A drywall bid is mostly a counting exercise. Get the scope and the square footage right and most of the price follows.
Scope it first. Read the drawings if there are any, then walk the house. Note ceiling heights, which rooms get new board versus patches, garage walls that need fire-rated board, wet areas that call for mold-resistant board, and whether you are hanging only or hanging and finishing. Write down what you will not do, like texture matching, paint or trim.
Measure in the right unit. Hang and finish are priced per square foot of board. Patches are priced each. Measure walls and ceilings separately, because ceilings go up slower. Deduct big openings, not small ones.
Labor is hours times wage. For each item, estimate how many square feet your crew hangs or finishes in a day and turn that into hours per unit. Multiply by the wage you actually pay, with payroll costs included. Finishing takes several visits for drying time, so count trips, not just hours on the wall.
Material from public prices. Price board, mud, tape, bead and screws from current retail or supplier list prices you can look up. Add waste for cuts and breakage; odd-shaped rooms waste more than plain boxes.
Overhead, profit and contingency. Add your overhead (truck, insurance, tools, office time) and a profit you have decided on ahead of time, as their own lines on top of direct cost. Add a contingency for what you cannot see yet, like out-of-plumb framing or damaged board behind fixtures.
First-job checklist
- Ceiling heights and any lifts or scaffolding
- Board type per room (regular, Type X, mold-resistant)
- Hang only, or hang and finish to which level
- Access, parking, debris haul-off
- Who moves furniture and protects floors
Common mistakes
- Pricing ceilings at the same speed as walls
- Forgetting the extra trips finishing needs
- Leaving out haul-off and cleanup
- Quoting a patch as a quick job when it turns into a full sheet