Cost for drywalling...

I'm refinishing my unfinished attic and looking for a decent drywaller (I really don't want to do it myself again!!)

I've checked on Angie's list and most of the "drywall" companies listed there aren't really interested in the project. They want to "remodel" kitchens and baths, not just do drywall. So far, only one person gave me an estimate a whopping $110 per board! Whoa!

To me that seems outrageous. I know I need to find a drywall only operation. But does anyone know about what a drywall only company will charge. I mean, like $20-40 a board or something? I'm thinking that's more than enough in the budget.

Thanks.

I just purchased 30 sheets for my kitchen. I don't want to do it either.... I paid $8/sheet for it. Tomorrow at work, I can look up the estimated cost in RS Means Construction Cost Data. You'd then know if you're getting a good price or not. Getting drywall up to the attic can be a &^%^ too. Getting it delivered through a window for the installer might save you some money.

What's your zip code, or city/state?

How tall are your ceilings?
How many square feet of wall space? How many square feet of ceiling?

Thx
Jason

rough figures...

Thanks for the help. Here are the rough figures for the space.

1st room about 13 x 8 (It's actually the entryway and hallway from the stairs.)

Main room 14' x 20' (This will have "barrel" dormers. The attic will generally have low ceiling lines. Max ceiling height at the walls is probably only like 5'1. Highest point of the ceiling will be 7'4".)

Bathroom: 14' x 7' (again, undormered with very sloped roof. Max height of 7'4" in the center.

Total square footage for all the walls (I used generous figures here) are about 750 square feet. I also calculated walls that need drywall on both sides (only one, actually). I don't know the ceiling square footage, but I assume it's less than 500 square feet as that would be the square footage of a flat ceiling covering that space.

So about 1250 square feet of drywall. Using 4x8 drywall I get about 40 boards.

That sounds small to me, but hey, maybe I'm wrong. All but one wall is one sided and the ceiling slops. There are 8 windows and it's basically just a bedroom and a bathroom with a bit of an entryway.

The quote I got was for $6200. That's about $125 per board if you consider about 50 boards needed. Kind of a lot if you ask me.

I always thought you could hire some drywall guys to bang it out for like $25 a board. Is that true? That's what my neighbor said a few years back, but he sometimes talks out of his arse, you know?

Any help is appreciated.

Of course every area/job is specific, but I just had a "14 sheet" job for $900 incl materials. Included walls (8ft) and ceiling.

Central NJ

*********'s drywall calculator...

it came up with 40 4x8 boards, pretty much like my numbers.

If drywall only guys will install, mud and tape it for $50 a board (that seems high, even for drywall guys if memory serves) than I'm talking about saving about 4k.

Can you hire drywall guys for $50 a board? Shoot, even $100 a board doesn't come out to $6200. Unless I calculated wrong, these costs are way high.

So you charge about $64 a board.

Is that the going rate? I know some charge a lot because they are carpenters or builders and have a lot of skill so their time is worth a lot, even to hang drywall.

I'm only able to locate the RS Means Electrical Cost Data book. I'll get back to you if I can locate the book and find your prices. Sorry about that. People take the books and they don't get returned.

coach606 said:

I know I need to find a drywall only operation. But does anyone know about what a drywall only company will charge. I mean, like $20-40 a board or something? I'm thinking that's more than enough in the budget.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

For a drywall only company your job (40 boards) is very small and not generaly worth their time unless things are slow in your area. You may end up paying a premium to get it done now. If you can wait till winter you may get it done for a lot less, but then maybe not.

For small jobs you can often find someone who wants to pick up some extra work if you check places that people put up notes for jobs, or the small listings in the yellow pages. I had some work done by a guy who did the job at night. He did a good job at a reasonable price.

I didn't do the job; I hired someone to do it for 64/bd. The problem is that whether yr doing 14 sheets or 50 sheets, it's a whole day's job (at least). They have to sit around between coats waiting for everything to dry. Else, they have to spread the job over 3 days and keep coming back.

