.48 per sq. ft. material & labor in Pittsburgh

Darren@Partners

Fight low ballers with violence? Go to jail over a number? Be the angry hillbilly the MSM wants to portray us as? Pretty shortsighted. So, say you win the fistfigt. Say the GC sees the friction and error of his ways. Say he gives you the job. But now you're in jail, dude. Can't hang any rock inside the crossbar hotel, can you?

Wanna fight back? If these cats are illegal, report them. If they are citizens, get the ear of the local inspector and city. Do they carry full licensing, insurance, etc.? He'll, picket the job even. But unless you can catch the ringleader behind the bar and give him a covert beat down, jail and assualt on your record just makes you another nasty, trashy drywaller living down to the reputation we all try to overcome daily.

BTW, that AZ law we all champion, it won't help the labor market there much. OK ran theirs out a couple years ago and they have some of the lowest prevailing wages in the country. Pretty f----d up deal.

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taper71

Where is the picketing? Where is the protests? I find it funny that you all come here to complain yet I never see anything in the news about it ,because none of you are making it news. I would go to jail over it because at least it would be a start for the ball to get rolling and I highy doubt I would be portrayed as another hillbilly drywall hack because that my friend I am not. But I wouldn t have to go that route because I would set up a web site and band people together and start protesting and picketing instead of complaing here . But hey who am I ,I cant complain because Im making really good money. I feel for you guys down there but honestly you all had apart in letting this happen now maybe do something about it .

Darren@Partners

Taper71, I won't bother to explain then. Besides that yes, we are all to blame - for electing those who do not uphold our Constitution and consider our borders sovereign. Canada's guest worker program sends aliens home after 364 days, yes? You make a decent living thanks in no small part to a protectionist economy.

But violence is exactly what Liberal Progressives are trying to incite here. And while there are things I'd do time for, money ain't one of them. The lowballers are so desperate, does anyone think an ass beating or two would really stop them anyway? Physical intimidation and the like reduces us to lowest common denominator. And it's pretty easy to say all the things you'd do if it was you, when you got a pocket full of RCDs.

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carpentaper

i find it hard to not write heated responses when i read about those prices. honestly they scare the sh!t out of me. i am very grateful that you can still make money drywalling in canada. i really enjoy and respect the work. i get nervous that the same thing could happen here. i have no idea what i would do in someone else shoes. the trades should be treated as the good respectable and essential services they are, all of them. you should be able to live well and support a family for a good honest days work. i can only imagine the temptation to say f**k it and find another career must be huge but for those too late in their careers it's not an option. the only solution is organization and awareness but you guys are so politically divided and afraid of unions you are going to get your throat slit by the square foot. nobody will care about your job unless you make them. i realize this will probably ruffle a few feathers and i am in no way trying to start a canada vs US debate or a right vs left debate but seriously unless something changes you guys are f**ked. YOUR F**KED ALREADY!!! if you think the market will correct all of this, good luck. it probably won't happen on your schedule. the problem is deeper.
after two years of reading this forum and taking in opinions i'll admit i've formed a few myself. i really hope there is a solution to this problem and that it gets found sooner than later. just finally had to vent.

Darren@Partners

Canada is f&$)ed too, they just don't know it yet. The timber industry will eventually implode and Cap and Trade will be coming to a province near you, sooner not later.thus ruining the oil shale works.

It maybe too late to avoid a total crash globally, but yesterdays primaries were a ray ofsunshine. It ain't about Ds and Rs anymore. It's about fiscal and Constitutional conservatism, States rights and ridding ourselves of the Fed banksters.

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carpentaper

you have a point. we are all in this together. if you guys go down we go down too. i just hope it all works out because i love working in the trades and i don't want my livelihood to be threatened. i don't want to go back to school any time soon! six weeks a year for four years is plenty for me. i apologize for any US bashing sentiment. definitely not my intention.

interrogation ?

LISTEN DO NOT COMPLAINT ABOUT PRICES, THERES NO MORE INDIAN OR BLACK PEOPLE, WE SHOW THEM HOW TO WORK, HOW TO SURVIVE. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING.?
OUR EMPLOYEES ARE OUR COMPANY TOGETHER WITH US , WE HAVE TO ADMITTED
THEY RUN THE COMPANY, IN ANY TRADE. SO BE GOOD WITH THEM, PAY THEM WELL DO NOT TRY TO PUT ALL THE MONEY IN YOUR POCKET. LET THEM KNOW YOU ARE WITH THEM. NOT ONLY WITH WORDS. WITH ACCTION BECAUSE IF THEY WORK 4 U SO MANY YEARS DO NOT ESPECT THEM TO BE WITH YOU . UNDERSTAND

jmr

too many bankers, investors and realtors digging their filthy hands in construction to make quick money.. i've found that most GC's that are honest actually carry a hammer and get their hands dirty because they know the liabilities with **** work and near sighted profit margins.

eventually the bad apples will run with their money or get forced out because their bad work will catch up with them.. things will swing back our way in the form of extremely strict building codes, inspections and licensing requirements. we'll pay more taxes and business costs but we'll be working..

