How Many Sheets Per Day

Originally Posted by Peon-Boarder

if a crew is boarding a 2000 sf house in 8 hours you should atleast check them for steroids or somthing.

Originally Posted by eastex1963

Depends on the size of the crew....have seen 4000 sf house done in 6 hours. Fairly decent job too. (14 on the crew) 2 spoke english..

Originally Posted by eastex1963

Depends on the size of the crew....have seen 4000 sf house done in 6 hours. Fairly decent job too. (14 on the crew) 2 spoke english..

Originally Posted by aschnit

stinger... you start out your little argument "rant thing" arguing that .25 and .35 cents a foot for hanging and taping isn't or shouldn't be thought of as a big deal... meaning or at least what i think you mean to be that thats a fair price to hang and tape, which i agree with. But to end your argument by saying you're going to start working for free to get rid of illegals... or hacks... or whatever the case may be is completely ridiculous and asinine.

What would you honestly expect to happen if you started that trend? What would you expect a GC to say when you told him you were raising your price from free to something reasonable? Don't you think he might say something like "Well in that case, I'm gonna go out and get a few other bids"?

I guess my bottom line is that its amazing to see... almost everyday... what kind of amazing thinkers this industry (drywall in particular) seems to draw attention from. Think before you speak, or type in this case, and both think and speak before you act. And if you're simply not capable of thinking that clearly... don't go and find a job and convince someone you're capable of doing it with your pricing when you clearly aren't.

Don't ruin the reputation of the drywaller for the rest of us trying like hell out there to do a good job and even make a buck or two (hell even a little profit once in a while can't be a bad thing) and maintain ours (reputation).

Originally Posted by Custom Drywall Svc.

okay, then they are subcontracted...........still....a few questions:

Why are you subconracting your hanging, may i ask? you dont have hangers employed underneath you that you can pay whatever wage you want?

if you are operating a business as a drywall subcontractor, then do you act as a 'drywall general' and subcontract everything out, i.e. hanging, finishing, texturing? if the answer is 'yes' then why are you in business then? -- you are paying retail prices arent you? Where im from......25 cents per sf for hanging......is what i would charge a CUSTOMER of mine....thats, labor ALONE.

stilts, trust me....i don't want to offend you, criticize you, let alone tell you how to run your business.....but you are the one getting price gouged my friend......ASSUMING i'm correct (i still feel im missing your entire picture here, and things are just easily lost in translation on here for obvious reasons and that i'm missing a few key pts).

to second what Darren said above, yea stilts...if this business model IS working for you, and you can make a decent profit on it -- good.......great actually.

my opinion (and btw you're right, it is my opinion only...im glad you respect and acknowledge that) is that...the range you talk above as being 'okay,' in your area, 30 -25 per hour.....

THAT'S quite a shocker. Where i operate..........lets put it this way, if a hanger came into my office looking for employment....and stated on his application that he was accustomed to making over $30 bucks an hour.....there's not one second of hesitation where i, or even my head foreman would tell the guy to take a hike.

and in times like this??? that would be pure OFFENSIVE to ask for that much per hour.

i've never even seen a 'whiteboy' (no offense to anyone) demand more than 25 per hour......and STILL, thats laughable.

currently in my office (where i am typing this -- yea its that slow hahaha).......behind me, i got two folders stacked full with at least 40 apps each.........most of them hangers....about 25% of them finishers.

anyways, i'll tell you right now stilts......i have a section on my app that reads 'desired wage: ____'

for my area stilts, the seemingly desired wage, or what i like to think of as my markets 'current labor rate avg'.........is 11 bucks an hour.

yea, i got some that go as high (what i think is high) as $15 bucks per hr.........one even at 18$ per hour.....but thats as high as it goes my friend. i have one even as low as $8 bucks per hour......thats my states min. wage.

but yea, most of these are in the $10 - $12 per hour range.

stilts, think about that for a second......and compare it to what you're paying.

now, i know what you're gonna say...'you have the best hangers in your area, and my hangers are all amateur, mexican hacks, and they dont do quality work, etc etc'

but seriously....ask yourself.....what IS 'quality' today??? im not gonna preach and say i have the best hangers in town......but my BUSINESS is based on reputation and quality work. i couldnt have stayed in business THIS LONG now if it wasnt based on that alone. yea, i may not be the highest paying in town.....but i know i can compete with ANYONE. what matters to me and my customers is the FINAL product i deliver.

i had a person ask me why my work is so expensive....jokingly saying 'well youre probably using "Jose Gonzales" to hang my house anyways, i know those guys cant cost you that much at all!'

everytime someone puts me in a position like this and says that to me, i always answer:

"hey...are you paying for my employees? or are you paying for my EXPERTISE and knowledge in this industry? because anyone can do drywall, lets face it.......but the reason you called my company, is because you've seen and KNOW the end-result and final product i deliver..."

