# Estimated Drywall Labor Rate



## dman3434

What might someone estimate per two man crew for an 8 hour day to hang and or finish drywall? Refering to typical garden style wood frame apartments? Just trying to find out what to estimate per sheet or sq. ft. for a day.

Thanks for your help and time.


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## housedocs

What to charge the customer, or what to pay the help? Or is it what to figure a 2 man crew should get done in a 8 hr day?

Maybe I'm tired, welcome aboard anyway!


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## dman3434

walldoc said:


> What to charge the customer, or what to pay the help? Or is it what to figure a 2 man crew should get done in a 8 hr day?
> 
> Maybe I'm tired, welcome aboard anyway!






Thanks for the welcome! Sorry I was not clear on my question. In order to see what a two man crew should get done in a day, give or take.

Thanks


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## housedocs

Depends on what they're doing and their skill level. Alot depends on what the layout is, if you've got alot of large walls big sheets, a good two man crew can easily run 4000-5000 s/f a day. That number could easily drop by 1/2 if your doing high lids or a broken up cookie cutter house that are more and more popular in metro areas. You also have to account for how well the place is framed, if you have to spend 2-3 hrs a day putting in nailers, shaving or shimming studs that'll cut your speed down alot too.

Just a general statistic, I'm fairly happy with 1500 to 2000 s/f per man a day. But I've seen days on lousy jobs when it was a full days work to get 1500 s/f up total.


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## dman3434

Walldoc,

So you would estimate 1800 sq ft per day per man? Basically given 1800 sq ft or 45 Sheets of the 10 x 4 per man per day, correct?


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## BobBuild

I just talked with the helpdesk at National Estimator and they estimated 500SF per day per man. They also agreed that the type of job residential vs commercial and the framing condition are big factors also.


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## housedocs

500 s/f a day  So they only expect an experienced hanger to put up what.... 11 sheets a day! Last job we did 11,800, 5 1/2 days to hang all board, works out to 2145 s/f a day, so I guess I expect double their estimate.


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## BobBuild

Don't shoot the messenger. I just called them and thats what they told me. I still think $.25 per SF times the number of square feet and how hard a man wants to make a decent living for a days labor have got a lot to do with it.


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## dman3434

walldoc,

You said 11 and 1/2 days to hang on that job, how long did it then take to finish? Also is that 2145 Sq. Ft. per day per man or 2 man crew?

Thanks


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## housedocs

Two guys working together or seperate as needed, together averaged 2145 a day on that job. We work together to get all of the main lids up and the big wall sheets done, after that we seperate and finish knockin the job out. 11 1/2 days the house was done ready for paint, it was textured walls and ceilings.


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## sailfishfoney

what is the going rate in central florida hang,tape and texturize bring it to a painting stage and how much to demo the old. i live in palm bay and some people are getting 55-75 per board just to hang and finish 12 dollars a board to demo. and one county south 150-200 per board. ouch!!! any one an average price?


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## Teetorbilt

That's about right. I'm getting $110 for demo, insulation, vapor barrier, hang and finish.


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## andrewtlocke

*So, just to clear things up...*



BobBuild said:


> Don't shoot the messenger. I just called them and thats what they told me. I still think $.25 per SF times the number of square feet and how hard a man wants to make a decent living for a days labor have got a lot to do with it.


...at 1800 sqf/day/man, paid at a rate of $0.25/sqf, I could expect to pay someone $450/8-hour day? That's $56.25/hour. That doesn't seem correct. 1800 sqf/day is 45 sheets of 4x10 board/day, which is 5.625 sheets/hour, which means that I'm paying $10/sheet to hang. Well, $10/4x10 sheet doesn't sound that bad, but $56.25/hour sounds way too high!

...okay, using the same method, at 500 sqf/day/man, paid at a rate of $0.25/sqf, I could expect to pay someone $125/8-hour day. That's $15.63/hour. That seems right. 500 sqf/day is 12.5 sheets of 4x10 board/day, which is 1.5 sheets per hour, which means I'm still paying $10/4x10 sheet to hang. 1.5 sheets/hour seems pretty dang slow. I definitely don't want to pay someone $15-$16/hour to hang 1-2 sheets. What the heck are they doing with their time? I think that $/sqf rate has to come down some.