IMO if your a legit craftsmen then stick to niche work and remodels.. look at higher end design and build remodlers. they usually pay decent and want good work. new residential is dog **** and the only drywallers working here are typically mexican plow horse drivers and will eventually be out of business because of ridiculous amounts of overhead and call backs...

just my 2 cents.

florida drywall

Hello every one, this is my first official post after my introduction.

As a legal drywall contractor in FL. I have seen crazy numbers out there. I have been told by a few builders we have worked for, for a long time now, that there are a few drywall contractors hitting them up trying to get there drywall work.

These builders have told me the numbers they have quoted them, yet they stick with us, why you ask, its simple our reputation talks for us. We get in on schedule and get done on or before schedule, there are few minor extra things we do for our contractors that no one else is doing that I know of. We have little to no callbacks once we texture and get out.

I have found that a good reputation in any business will prove to be one of the biggest elements to making it.

Now on to the numbers, I was just told today by another drywall contractor he lost a job to a peace of crap illegal drywall guy for a ridiculously low number, are you ready $21.00 a board that’s a 4’x12’ that is $0.4375 a sq/ft. That is the lowest number I have seen or herd of in our area. I have herd of numbers at $12.00 a sheet for labor only.

I have found that all of these contractors at prices such as these are Mexican owned.

The one that is at $21.00 I have been after for years and have turned into the county code enforcement two times now. I have sent the DBPR numerous letters and documentation on his illegal doings several times. I have now learned he is a member of the HBCA that I am also a member of.

I will be speaking to the board about this at the next HBCA meeting. I want to know why the HBCA is supporting a un-license and un-insured contractor.

What I do know is this, I have already seen three drywall contractors close up and they followed the same MO doing work for nothing, Its just like the FED Gov. trying to spend our way out of dept, these guys are the same, it’s a last ditch effort to stay open, in the end they will close up leaving there suppliers un paid, unpaid help and screwing the next guy.
Any one that has a construction company right now, under stands that in order to keep the doors open you have to cover cost and overhead and still have a profit.

Sorry for the rant, but there are things you can do to fight off these unwanted contractors a legal way and right way, with out going to jail.

Dragonass

Amen...WTF... I have been in the trade for 30 yrs...too old to switch trades...I sure hope it turns upward soon...I will not drop my prices til they let me work for cheaper taxes and insurance, that you know will never happen

drywallntheblood

before economy went belly up hangers were getting between 25 to 40 pft ( in MT)depending on how hard the job was.Labor/screws. Tapers were getting 60 to 80. labor/material. Now I am at 39pft (in NM) just in labor for hang to finish. Hows that for those that had to drop their prices.

sprayworks

shoot im in orlando and the going rate right now is 21 a board.... hang, finish, texture and board

cdwoodcox

This is more than just a drywall problem this is the entire industry I have seen good quality builders switch subs to save money knowing the quality will be lessened. Low ball contracting isn't new its just so rampant right now in every phase of construction. The town I work in has a population of 13,000 people there are 90 contractors listed in our local phone book many more companys not listed. As the saying goes **** rolls downhill I haven't dropped my prices but I haven't been as busy as usual. Main reason is the builders I work for are getting low balled by other contractors so they aren't working that much either. The consilation to us is we can work 1/2 week fish, hunt, or just bang the wife the rest of the week and make as much as these clowns make in a week and a half.

nickcruz

wow 17 cents to board. I am from Edmonton Canada.AND i board for 25 per foot box on box penny more if its nine feet
.,some companys pay you to scrap out 50 bucks,arches 10 bucks each any kind and if we half to clean it out first 50 bucks.this is lower then 2 years ago when it was booming here.our tapers get a penny more then the boarders around here.Im not sure why the taper gets more where you are from? I geuss the boarders are hacks?cause those are prices from the 80,s 17 cents.

2buckcanuck

ssshhhhh.....quiet!!!!,the Americans will try invading us again

mudslingr

Probably cause tapers touch each sheet at least 4 times more than any boarder will and that's the way it should be !
Going rate around here starts at .30¢/sq.ft, goes up .05¢ for every foot over 8ft and extra for cathedrals or miles of bead. This goes for both boarding and taping.

moore

when housing starts booming again. and it will. will those guys be stuck at that price? [ i hope so!!]

cdwoodcox

Lets just hope we all aren't.

nickcruz

touch it four times for how long and who many grunts you make it sound like its hard I KNow it ain,t I just make more money boarding then I do taping cause im stong like bull .I lift the whole thing with my tools on ,when I mud it plain and simply easier on the body and hott and cranky.I realize we are cut from two different cloths,at the same time the work all the same to me, I just choose to do the hard work myself cause I like the shoulder presses and what it does for me and my body.

mudslingr

That's great ! If you can slam up a lot of board quickly and make money, awesome. I was merely stating that a taper should make more per sq.ft than a boarder because we have to tape,coat,coat,maybe one more coat and then sand each and every sheet. Once a boarder puts it up he no longer has anything to do with that sheet.
Just the way I see it anyway.