100% of the time, you know how they answer? they usually just embarrassingly chuckle -- because they know im right.


and thats no joke stilts.....im not tryin to blow steam or any BS like that at you, but im just bein serious.....ANYONE can do drywall......its sad, but true. what id like to believe sets me apart from the rest and why i charge FOR that -- is my knowledge.

in my small - medium sized market, my name is synonymous with 'drywall'......i'll tell you one thing, people may not use me all the time to do the drywall in their house because of my price....but as soon as something goes wrong with their current sub.......guess who they call to come fix it.

again, im not trying to sound arrogant, or cocky when i say that, but its true. like how you say this is your business, and you know it well -- you are not the only one that can claim that my friend. fortunately, we both can.


anyways, you are right when you say that "MY Hangers are also contractors , so that's what i contract out my hanging with them at ... So they put a little profit into there pockets , Isn't this what is all about ????? You profit off from subbing out work from contractors & homeowners , and it is no different for the hangers that I hire .... If you are self-employed whats the point of working for someone for an hourly wage ???"

yea, there is nothing wrong with this.....but, its not the only option. Thats the wonderful thing about the u.s. is that it is a free market based on capitalism. make all the money you want, within legal means....

stilts, what im trying to say is, you dont HAVE to hire a 'hanging subcontractor??' Unless you are doing this to give yourself a 'good feeling' inside...knowing that you are sharing your hard-earned money around to other people or 'enriching your local economy,' it doesnt make sense. the only way i see this working, is if your end-customer is paying for it -- that would make sense. although, i just dont see that happening as well....i would have to markup an arm and a leg to the customer at the rates you are paying -- just not practical.

i dont know....please clarify if i am totally not getting it, but i would never 'subcontract' out my labor? i dont see the use of this unless you are doing it for charitable causes. this is definitely not the most profitable approach....but then again, i really DONT know your true intentions, so that maybe just it right there.

is that .25/sf hanging subcontractor including the cost of sheetrock also????

so how much you pay for finishing? do you perform this yourself? which i can see you saving money that way....


eh, i dunno...still confused. just doesnt sound right. but its your business....and im glad you have been around so long. as far as my company? yea, im sure we'll be around another 30 years.....the question is do i WANT to be doing drywall that much longer? hell no.

i want to sell the company within 5.-6 years and work on my real estate and land development.

much less headache w/ more money.

...whats the old saying about real estate?


"God ain't makin' anymore of it"

Originally Posted by MN Wall

Ok Im new to this forum, I read through the first page of this topic and skimed the last page.

I for one am a big supporter of fare wages for a Journeyman or some one with at least four years of real experiance. I come from the commercial world. Here in the Twin Cities if you are Union, Carpenters and Lathers do the Fraiming and the rocking, tapers finish. on the other hand there is "framers" and there is "rockers".....There are rockers that are scared of framing and only know how to rock....and there are "FRAMERS" that only frame because they are "to good" to rock....what you get is poor framing and poor rocking... Then there is guys like me that have framed just about every type of framing there is and have rocked all his own work...what I'm getting at is, in order to be a good rocker, you need to be a good framer at the same time. Then there are "tapers" and plasterers. they think they can do eachothers work but in all reality cant. Either way I havnt met a one that isnt a winer.
I take alot of pride in my work and in every thing I do. So I for one feel like I'm worth $30-$35 an hour. I have worked for $15-$25 for a freind as a faver. But I dont care who you are, if you have a Car payment, insurance(personal/medical/buisiness),a mortgage, kids,spouse, and utility bills, to name a few. There is no way a guy can make it at the wages "Custom SVC" is paying. I made $12on check, starting as an aprrentice in '98. I made $8 working at a golf course in high school. For One in the past year I have made less money than I ver have due to be undercut for $.18ft or the $10hr guy. For two I can't (and currentlyam not able too) make it with any thing less than $800-$1200 a week. To make $400-$500 a week is just a kick in the shorts to me.
When I hire help I pay no less than $12 fior a guy that has somewhat of a head on his sholders and can take directions, I pay $15 for a guy that half assed knows what he is doin, and I pay $20-30/or $.25ft (depending on the job)for a guy that has been doing this for a while and knows what he is doing. JourneymanTapers get paid $30hr or buy the foot. at least $.40.

Paying $8-$15, or $.11-$.18ft, and hiring mexicans is why our econamy is in the crapper. Of course its OK to for the owner to make 6 figures but he'll be dambed if his guys make a good living and barley get by.

From what I here alot of the mexicans are heading back wich is good for us but do we have to work for there wages now?

Sorry if I came across a little strong, I just had to rant for a min.

forgot to add, for "sheets a day" for the theread topic. Ive worked in Idaho, Washington, MN, and WI, Out west they want 20-30 Sheets a day per guy 60-70 per 2 guys, Around here 15-30 per guy is good. I never got over how conserned they were our west about the sheet count though, but thats how they picked throught there guys. and that is why they called me back out there after I came home. Working here has never realy been about a sheet count as long as you were getting some thing done and did good work. I have never had complaints about my quality or speed.