Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Questions about drywall....

Had a fellow come by today to look at the house I'm remodeling. Want a quote on what it will cost to hang 1/2" drywall on the ceiling and walls and get it ready to paint. I figured he would measure the rooms, but instead all he wanted to know was the sq. footage of the house. Said he would call tomorrow with the quote.

Is this the normal way to figure a quote on drywall? The house is almost 1200 sq./ft., what would be a reasonable price?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

If I was in that business, I'd really wanna know how many feet of interior walls there was. But that's just me...


Sorry I can't help with how much.

sounds like he's fixin' to soak ya. no way could a bid be accurate like that. probably doesn't want the work.

They should charge by the board, minus openings and doors . X amount to hang X amount to finish. That is how it was handled on every house I have been involved with.

I would imagine 1800-2400 max.

No, they need to come out and take a look.

If he's done it for a while, he probably has a mental coefficient that works for him.

Basically just walk thru and tell you what's what in 3 mins.


I could do that, I knew that most homes on my area were 24-26ft wide, so that was about a 17ft rake as long as it was under 6/12.


All i had to do then was stand in the yard and count tabs for the total linear length. Dormers, cut up, meh. Do it long enough and you can just 'know'



He just came out there to make sure you didn't have anything wierd. And also to determine if you were an ass hole.

Lol

I turned ass holes and anal retentive people down. I ain't got time for those "oh my God you dropped some nails in my azalea bushes"

Sounds more like a guess than an estimate......He needs to measure the rooms....the sq footage will tell him only what material the ceiling will require. To be accurate he needs to measure each room.

Just to add

I refuse to do anymore sheetrock EVER. I hate it and I hate installing it, finishing it and owning it.

I put up birch bead board now when I add to my home or rental property.

I had some flunky dudes smelled like beer and sour milk, had a skanky gal with they wanted $3500 to do the ceiling in 800sq ft of new construction. All I wanted was a simple knock-down texture paint.

I already had all the materials there.

I moved them along.

I'm used to paying $15 a sheet


Had another guy and his 2 sons come out. They did all my hanging and texture for $650

3-1/2 times the floor area sticks in my mind as being the formula used.

I’ve been paying 30 cents a foot just to hang on new walls. You’re probably looking at 2100’ of rock, tape and texture. All in with material I’d guess 6k-7k. ~45 sheets, some 1/2 some 5/8. I recently paid 10k for 2000’ house, but it was really cut up.

2k materials, 700 hang, 2500 tape and sand, 500 texture.

Everything slumlord says. He'll probably throw a high number at you and see if you choke on it, anybody any good has plenty of work now. Rent a dumpster,theyll have a lot of waste and stay out of their way.

Yes, some use a multiplayer to get the footage needed.

Hangers do not charge by the square foot of wall/ ceiling, they charge by the number of sheets X 48 for 12 footers, X 32 for eight footers. Yes you pay for the waste.

Example: if a ceiling is 11 X 11 = 121 sq ft, the hanger is going to charge you for 3. 4 X 12 sheets or 3 X 48 or 144 sq ft.

When using the multiplier he will get an accurate count on the number of 4 X 12 sheets and that is what he bases his price on.

The taper usually asks “how many sheets” and prices on that number. Tapers often add $$ for corner bead, some as much as $10 per stick.

The smaller the job, the higher the cost per sq foot. Most really small jobs are by the hour.

you got it.....pay by the sheet....never heard of someone taking out openings...…..bob

Around here it’s by the sheet also. Get used to them cutting up a full sheet to get a piece that was probably in the scrap pile. ; ) Dave

I'm sure I've paid well over 100 rock contractors over the years and they never deduct openings for many obvious reasons.

All the "by sheet" or sq. ft. references above are spot on, exact numbers vary regionally.

The OP's guy just wanting the total square footage of the house could be a sign that he knows what he is doing.
He came out, he is aware if you have vaulted or other wise high ceilings and any other unique characteristics, other than those things, it's just another house another day to him.

I'd still get another quote or two from other reputably contractors for comparison.

1/2" for the walls, 5 /8" goes on the ceiling . At least to meet code in many states.

So if the guy is giving him a quote to hang, tape and float, wouldn't he need to know if the home owner wants any rounded exposed corners or arched doorways?

Thats why he showed up...

As an Old drywall Contractor. I can say that to do a bid I would walk the house twice counting 4x12 sheets. Every thing over 8 is double price. A typical sheet count may be 35 4x12 5/8" 1680sqft for the lid. 68 4x12 1/2" 3268sqft 4944sqft total to 8' on walls.Then there are vaulted ceiling with 12 4x12 sheets over 8' on walls. This 576sqft would be bid as double standard per ft price. This adittional charge paid the Hangers and tapers extra for the labor on over 8' work. My bid would be 4944sqft X $x.xx + = $xx.xxx Plus 567 X #x.xx and all hangers and tapers would get paid on this system of piece work. Priming and Texture got paid only on the gross sqft number 5520. On really cutup tall houses, Everything got bid at double price over 8' Lids and walls. Using this bid scheme we where busy 11 months a year 6 days a week.

On a normal house without high ceilings, trays, cathedrals etc... Take square footage x .08 to get a reasonably close number of boards (4'x12'). An 1150 sq.ft ranch is usually 90 boards +/-. In this area figure $45-$50/board for labor and materials including scrapping out and disposal costs. If I'm buying material, $20/board materials and $20/board labor plus I supply the dumptruck and pay landfill fees ($45/ton)
Level 5 finish add $4-$5 more. Big cut up house I figure $55/board.