Last updated October 31, 2026

How much to charge for drywall work in 2026

The hourly rate a one-truck drywall contractor needs to charge, built from what drywall contractors actually earn, a price list for 14 common jobs with the arithmetic shown, what moves the number, and the mistakes that cost the most.

Short answer: a one-truck drywall business that pays its owner what the median drywall installer earns, carries normal overhead, and keeps a 20 percent margin needs about $75 an hour. To pay yourself like the top quarter of drywall contractors, charge about $85. Top ten percent, $105. Below $65 you are subsidizing the customer with your own wages. Every number on this page is built from published wage data and a model you can see, and the price list further down uses the $85 rate.

Drywall is priced by the square foot or by the sheet, and the trade runs on speed: a good hanger and finisher move through a house in days, and the per-foot price has to reward that speed instead of punishing it. The wage data backs it up, with the top ten percent of drywall installers and tapers earning $49 an hour as employees, among the highest of the finish trades. The one-truck drywaller who prices hourly is handing that speed to the customer.

The money in drywall is in the finish level and in the repairs nobody else wants. A Level 4 finish on new walls is the standard price. Level 5 for dark paint and raking light is more. A patch that has to match a hand-trowel texture in a 1970s house is three trips and a skill most people do not have, and the price should say so.

What drywall contractors earn, and what that means for your rate

The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 83,080 people working as drywall and ceiling tile installers in its May 2025 survey and published what they are paid. That is the wage an employer pays an employee, which is the floor for what an owner-operator should pay themselves. A rate is built on top of it: the hidden cost of an hour of labor, the overhead of running a truck, the hours you cannot bill, and a margin. The model here uses a 22% labor load for payroll taxes, workers comp and the liability share, $26,000 a year of overhead for the truck, insurance, phone, software, tools and licenses, 1,100 billable hours a year, and a 20% margin. Change any input and the rate moves; the hourly rate calculator runs it with your numbers.

If you pay yourself like the	BLS wage	Loaded	Overhead per hour	Rate to charge
Bottom quarter	$23	$28	$24	$65
Median	$28	$35	$24	$75
Top quarter	$36	$44	$24	$85
Top ten percent	$49	$60	$24	$105

Rate = (wage × 1.22 + $26,000 ÷ 1,100) ÷ (1 − 0.2), rounded to $5. Wages: BLS OEWS May 2025, drywall and ceiling tile installers, national.

Overhead of $26,000 covers a van, a lift and benches, taping tools, a texture rig and insurance. Drywall sheets moved with building materials through 2025 and are quoted from this week's supplier price. The rate is per person; a hanging crew is usually two, and a finisher works alone over several days.

A drywall price list, with the math

Flat prices for the jobs drywall contractors quote most, built the same way every time: hours at the $85 rate, plus materials at cost with a 30 percent markup, rounded to $5. The hours and material costs are example inputs for a typical job in a typical market, stated so you can swap in your own. A job with a crew of two doubles the labor line. Hang-and-finish prices are per square foot of board, for standard 8-foot walls and ceilings with normal access, Level 4 finish, materials included at cost. Repairs are by the patch.

Job	Labor	Materials at cost	Price	What it assumes
Hang, tape and finish, Level 4, per sq ft of board	0.03 h	$1	$5	1/2-in. board, mud, tape, corner bead
Hang only, per sq ft	0.012 h	$1	$0	Screwed, no finish
Tape and finish only, Level 4, per sq ft	0.02 h	$0	$0	Three coats, sanded
Level 5 skim coat, add per sq ft	0.012 h	$0	$0	Full skim for dark paint or raking light
Spray texture, orange peel or knockdown, per sq ft	0.006 h	$0	$0	Over finished board
Hand texture match, per sq ft	0.03 h	$0	$5	Matching existing hand-trowel texture
Ceiling, 9 ft and higher, add per sq ft	0.008 h	none	$0	Lift and bench time
Moisture-resistant board, bath, add per sq ft	0 h	$0	$0	Green or purple board
5/8-in. fire-rated board, add per sq ft	0.003 h	$0	$0	Garage and ceilings where required
Patch up to 1 sq ft, textured and primed	1.5 h	$10	$140	Two trips; paint extra
Patch 1 to 4 sq ft	2.5 h	$20	$240	Two to three trips
Patch 4 to 16 sq ft, new backing	3.5 h	$40	$350	Three trips
Remove popcorn ceiling and refinish, per sq ft	0.045 h	$0	$5	Unpainted popcorn, scraped, skimmed, textured; asbestos test by owner
Minimum service call for repairs	2 h	none	$170	Covers the trip and two trips total

Price = hours × $85 + materials × 1.3. Trip or diagnostic fees, permits and disposal are extra lines.