Let's use a lower $/sqf rate, like $0.15/sqf. 500 sqf/day/man, paid at a rate of $0.15/sqf, I could expect to pay someone $75/8-hour day. That's $9.38/hour. That seems a little too low, but if one guy hangs even three sheets per hour, their hourly rate shoots up to $18/hour. 3 sheets/hour is 24 sheets/day (of 4x10), which is 960 sqf/day, which seems reasonable.

So, at $0.15 - $0.20/sqf, it really is up to the installer to decide how much money they want to make. The faster they install (with the least rework), the quicker the job gets done, the more jobs the company can do, the more money everyone makes. I see. Pretty good formula. :Thumbs: 

Does this make sense to the more experienced guys out there? Is $0.15 - $0.20/sqf below industry averages? I'm just starting out here, so any help is much obliged.


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## housedocs

~a

If you're making .15¢ to .20¢ that's in the range that most of the large firms are paying. Volume is how they make up the difference between what they pay hangers and finishers. If you work for one of these guys, you don't have much say on what kind of work or conditions you have to accept. If the boss says hang it or finish it, you do it or you find other employment.


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## andrewtlocke

*...but we're really talking about two separate processes...*

...which should mean separate labor rates designated for each one. One for hanging; one for taping. So, say a guy hangs 1000 sqft/day at a rate of $0.15/sqft, that's $150 a day. Not bad. But say the same guy also comes back and tapes all of his previously hung board. How does this side of the process get figured into his pay? I know there are different answers to this question, such as paying an hourly rate or figuring it again by total sqft finished, etc. How do these two separate processes come together in terms of what a hanger/finisher might expect to be paid?

Thanks.


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## housedocs

Most big outfits that solely do drywall and metal stud work employ hangers, finishers, and in alot of cases texture guys. I can train a guy to be a decent hanger in just a job ro two, finishing is a whole seperate animal, you can show a guy the proper techinques pretty quick, but it takes a while for them to be any good at it and do it at a decent pace. As I've stated somewhere around here before, here in my area the large firms are bidding new homes in the range of .72¢ to .79¢ for the whole ball of wax, hang, finish, and materials for new homes with standard 8'-9' lids. Rates go up with high work.


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## imahanger

where i live in s/w utah i get .12 for 8' jobs to .20 for the "ugly" jobs to hang + $10/arch. tapers get about the same but are paid for bead. a good 2 man crew can get up 5000 sqft on a 8' .12 job i wouldnt call it easy. that is $300 per man per day. it is harder to make that kind of money on the jobs that are harder to hang even with the higher sqft rate. i would say $150 to $200 per day.


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## Daddyoh2008

*Drywall repair or installation*

Most of the drywall work that I do is repairs. (Anybody else experience holes caused by angry teenagers?) Usually this is in connection with a Home Inspection Correction list when people are selling a home. I'm the guy that repairs or replaces faucets, outlets, doors, garage door openers, toilets, holes in the walls, and hopefully paints the entire house. 
In everything but painting, I charge an hourly rate, that works out to ~$300/day. For painting we just give a quote. 
For drywall repairs, any hole or damage larger than what you can cover using a metal/mesh plate, I figure I'm going make several trips to the house (assuming that's all the customer needs) to get the repair finished and paint ready. I don't care how "fast" the mud is, I'm not standing around all day with a fan on the repair. I've got other jobs to do while that happens. 
My rate has gone up in recent times, and it may have topped out. But I figure a repair requiring a 1/4 sheet of drywall and some texture matching after is going to run in the $150 to $200 range. More holes, less $ per hole.
Is anyone out ther of a similar mind?


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## JumboJack

Holy 3 1/2 year old post Batman!


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## AARC Drywall

my crews for boarding average 2500 to 3000 per day...at $.15 per bf...the main guy pays his helper...out of that .15 per bf.
My taping crews average about 200 to 2500 bf day on average. which means a 10000 bf house in approx 5 days, keeping in mind nothing to fancy, maybe a vault...but thats a bout it. The tapers are making approx...250 a day...at 5 days...some make more, but that is an average.

J


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