Typical drywall labor cost?

[thammel]

I think contractors here are not hungry. I've got an 8' x 19' mudroom I want drywalled. I've gottne 2 estimates for around $2k. This sounds like too much. This may total to 30 sheets of drywall. These guys are asking something like $50/sheet for the labor. They're nuts. Any comments on this?

Tom

 

[drmarkr]

What finish?? Hock & trowel would be $1.25-.50/sq ft around here.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

We just finished the MIL's house. About 1,700 to 1,800 sq ft for $3,100. They furnished the sheetrock (3/8 going over existing plaster), hung and finished it for that price. You are getting ripped, for that price they should at least offer a reach around...

 

[kwb]

Small jobs end up with higher costs per sq ft than bigger ones. Setup/material gathering costs get spread across fewer feet. Still the same work to order 30 or 300 sheets, same transit time to job that may not fill a whole day, same work to pay the invoices on materials, and the small job is typically going to have more edges/corners that require more labor than doing a big job. Depending on what sort of access to the room and risk of damage to existing house also will play into costing - If board comes in really easy from outside its one thing, if you have to manually carry it all through a high end house and then have more area to clean up after yourself means higher costs.

I had ~3000sf done for about a buck a foot (incl materials) but that was a 'buddy' rate. He told me that as slow as things are he was getting about 1.50/sf on jobs that he could send guys to for multiple days.

You have probably about 600/sf if normal height walls not enough to keep a couple guys busy for a full day when it comes time to taping/texture, so you pay them for the day but can only use them for 2/3 of the day for days 2 and 3 (day 1 hang and first tape, day 2 second coat, day three touchup, sand, prime texture)

 

[e-tek]

We did an entire kitchen and living room reno, lots of finicky work,
rounded corners, shelves, bulkheads....$1500 for boarding (inc material)
and $1600 for tape and mudding. Oh - with 12 foot ceilings and all rounded corner bead.
Not sure if that helps you....

 

[ddawg16]

30 Sheets? Check your math....

Assuming 4x8 sheets of drywall....

Ceiling is 5 sheets
Each wall is 6 sheets....
One sheet at each end...so that's 2

My count is about 20 sheets....

But that is still expensive...but as KWB pointed out....small or large, the setup is about the same...you can't rush mud so you are looking at 4 trips out there....install and tape...sand and second mud....sand and third mud....texture...you can only do one each day....

I think this is a good time to learn how to do dry wall....it's a lot more fun than you think....

 

[southpier]

so ... you're worth what you charge, but the next guy isn't worth what he charges?

 

[brownbagg]

was going say you get what you pay for, but there are crews out there that work weekends. I got a 1200 sq ft house , just finish, no hanging for $1000. and they was happy with it. But hiring a company with insurance during the week. It be over 3k easy.

 

[jimmie jam]

i just paid $800 for 5/8 fire rated installed AND finished on the 13' high ceiling of my garage addition 20 x 26. that's 1.53 per square foot. oh, forgot to add that also included the installation of the 25ga steel high hats to the bottom of the trusses.

 

[M3Pilot]

Upstairs in my garage. 8 foot walls. 2 walls are OSB cause that's what I wanted on them.Wall sheetrocked were 30' & 20' plus ceiling that's 26x30. Hung & ready to paint cost me $842 for labor last June.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I have a hard time paying somebody something that I can do myself. If you don't want to do it yourself, I'd find somebody that would do it as a side job.


BTW, I have a cousin that finishes it for about 50 cents a sq ft.

 

[thammel]

You guys are finding fantastically inexpensive labor! I found some guys from CL and the cheapest so far for my 8 x 19 mudroom is $700 labor, which is not too bad. This includes a 4x8 interior partitioned closet and the 9' ceilings. I agree on doing as much as you can yourself. That's usually my way. At 59 now, heavy stuff is not my love. It is amazing how large a variance there is in the cost of getting jobs done. As usual it pays to shop around.

Tom

 

[sharage71]

Paid 300.00 for a 400 sq ft room to be 2nd coated and skimmed. I hung and did taping with first base coat. Turned out fine.

 

[Jey]

i just had my entire basement drywall finished. Included materials, mud, sand and dust, clean out all their mess.

they did it in 2 days and it was $3100, ~1800 sq/ft with 10 ft walls. Included lid, and a bathroom.

I will agree they're not hungry.

The guy i had do it i learned from a friend in church who is a general contractor, he is his go to drywall guy. I didn't want to just hire anyone, so i contact 5 other drywall companies, and asked them to come out and quote. we agreed on dates and times, and only 2 showed up. one of which was the company that did it.

2 weeks after it was completed (3 weeks after bids) a contract called after he no showed the bidding asking if he could come take a look. He was upset i already had paint on it and was having carpet installed. i thought the same thing, that i would have people lined up at my house to give me a great price because i was doing something in Michigan, and we have a 25% unemployment rate.

 

[Kevin54]

Way to high in my estimation for a room that size. My drywall guy did my wifes 20x20 building ceiling and all for roughly $500 and that was including texturing the ceiling. I built a large walk in closet in the house garage to put shelves and two deep freezers and he charged me $150. That is hanging and finishing. We are getting ready to redo the ceiling in our kitchen and it is going to be $400. This is my drywall guys living and he does this work on a daily basis, so I think his prices are pretty much in line with others. And when he does the work, it is usually stretched out over a 3 or 4 day period although he does not work 8 hours everyday when finishing the drywall. He likes to mud, let it dry 24 hours, second coat, let it dry 24 hours, third coat, let it dry, then the last day sand and cleanup.

 

[Wayne Chipman]

Labor to Hang, tape and texture $1.30 to $1.50 per sq.ft.
$.20 sq. ft. to prime per coat

I do flat wall work, I do not sand, I do not understand the need to sand.
I do all my work with my blade and the only reason to texture my walls is for the look.

My blade gets pretty sharp. I do not breathe sheetrock dust.

As with caulking. Less is More.

 

[BrianC636]

I paid $4250 to have 13,000 sq ft of sheetrock taped, mudded and textured.

I hung all of it myself and simply had them finish it.

 

[Barnuba]

PM sent.

 

[jhelrey]

Holy *** old thread batman!!! Almost 4 years!

 

[webzmagic]

I've been doing sheetrock and taping for over 40 years. I learned how to do this from my Uncle Danny (may he rest in peace). He was very good at what he did and taught me at an early age, like 12 years old! His children do it also. My son came home from Iraq after server two tours over there and decided to do taping together. We just finished a job taping an entire residence with others that have to be done. We charged this guy 550 for just doing the taping. I agree, it takes at least 4 trips to the job before it's done. Another guy is having us do his ceiling that was never taped, sheet rock been there like 20 years or longer. Now this guy is giving us a hard time with some stuff that can be fixed, but he just wants to get away with the two trips there and we are charging him $450. Hey, it's a lot of work trying to hide stuff that someone else did that did not know what they were doing. You tapers out there know all too well what has to be done where someone just globbed on the mud, nightmare sometimes. What I just want you all to know is that taping sheetrock is an art. Some people just can't do it! I'll post some pictures of what we are doing here in Upstate New York at http://www.webzmagic.com

 

[e-tek]

Did a bunch of sheetrock guys just find GJ?

If so, welcome a-BOARD!!

(But you guys work WAY too cheaply in the US)

 

[Capt Chrysler]

ZOMBIE THREAD.................BACK FROM THE DEAD...................Kinda funny, just talked to a guy about some sheetrock work!!!


Capt. Chrysler

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

I like this site. Fairly up to date with costs: http://www.homewyse.com/services/index.html#wall