Drywall prices: hang, tape and finish priced from your labor and your speed
Price a full hang-tape-and-finish job, hang only, finish only or a patch from your labor cost, your real square feet per hour, board and mud, drive time and margin — then see where you land against typical drywall prices.
Every other drywall pricing calculator gives you a national average and calls it a price. This one works from your numbers: what your labor actually costs you per hour, how fast you really work, your drive time, your materials and the margin you need. The typical range is shown for context, not as the answer.
What it prices
- Hang, tape and finish — priced per sq ft; typical customer price $1.50–$3.00 per sq ft
- Hang only — priced per sq ft; typical customer price $0.60–$1.20 per sq ft
- Finish only, level 4 — priced per sq ft; typical customer price $0.80–$1.50 per sq ft
- Patch repair — priced per patch; typical customer price $125–$300 each
How to use it
1. Pick the job type and enter the quantity. Square feet, linear feet, panes, loads — whatever that job is sold by.
2. Put in your loaded labor cost. This is what one person costs you per hour including payroll taxes, workers' comp and any benefits — or what you need to pay yourself. It is not the rate you charge. If you have never worked this out, start with the wage and add 25%.
3. Check the production rate. The default is a typical figure per person per hour. Your real number, from your last few jobs, is better.
4. Drive time, setup and minimum charge. Small jobs die on the trip. The calculator pays every crew member for drive time and setup, and applies your minimum if the job comes in under it.
5. Materials, overhead and margin. Materials at cost plus your markup; overhead per billable hour (monthly overhead ÷ hours you actually bill); the net margin you want on the job.
Drywall pricing: what actually moves the number
Drywall is priced per sheet or per square foot, and the hourly number hides. A good hanger does 40–50 sheets a day; a finisher's day is three coats across two or three days of drying. The production rate default folds both into one figure per square foot. If you sub the finishing, price the two jobs separately.
Finish level changes the price more than the board. Level 4 is a normal painted wall; Level 5 skim coat for gloss paint or raking light is 30–50% more finishing time. Ask what paint is going on before you quote.
Ceilings and stairwells. Overhead work is slower and needs a lift or a second person. Bump the rate down for ceilings and vaulted spaces and price a scaffold or lift under fees.
Patches are a minimum-charge business. A 2 ft patch is 20 minutes of work across three visits for the coats. Price it at your minimum and bundle the patches in one house.
Worked example
A 12 × 14 bedroom, walls and ceiling, is about 548 sq ft net after the door and window. At 55 sq ft per person-hour for hang, tape and three coats, that is 10 person-hours, plus an hour of setup and cleanup and a 30-minute round trip on each of the three visits. At $28 loaded labor, $15 per billable hour of overhead, $340 of board and mud (from the drywall calculator) at 20% markup and a 20% margin, the calculator prices the room at about $1,000, or $1.83 per sq ft — in the middle of the typical range.
How the math works
- Hours = quantity ÷ production rate, plus setup and drive time for every person on the crew.
- Labor = person-hours × your loaded cost. Overhead = clock hours the job occupies × your overhead per billable hour.
- Price = (labor + materials + fees + overhead) ÷ (1 − margin), plus the material markup. Dividing by (1 − margin) gives a true margin on the sale; multiplying by (1 + margin) does not, and it is the most common pricing mistake in the trades.
- If the result is under your minimum charge, the minimum applies.
Turn it into an estimate
Hit Turn this into an estimate and the price lands in the estimate generator as line items, ready to send. When the customer says yes, the same numbers become the invoice in BIG INVOICE, which works offline with no account. See drywall installer salary by state, and send it on the estimate generator.
FAQ
How much should I charge for drywall?
$1.50 to $3.00 per square foot to hang, tape and finish, of which the board and mud are about $0.60. Hang only runs $0.60 to $1.20 and finish only $0.80 to $1.50. Finish level, ceilings and access move it inside that range.
How much do drywall installers charge per hour?
Effective rates of $50 to $100 per hour, but the trade is priced per sheet or per square foot almost everywhere. Use the hourly figure to check a bid, not to give one.
How much to charge per sheet of drywall?
$50 to $100 per 4 × 8 sheet hung, taped and finished, or $20 to $40 per sheet to hang only. Per-sheet pricing is common on new construction; per square foot on remodels.
How much to charge for a drywall patch?
$125 to $300 per patch for holes under 2 feet, set at your minimum charge because the job needs three visits for the coats to dry. Bundle every patch in the house into one price.
Does this pricing calculator use my numbers or averages?
Yours. The typical range is shown as context, but the price comes entirely from the labor cost, production rate, materials, overhead and margin you enter. Change any of them and the price changes.
Is this calculator free?
Yes, completely. No account, no email, no download. It runs in your browser and we never see your numbers.