I imagine that my job was on the high side @64/bd because it was so small. But I screwed up the last time I tried to dwall myself, so it was the best 64/bd I ever spent! (Man, watching a good rocker feather an edge that needs almost no sanding is like poetry in motion! And that banjo taping thing is the bomb!)

Anyway, you can probably save a little money if you offer to hang the boards yrself. You'll save the markup on all those boards, and the labor. Plus, the hanging is the easy part (assuming you can rope a friend or 2 to help). Also, I personally think a lot of 'rockers skimp here. They don't screw enough and arent' meticulous with the dimples. You can be.

found someone...

I found a smaller company who did work for two of my neighbors and comes highly recommended. He offered me $30 a board. I'll save thousands over the contractor. Hopefully it all works out okay.

Sounds Great

Found the book ... day late, dollar short, I suppose

1/2" drywall standard, no finish included
Crew: 2
Daily Output: 2000
Labor Hours: .008
Material: $.27/ SQ FT
Labor: $.28/SQ FT
Total: .55/SQFT

Taping and finishing (Level 4 Finish)
Crew: 2
Daily Output: 965
Labor Hours: .017
Material: $.30/ SQ FT
Labor: $.59/SQ FT
Total: .89/SQFT


Total is $1.44/SqFt and assuming you're using 4x8 sheets, each sheet would be $46.

For NJ, it's pretty consistent of a 1.01x material cost and 1.29x labor cost, so adjusted for your part of the country, it should be 1.70/sqft so that'd be 54.4/sheet.

These are prices for commercial operations, and you're probably just getting some moonlighter, so it looks like a good price to me. I hope he does good work!

Jason

I'm in the final throes of a whole-house remodel, and just had my drywall guy finish a new laundry room. I hung all the drywall, so he just had to tape, finish and texture. He also removes the existing tape from the ceiling and retapes it using fiberglass mesh tape. The room is 6 1/2 by 14, with a 2' deep closet occupying one end, 2 doors, 1 window. Total wall surface works out to about 300 sq ft. He spent an hour on day one, and probably a couple hours the second day (I had to work the 2nd day, so didn't watch), and charged $300. It was a pleasure to write the check. It was the 5th time he's been here, one more room to go.

Mikey said:

It was a pleasure to write the check. It was the 5th time he's been here, one more room to go.

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Hmm ... not too bad. I hate prepping, hanging, taping, sanding, painting, etc. LOL Tomorrow we're doing hanging on the ceiling in our kitchen remodel.... 4th of July "holiday." Heh Wait....handing sheetrock that is.

Jason

Ceilings -- I love them

Wife: HELP! I can't hold it up any more!

Me: Yes you can! Just let me get a couple of screws in here...

Neighbor: What the H*ll is going on over there?

Moral: rent a drywall lift.

When I drywalled my basement, I was scared I would mess up, so I just drywalled the entire basement in a feux venitian plaster finish, and it lookes pretty good. It took a looooong time to do though.

Mikey said:

Wife: HELP! I can't hold it up any more!

Me: Yes you can! Just let me get a couple of screws in here...

Neighbor: What the H*ll is going on over there?

Moral: rent a drywall lift.

Click to expand...

Did the ceiling today ... drywall lift was a huge help. Did one half piece by hand to remind me that we needed it!

Great! The hard part's done. In our case, we put up one piece (12', 1/2") and stopped, got the lift, and finished in a few hours. We are still married. In our current project, we're doing a firewall, so it'll be 12', 5/8" stuff. Borrowing a strong young neighbor for that job.

Lakee911 said:

... I hate prepping, hanging...
Jason

Click to expand...

I couldn't afford to hire someone to prep and hang -- the walls are so far out of plumb and plane I have to spend a lot of time shimming studs before hanging the drywall. The outside walls are brick, pretty uneven, with 3/4" furring strips randomly applied. Previous panelling was pretty wavy, but at least the panelling conformed to the curves.