San Gabriel Valley market, we hold the property manager's schedule, work early mornings and weekends where a resident notice requires it, and turn buildings over ready for move-in inspection.
- Phased so the property stays occupied
- Written scope and takeoff, not a phone quote
- COI issued to your management entity
- Licensed, insured and bonded
Reviews
What property managers say about the work
Pasadena Elite Painting did a beautiful job repainting the interior of our home. The rooms look brighter, cleaner, and completely refreshed.
Excellent painting and careful preparation. Our house looks amazing!
We hired Pasadena Elite Painting to repaint our living room, kitchen, and hallway. The lines around the trim and ceilings came out incredibly clean, and the new colors transformed the entire space. Everything was left neat when the work was finished.
Our home’s exterior looks brand new again. The finish is smooth, even, and professionally done.
The team painted our kitchen cabinets, and we couldn’t believe the difference. The doors and drawers have a smooth, factory-like finish, and the new color made our entire kitchen feel more modern.
Friendly service, beautiful results, and great attention to detail.
Pasadena Elite Painting repaired several damaged areas of drywall before repainting our bedroom. The repaired sections blend perfectly with the surrounding walls, and the finished room looks clean and polished.
01
Scope and project size
Apartment work runs from a single-building repaint to a portfolio rollout across several properties under one management contract. The table below describes the range of scope we take on.
| Property type | Typical unit count | Common scope |
|---|---|---|
| Garden-style complex, single building | 20 to 60 units | Full exterior repaint, stucco crack repair, common-area corridors |
| Garden-style complex, multi-building | 60 to 150 units | Phased exterior across buildings, parking structure and amenity areas |
| Mid-rise multifamily | 100 to 200 units and above | Elevation-by-elevation exteriors, corridors and stairwells, elastomeric recoat |
| Mixed-use residential and retail | Varies by floor plate | Ground-floor storefronts plus upper-floor residential exterior and common areas |
| Multi-property portfolio | Several sites under one contract | One specification applied across sites on a staggered schedule |
Square footage, floor count, the number of buildings on the parcel and the condition of the existing stucco or siding all move the scope up or down from there.
Who this is for
- Property management companies overseeing single properties or multi-site portfolios.
- Owners and investors planning a value-add repaint ahead of a refinance, a sale or a rent reset.
- General contractors who need a painting subcontractor on a renovation or capital improvement project.
- Developers finishing new multifamily construction or converting an existing building to apartments.
02
How a commercial apartment project runs
Six stages, and the proposal is built off measured elevations rather than a phone conversation.
Site walk and takeoff
We walk the property with the property manager or the owner's representative, measure elevations and common areas, and note existing surface condition, stucco cracking and any drywall or masonry repair required.
Written proposal
A scoped proposal covering surface preparation, coating systems, phasing and inclusions, tied to the unit count and the square footage taken off at the walk, so ownership can compare bids on the same basis.
Scheduling and phasing
Work is sequenced building by building or elevation by elevation, so residents get advance notice and the property never has every unit blocked at once.
Execution
Crews prep, prime and coat in sequence, with daily site cleanup and protection of vehicles, landscaping and walkways. A site lead is on the job managing sequencing and resident coordination.
Punch list
A joint walk-through with the property manager to flag and close out touch-up items before final sign-off, rather than a list arriving after the crew has demobilised.
Closeout
Coverage documentation, product data sheets and any submittals the ownership group needs for its files.
03
Working in occupied buildings
Apartment complexes stay occupied for the whole job, and that changes the plan more than the coating does.
We phase buildings and elevations so only part of the property is under scaffolding, ladders or containment at any one time. Resident notices go out ahead of work affecting a specific building, breezeway or parking row. Early morning, evening and weekend scheduling is available where a manager needs exterior work done outside leasing-office hours. Dust and overspray control, drop cloths and containment at balconies and patios keep resident vehicles, furniture and planting protected, and walkways stay passable throughout the repaint.
Credentials and compliance
We are licensed (CSLB #585047), insured and bonded, and certificates of insurance are issued to ownership and management entities on request, including additional insured endorsements where the contract calls for them. Prevailing wage and publicly funded properties are handled case by case with the general contractor or ownership group, so ask about your specific project type rather than assuming either way. Crews follow lead-safe work practices on pre-1978 buildings, which covers a large part of Pasadena's older multifamily stock, and low-VOC coating systems are specified where air quality requirements or occupied interiors call for them. Safety documentation and certifications are available on request.
