what's drywall work worth?

[byrdman]

Is there a good formula I might use to estimate how much I'm looking at to have my ceilings drywalled? As in, "materials x 2", or "materials + $5 per sheet" or similar?

I want it smooth, finished, ready to paint. Glued and screwed, 3/8" to save weight. 28x35 building- 2/3rds of it is 10' ceiling, 1/3 is vaulted about 15' high. What's this work going for?

 

[wythors]

I can't offer you a "formula", but I can tell you what my recent experience has been. My garage is about 22 x 25 and the drywall work starts this coming monday. They will be finishing all the walls and the ceiling, as well as installing a couple of outlets and ceiling fluorescent fixtures. The high bid for the job was $5900 and the bid I'm going with was $3200. I would encourage you to get several bids as they, obviously, tend to vary widely.

 

[OHEKK]

Byrdman,

get some roof vents and electrical boxes in that ceiling NOW before you drywall!

 

[GearHead_1]

I too can only tell you of my recent experience. I've just had a new home sheet rocked. In fact they finished today. It's about 5000 sq. ft. of living space and 1500 sq. ft. of garage space It does have some fairly high vaulted ceilings (some as high as 21 ft.) It's 5/8" sheet rock and has both orange peel (different upstairs and downstairs) and swirl top coat finishes. I got 5 bids before I came up with a "best" price. It ran $15,500 for the job. I've never heard of gluing dry wall. That's a first for me.

 

[OI812]

If you can find someone to do it on the side, that would be your best bet. Last time I priced it for side work it was around 1.25 - 1.50 a square foot. That would be hung, taped and sprayed. The estimated I am seeing on this post are running two to three times that much.

I would get several estimates, and make sure they are comparing apples to apples. I have heard of gluing drywall, but I'm not sure why you want to do that in a garage. Actually I'm not sure why you would want to do that at all. I don't know of to many drywalls that even do that anymore.

 

[GearHead_1]

The estimated I am seeing on this post are running two to three times that much.

The footage I listed in my post was sq. ft. living area, not actual sq. ft wall/ceiling area. There would easily be 3 times the amount of area to sheet rock when compared to living space. Taking the price range you listed into consideration would make my installation costs a steal.

 

[Satatic]

Wow no wonder my dad has always done drywall himself.

 

[byrdman]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. Keep 'em comin'!

wythors: looks like you found some widely varying prices all right. Mines just ceilings so I hope my prices look cheaper than that!

OHEKK: That picture is too small to see it I guess, but I've got outlets galore and registers for the heat pump/AC already installed. It's also fully insulated, and I built a door on the end.

Gearhead1: I had never heard of it either, but I saw other folks mentioning it as extra insurance against it sagging when used on a ceiling in a moist environment. Can't hurt, I figure.

OI812: Thanks for that estimate, that's helpful stuff. I hope my estimates are close to that.

Satatic: I wrestled with doing this myself, as I have with many aspects of this project, but the 15' height is what ruled it out for me.

 

[prostreet57]

try to find a place where they are putting up new houses and see if you can get the drywallers to do it for you. They ussually do alot of sidework, That is your best bet.
One more thing like stated previously put in some outlets and vents now you will wish you did latter.

 

[Rex Ruby]

I use a finisher that charges $16 a board. I'd charge about $20 a board to hang it plus cost of the drywall. Definitely glue the ceiling and consider 1/2", 3/8" will look wavey.

 

[OI812]

Why glue????

I would like to know the reason... I thought that was a thing of the past.

 

[byrdman]

Thanks again to everyone responding on this thread!

Good idea Prostreet. I may end up doing just that. There's some construction going on up the street so finding some guys interested in sidework may not be too hard. Already have outlets and heat registers installed, they're just hard to see in that picture.

Thanks Rex, that's an estimate I can use. That's about what I was thinking. (However, usually when I think I have a good feel for what some type of work is worth, I have to add 30% to equal what it really costs.) Will consider 1/2".

OI812: I saw other folks mentioning gluing as extra insurance against it sagging when used on a ceiling in a moist environment. Can't hurt, I figure. I've heard some drywallers say it allows them to use fewer screws, but I want the same number of screws plus the glue.

 

[dodgecharger-fan]

Something that I was told was to look for someone who does installations similar to yours a lot. I mention this specifically because you have vaulted ceilings.
They'll have the tools they need and be proficient with them - i.e. scaffolding.
If they don't own them, they'll have a good running deal with the rent-all place.
I've seen excellent craftsman lose their shirts trying to do sidework because they forgot to consider set up equipment and such. They're used to coming in to active job sites where a lot of stuff is there over the course of a project and it is available for them to use.

My uncle got hosed one time when he took a job painting a new house. He specifically asked if the scaffolding would still be in place and bid the job according to that. Well, when he got to the job, it was taken out, and he had to do everything on a ladder. Added days to the job. He worked out a bit of deal on that job to recover a bit of his costs but it ate into his time on another job.

Just another way to look at it. Getting it cheap and on the side is fine but I think it takes a little more dilligence on your part to amke sure things go right.

 

[byrdman]

some followup

Thought I'd return to the scene of this thread and report that I did find some folks to do my 'rock. $18/per sheet plus materials. It's no steal, but I don't feel I'm being ripped off either. I ended up going with 1/2", fearing that 3/8" would look crappy. Pretty thin stuff, that 3/8"!

They're through hanging, and have moved into mudding and taping. It's BRIGHT in there already! Can't wait to hang lights!

 

[OI812]

Looks good!!!

 

[DLR]

Looking good!

Maybe I missed this from an earlier post, are you going with white on the ceiling?

Dave

 

[byrdman]

Thanks gang.

There will be first a layer of oil-based primer, then latex semigloss white to match the walls. I'm currently thinking of a crown-style molding in grey to match the lower part of the walls.

 

[Wile1Coyote]

Looking GOOD! And having hung ceiling dryawll I don't think that price is that bad.