Custom Texures

tnt specialty

I'm paying a guy, (sub-contractor), .50/sf , (materials & labor), to provide a "skip-trowel" finish on taped/finished drywall...., (aprx. 1500 sf 7.5' - 10' ceilings & 3000 sf walls; 7.5' to 10' hts), Is this reasonable?

Brockster

Sounds good, when do I start?

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tnt specialty

I take it...It's high?

Sir Mixalot

Sounds about right to me.

AtlanticWBConst

Sounds Resonable to me.

BTW - Mix Alot - Is your picture supposed to be one of "Skip-trowel" Texture?
If so, then, please realize that...is not skip trowel.

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- Build Well -

Sir Mixalot

Maybe not in New England, But it is here! What's your Skip Trowel look like?

Brockster

WB, that is a form of skip trowel but probably looks a lot different then the southwestern style you are used to.
I'm sure Mixalot can do any style the customer asks for.

Also, That just might be a real close-up picture.

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Brockster

I was talking to a buddy of mine who said he once was trying to spray a orange peel but it came out too small so he knocked it down. He said it turned out to looking like lacy material and the gal who owned the place loved it.
Anybody else mess with custom spray textures and have it turn out good?

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Tim0282

About 14 buckets of mud for 4500 sq. ft. If he covers all windows, doors, showers, floors, etc. before texturing, plan on about six hours. You do the math for your area as far as mud cost and labor cost. Sounds reasonable to me. 2250.00. Here about 450 - 500 material. The rest for equipment, experience (education) insurance, gas to get there, and labor.
You could find the right circles and find the guys that will do it for a little bit of beer money. That is a good experience for all.

Sir Mixalot

Brockster, You are correct on all points. If any of you have ever tried to take pictures of texture, It's very difficult to capture without doing close-ups. Here's some other pictures of Skip Trowel.

AtlanticWBConst

I can see that skip-trowel is a relative term...based on geographical location.

Sort of like the fact that there a very few contractors and requests for knock-down texture in New England.

Our "Local" Skip Trowel (here) involves using a paint roller to apply the compound (we add flat white paint to our mixture), then, using a plastic trowel, the areas are smoothed slightly in random slight swirls. I don't have any good pics of it.

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Sir Mixalot

For Skip Trowel here, we use a hauk and trowel. It takes years of experience and practice to get a good consitant product.

AtlanticWBConst

Yes, it takes practice. Many people think that texturing is easy...beacuse the finished results "look easy". The biggest challenge for the rookie, is usually "Consistency" of the application.

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Frankawitz

Mixalot those 3 pictures look the same to me, I have some different textures on my site. I call them knock down finishes, but to each his own I guess.


www.frankawitz.net

Sir Mixalot

Yes they are all Skip Trowel.

I checked them out. There is no Skip Trowel(it has sand in it and it's done by hand). Guess it's a regional thing.

This what we call Knockdown here in Florida.

tnt specialty

Well, none of the pictures resembles the "skip trowel" that was done on a few houses I did 15-20 years ago in Calif.

6 hours?; 14 bxs of mudd = $ 150.00 here....That's $ 350.00/hour! I'm going to change professions.....I'd only have to work 11 hours a week to make My $ 200K/yr! Kewl!!!!

Brockster

I'd love to see a guy put 14 boxes of mudd on the wall in 6 hours! I'm not saying it can't be done...

Southwest skip trowel does looks a lot different with a lot more mudd on the wall and that is most likely what you all have in mind when someone says "skip trowel".
Some customers don't want all that texture and would rather have it like Mixalot's.

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Sir Mixalot

It would take longer for one guy, more like 16 to 20 hrs. to do this job. (I think Tim0282 meant 6 hours before the texturing even started)And there is more to the materials list than mud.

Sir Mixalot

Brockster, Your alway's right on the money!

Tim0282

You can sure tell the guy is not a drywall finisher of any sort. He is clueless.
It doesn't take long to spray knockdown on 4500 feet of rock with a sprayer. But to put 14 buckets on by hand would be a six hour job with man power. And with man power, you better make more than 100 bucks an hour and you can gross 200K a year, but you can't net that. Oh, well, to each his own thinking.

Tim