How we scope and bid your project
We do not quote apartment work off a phone call. You submit the unit count, the building count and any known scope, whether that is a full repaint, touch-up or stucco repair, and we schedule a site walk. On larger properties we measure a representative sample of buildings and elevations to build accurate square footage rather than estimating every unit. The result is a written proposal spelling out preparation, coating systems, phasing and inclusions, which is the document your ownership group can actually compare against other bids.
04
Materials and systems at multifamily scale
Stucco dominates Pasadena's multifamily stock, and the recoat decision is about moisture behaviour as much as appearance.
Exterior stucco
Elastomeric is the standard modern recoat because it bridges hairline cracking in ageing stucco while still moving vapour. On buildings where moisture intrusion behind the wall is the real risk, breathability matters more than film thickness, and the specification follows that rather than habit.
Masonry accents and interiors
Brick and block accents take breathable masonry systems rather than a non-breathable film that traps moisture and accelerates spalling. Corridors and stairwells take waterborne acrylic in a sheen matched to traffic, which cures fast enough to put a corridor back in service the same week.
Parking and decks
Structured and below-grade parking takes epoxy floor systems that resist vehicle traffic and chemical exposure, with safety striping and wayfinding coated at the same time. That work is detailed on the industrial and protective coatings page.
Scheduling, lead time and the local stock
Lead time depends on crew availability, the season and the size of the property. Exterior work is generally scheduled around the dry summer and autumn months when coatings cure fastest and the recoat window is widest. Larger multi-building properties are phased across several weeks rather than run as one continuous job, which keeps any single section of the property clear of crews and equipment for the shortest possible time. The written proposal carries a realistic start window and the phased schedule rather than a placeholder date.
Pasadena's multifamily stock runs dense along the Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard corridors, mixing older buildings converted to multi-unit use with newer garden-style and mid-rise construction. Neighbouring Alhambra and San Gabriel carry some of the densest apartment stock in the San Gabriel Valley and are markets we serve alongside Pasadena itself. The heavier ultraviolet exposure here compared with coastal Los Angeles accelerates chalking and fading on stucco exteriors, which is a large part of why owners in this market plan on a recoat cycle rather than treating painting as a one-time capital event.
05
Frequently asked questions about apartment complex painting
What is the smallest and largest apartment project you take on?
From a single 20-unit garden-style building up through multi-building communities of 200 units or more, including multi-property portfolios under one management contract. Below that scale the work is usually better handled as turnover or common-area work rather than as a phased complex repaint.
Can you phase the work so the whole property is not disrupted at once?
Yes, and on anything multi-building it is the default. Properties are sequenced so only a portion is under containment or scaffolding at a time, residents get advance notice for the buildings affected, and parking rows and walkways are released as each section finishes rather than held for the duration.
Do you carry the insurance our management company requires?
We carry general liability coverage and can issue a certificate of insurance naming your management company or ownership entity as additional insured. Bonding is available where a contract requires it. Limits and certificates are supplied on request rather than published on a web page.
Do you work nights or weekends?
Yes, where the property needs exterior or common-area work outside standard leasing-office hours. Early mornings, evenings and weekends are all workable, and the schedule is agreed in the proposal so the leasing team can notify residents properly.
Who is on site each day during a phased apartment repaint?
Our own crews do the work, with a site lead on every project managing quality, sequencing and resident coordination. Where a specialist trade is genuinely required, such as abatement or structural repair, that is named in the proposal rather than absorbed quietly into the scope.
What closeout documents do we get?
A punch-list sign-off, coverage documentation and product data sheets for the systems used. Where your ownership group has specific submittal requirements, tell us at the bid stage and they are built into the closeout package rather than assembled afterwards.
Do you handle stucco repair as part of the repaint?
Yes, and on ageing multifamily stock it is usually a substantial line in the scope. Cracks are cut out and bedded with mesh and the texture matched before coating, because an elastomeric applied straight over an unrepaired movement crack will telegraph it back within a season or two.
Can you bid from our plans or reserve study?
Yes. Send drawings, an existing paint specification or a reserve study and we will bid against your documents. We still walk the property before submitting, because reserve studies and as-builts frequently do not reflect what is actually on the walls today.
06
Related commercial services
Multifamily work usually connects to one or more of these.
- HOA & Condo Association Painting
- Apartment Turnover Painting
- Commercial Building Exterior Painting
- Office & Retail Interior Painting
- Industrial & Protective Coatings
- Commercial Painting Contractors
Painting service areas
Multifamily work across every community we cover in the San Gabriel Valley, concentrated in the denser Alhambra, San Gabriel and Pasadena corridors.
Scope your apartment complex project
Send the unit count, the building type and your target timeline. We will schedule a site walk and put together a written bid your team can act on.
- Written proposal built off a measured takeoff
- Phased around occupied units
- Licensed, insured and bonded