How much do you pay for drywall guys?

[Jon K.]

How much do you pay for drywall guys to repair a wall or ceiling?

I got an estimate of nearly $2000 for part of 1 room. Absurdity.

That's when there's less than $50-75 in actual supplies (drywall, tape, mud, paint) needed for the job.

I had an amateur suggest that he could do it for a few hundred. Amateur's might screw it up, but it is tempting to save that much money.

What's the top amount you would pay per square foot? What's reasonable?

[Sam Dal]

Folks

My contractor in NYC seems to be over-quoting me for this job

Basically, 2ft of drywall from above the floor has developed some humidity due to external conditions which are now fixed. So we need to rip off the drywall and add new drywall for about 250 sq feet. He's quoting $4000

[J Scott]

Originally posted by @Sam Dal:

Folks

My contractor in NYC seems to be over-quoting me for this job

Basically, 2ft of drywall from above the floor has developed some humidity due to external conditions which are now fixed. So we need to rip off the drywall and add new drywall for about 250 sq feet. He's quoting $4000

First, I would think it would be easier/cheaper to just cut the drywall at 4' and replace entire boards, as opposed to cutting new boards in half.  Second, that price is crazy.  It's about $200 in materials, so he's charging about $3800 for what should be about 10 hours of work for two guys (they'll have to come back a couple times).  

That's about $200/hour worth of labor.

It's a small job, so expect to pay more than a big job.  And the guys will have to come back several times to sand and finish.  But still, that's a few thousand dollars too high.

Is this a drywall contractor?  Or a GC?

[Sam Dal]

IMG_20150814_134502.jpg

Ok, most likely will be doing the drywall job myself. Another job (which doesn't seem DIY) estimate he's provided me is bringing out a stucco wall - this home is 100 years old and the wall is made of this:

Outer most later stucco type of cement, wire mesh, plywood, 3 inch beam every 16 inches, thin wood pieces rubs horizontal with 1/5 gap and then stucco inside (this stucco grade is different from outside)

The wall is just after the entry door to the right and if I open it up, I'll have a larger space to place a shoe cabinet and stool. With this, he'll also have to take out 2 100 year old doors

The first pic shows the wall (with the mirror) that needs to be taken out. The 2nd pic shows the same wall but from the other side and the 3rd pic shows the 2 doors need to be taken out

He said it'll run $1800 to do this and smooth everything out so it looks nice and gives us the space but if there is weight beam in the middle, then the costs may be a little more

Thanks

[Wayne V.]

A couple of things to add to your "to do" list depending how long ago it got wet and how long it stayed wet. If it's still moist inside when you open up the wall be sure to put fans on it to dry the cavities out thoroughly. Check for the formation of black mold and if it's present damp or dry, treat it with mold killer. You can get mold test kits at HD for about $10

I agree that full sheets are the way to go and that the price you were quoted is way too high.

Good luck !!

[Payam Dastmalchi]

So I can tell you that I just wrote a check for a complete drywall/hanging job and it basically came out to $27.95/ board. 

The breakdown was $1845 for 134 sheets (and other drywall materials) purchased from Homedepot (using various coupons and commercial discounts) and $1900 in labor for a total of $3745.  The job was completed in about two days in total. 

[Eddie T.]

Originally posted by @J Scott:

Originally posted by Steve K:

A drywall guy once told me that a quick way to calculate a whole house worth of work is to multiply the living sq footage by 3.5 then divide that by 48 sq ft ( 12 ft drywall ) and then multiply times per sheet cost.

This is probably more applicable for new construction or full gut jobs.

I hate telling people this (and left it out of my book) because things like open floor plans and high ceilings can mess up the calculations, BUT, the rule of thumb that I use is to divide the living square footage by 9 and that's how many 8' sheets you need.

Given that I pay about the same you do (about $30/sheet), if you multiple the living square footage by about 3.4, you should be able to get a price estimate.

As an example, for a 1300 sf flood house (torn down to the studs) I recently did, my 5 second estimate for sheetrock was 1300 * 3.4 = $4420. The actual bids I received were between $4300 and $4700.

But again, there's lots of possibility for variation here, so be careful with this method...

 @J Scott is this for double layer drywall?