Drywall Estimates

Estimate #1:

Guy #1 has been contracted to do the drywall work on some of the jobs where Chris has been working. He lives in Kentucky, but his crews live in Nashville. He has one crew that hangs the drywall, and another that finishes. He says he is picky and likes to shine a light down the walls to see how smooth the work is.

A white man in his forties, sporting a nice gut and mustache, he shows up in his nice, full-size truck, and proceeds to the house with tape measure and clip board in hand.

Half an hour later, he tells Chris he will call in a day or two with the estimate.

Estimate #2:

I found Guy #2 in the telephone listings online. He and his crew are currently working on a subdivision being built in Columbia.

A Hispanic man in his forties or fifties, sporting a modest gut and nice mustache, he pulls up in a 20 year old minivan. He proceeds to the house empty-handed. Chris offers him a tape measure. "I don't need it," he says. "Do you have a piece of paper?" Looking at the sheets of subfloor, he starts counting to himself in Spanish.

Five minutes later, he has written a materials list on the piece of paper Chris gave him.

Estimate #1: about 270 sheets of drywall, $9500 total.
Estimate #2: about 200 sheets of drywall, we buy material, he charges $16/sheet, total cost about $6500.

Chris and I hadn't bothered to figure up how much drywall it would take, and we were a bit shocked by the difference in estimates. We decided we would each do our own estimate to see who we thought was most accurate. Chris used his own method of measuring and counting, while I took my print, calculated the square footage of the walls and ceilings and divided it by the square footage of a sheet of drywall. What did we each come up with? About 200 sheets.

Who would you hire?