Anyone here hang drywall?

I'm looking to drywall my garage, but am beginning to think that it would be better to just hire someone who can hang it in one day instead of spending a few weekends doing it myself. However, I have NO idea what kind of price I'm looking at. Here's the deal:

24x36 detached garage

9' ceiling

hang the drywall and tape/mud over the seams and mud over the screw heads only - no finish plaster coat - basically just ready to be painted

Anyone here know how much I could expect to spend for this considering the drywall guy provides the material also?

if you pay for the materials you should be able to find someone to hang it for you for around 1k

Why would you buy your own materials? Commercial drywallers buy thousands of sheets... Chances are they get a better deal than you do

And to the op, the first rule of drywall is to never do it yourself

Seconded. Can't tell you much about pricing,but the odds are you would break even trying to do it yourself or maybe spend a few hundred bucks more. Drywall sucks. I can do it,(and more than likely will be doing it myself in this house),but for a bigger job,I'd hire out for sure.

Thirded.

I work in a home repair non-profit (so we're pinching pennies every chance we can get) and we always hire out drywall.

It's one of the cheapest things you can get a professional to do.

I had them drywall my garage when we built our house. I want to say it was only 700 bucks. I didn't want it painted, just ready to be painted. Why paint my garage ? anyway, I think that's about what it cost.

You should be able to find someone to do it for $30 to $40 a sheet. Get them to quote you 12' sheet (4X12 or 48 square feet) and you can a good estimate. Hanging is the easy part, finishing is the pain in the ass part

That price should be for supply the sheetrock hang and finish. I just finished an addition that I had them do it for $28 a sheet

You're looking at 52 boards (4x12). If you buy materials and do it yourself you're looking at spending about $900 in materials...if you already have all the tools.

You can get a drywall lift on amazon (a must unless you have a friend (or 3) to help) for about $150. Ladders, drywall gun (a cordless drill is a poor substitute), keyhole saw, T-square...it adds up.

At $30-$40 a board installed, you're looking at about $1500-$2000. You can probably get it done cheaper since you only need one coat tape/spackle.

Hanging drywall sucks and looking at the guys who don't mind it, it seems to require a lot of meth.

LOL @ Koolblue and meth. Ask around and you will be surprised how spread out estimates are. A lot of them are desperate and we've gotten them to do it for $15.00 dollars a sheet.

Drywalling is EASY!

Explaining that's not a snake working his way around the walls but a lack of feathering putty work on the seams, is also good for parties.

break out the 3foot stilts after a few beers and instagram it all.

Service Magic is your friend, get 4 quotes and then decide.

Hang it sideways so you can put boarder around the seems 4' up and call it 3d Art!

I just had to hang drywall in the house i moved into. My landlord bought all the materials so dont know about the cost but I helped with hanging it and doing the mud on the cracks and all the sanding and stuff. It wasnt bad, was a lot of work but not really all that hard. Just very time consuming.

My impressions n drywall.

1) It's actually a load of work.

2) If you don't do a good job, you will be staring at your mistakes forever.

3) The folks who do it for a living? They do a much better job, and things that would take you hours, they can do in four minutes.

4) And there's a bunch of them, so I assume they're pretty cheap.

I did the drywall in my basement myself (as well as the drop ceiling. You do need a 2nd person, but it's not complicated at all. I don't know recall material costs because I had the guy who built the house order the sheets for me and throw it on the tab.

I had some help doing some drywall in my basement last year.

Everything went pretty smoothly but I didn't do a good enough job on the seams. Didn't realize it until about 8 months later when I put a lamp in the corner.

Kind of pissed at myself for not realizing that before I painted.

Just wanted to add that hanging drywall is the easy part. It's the finishing that requires big time skills. I've always called those guys artist. Don't do it right and it sticks out like a sore thumb hit over and over again with a hammer.

Thought I'd post this one, too.

(Available from here.)

LOL @ Koolblue and meth. Ask around and you will be surprised how spread out estimates are. A lot of them are desperate and we've gotten them to do it for $15.00 dollars a sheet.

am I wrong? I don't think so. Why do you think they're so desperate? Hang more drywall, get more meth, hang drywall faster, get more meth. It's all win.

I laughed because it's mostly true. They're either druggies or alcoholics. There are a few exceptions. Very few,. It amazes me that they do as good a job as they do.

It's perfect for tweekers. You do the same thing over and over and over as fast as you can as fast as you can as fast as you can and then somebody gives you cash money!

am I wrong? I don't think so. Why do you think they're so desperate? Hang more drywall, get more meth, hang drywall faster, get more meth. It's all win.

I laughed because it's mostly true. They're either druggies or alcoholics. There are a few exceptions. Very few. It amazes me that they do as good a job as they do.

Thanks to all for the input. You guys have confirmed what I had expected (and wanted to hear all along) - get someone who does it for a living to knock it out. I did a small closet myself one time and it looked like hammered dog ****. I have no idea why I even considered trying it again.

I would also suspect that you might be able to get a nice discount if you pay in cash, let the guy work weekends, and don't require paperwork.

Just a suspicion, mind you.

As others have said, there are plenty of guys who do drywall cheaply and it is best to take an offer rather than do it yourself. Hanging the sheets is not that hard, especially if you have a buddy help you, but it is the taping and mudding that will give you nightmares if you havent done it before. I used to work for one of Toronto's largest drywall contractors and good quality tapers where always hard to find, so much so that my company and 2 of our competitors used to share one taper who would exclusively do skim coats on large walls. The tricky part is putting down only what you need so you dont spend an enterity sanding later. Plus if you did the job on a weekend shcedule, it would probably take you 3 weeks just to finish the taping as you would tape/mud on Friday or Saturday, sand on Sunday then vacuum like a madman in time to do your next two coats. A Pro should be in and out in less than a week, they would use fast drying compund and not have to sand as much, doing therir 2 to 3 coats in 2 days or less ( teh better the taper, the less coats of mud will be required to make a smooth finish).

On a side note, make sure to spend the extra $ (not very much extra anyways) for Type "X" drywall, which is fire rated. All drywall manufacturers make a standard drywall and a type "X", along with some other types of board. Fire rating is dependand on the entire wall assembly, but generally the type X drywall will give you an hour of protection against fire spreading into the structure, which does not sound like a lot until you realize that concrete block walls are only rated for 1 1/2 hr fire protection. Fire rated drywall for a garage, and insualtion for that matter, might even be required by your local building code, another reason to check with a pro first.

As for getting bids, if you get some bids in where one guy is a lot lower than everyone else, throw the price out, remember, you get what you pay for and if 2 or more people say the job is worth "X", and you go with a guy who's price is "1/2 X", you are going to get half as much quality and probably a bunch of cut corners.

As a contractor, I would recommend one. If you want and have the time stop by a active construction site and speak to a sub or the general and just tell that what you are looking for and need a price. You'd be surprised the guys working will look for side quick jobs to add to their income. They also are working and you can see them and feel them out, don't deal with meth heads. Get a cash price and don't pay until the end, get the material yourself and have it delivered. Home Depot and Lowes are not the cheapest, so check a supplier before buying.