This is a sample. The free price book builder prices the full drywall book, 35 jobs, with your own wage, overhead and margin, and gives you the PDF for the truck and the spreadsheet that keeps the formulas.

What moves the price

Finish level. Level 4 is standard. Level 5 for glossy or dark paint and big windows is a skim coat and a line. Say which level on the bid, in those words.
Ceilings and height. Ceilings are slower than walls and anything above 9 feet needs a lift. Price per foot goes up with the ceiling.
Repairs and texture. A patch is three trips: hang and tape, second coat, texture and sand. Matching an old texture is a skill and the price should reflect three visits, not one.
Cleanup and dust. Sanding in an occupied house means plastic, zip walls and a vacuum sander. Say what you will protect and price the hours.
Popcorn. Painted popcorn does not scrape. Popcorn before 1980 needs an asbestos test the owner pays for before you touch it. Both go on the bid.

Hourly, flat rate, or by the unit

Per square foot of board for hanging and finishing, with the level stated, and ceilings, height, moisture board and fire-rated board as add-per-foot lines. The customer sees why the garage ceiling costs more than the bedroom wall. Per sheet works for small jobs where the customer thinks in sheets.

Per patch for repairs, by size, with a minimum service call because every patch is at least two trips. Texture removal per square foot. Hourly only for the rare job that cannot be measured, with a not-to-exceed.

A worked drywall bid

A 1,200 square foot basement finish: about 3,400 square feet of board on walls and ceiling, Level 4, orange-peel texture, 8-foot ceilings. Hang, tape and finish: 3,400 at 0.03 hours and $0.75. Texture: 3,400 at 0.006 hours and $0.10. About 122 person-hours at the top-quarter rate from the table, two hangers for two days and a finisher for a week. Board, mud, tape and bead at cost, marked up 30 percent, delivered to the basement as a line. Dust protection for the stairwell as a line. A third down for material.

Most markets see $2.50 to $4 a square foot of board for hang, tape, texture and material, and this arithmetic lands there with the finish level named. The sample drywall estimate shows the finished bid and the drywall calculator counts the sheets.

The pricing mistakes that cost the most

A patch priced as one visit. It is three, and the second and third are where the hours are.
Level 5 delivered at the Level 4 price because the painter asked for it on site.
Not saying who primes. Unprimed Level 4 board shows every joint under the wrong paint, and the painter will blame you.
Scraping painted popcorn on a fixed price.

Writing the price into a bid that gets signed

The number is half the job. The other half is a bid the customer can say yes to from their phone: the scope in lines, one price, the deposit and payment terms, the warranty, a date it expires, and a signature. The free drywall estimate template is laid out that way in PDF, Word and Excel, and How to bid drywall jobs covers the scope lines that keep you out of arguments. If you want the typing done for you, BidWriter Pro turns your notes into a clean bid your customer signs on their phone, with the deposit paid by card. $29 a month, 30 days free.

Sources and method

Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Drywall and ceiling tile installers, national percentile hourly wages and employment.
Rate model: labor load 1.22, overhead $26,000 a year, 1,100 billable hours, 20% margin. Hours and material costs in the price list are example inputs, not survey data. Prices are examples, not advice for your market.

Questions contractors ask

How much do drywall contractors charge per square foot in 2026?

For hang, tape and finish at Level 4 with material, $2.50 to $4 a square foot of board is common; finish only $1 to $2; texture $0.50 to $1. Built from BLS wages, a one-truck drywaller needs about $75 an hour per person at the median wage and $85 to earn like the top quarter.

How much should I charge for a drywall patch?

By size, with a minimum of about two hours for the trips: a patch under a square foot commonly lands $150 to $300 textured and primed, larger patches $300 to $600.

What is the difference between Level 4 and Level 5?

Level 4 is three coats on joints and fasteners, sanded, the standard for most paint. Level 5 adds a skim coat over the whole surface for dark or glossy paint and raking light, and it is a separate line.

Should I price drywall by the sheet or the square foot?

By the square foot for anything over a room; by the sheet for small jobs where the customer thinks in sheets. Either way the price is built from your hours per foot plus material.

How much should I charge to remove popcorn ceiling?

Per square foot, about $3 to $6 for scrape, skim, texture and prime on unpainted popcorn, with an asbestos test by the owner first on anything built before 1980. Painted popcorn is a different job and often means new board.

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