I Got An Interesting Topic For All My Fellow Drywall Contractors

1KingOfDrywall

Recently I heard a drywall contractor profess that he pays his guys by the per sq. ft. BUT-BUT-BUT....he subtracts for the area's of board cut out???....LMAO
I asumed it was an old drywallers joke. Like hey, I'll pay you to hang that wall, but I gotta subtract a little for all those damned windows......LMAO
He was dead serious. This guy has been in business for 20 years!!!
First of all, It makes no sense. I told him If I worked for him I'd tell him that I'd hang it, and he can cut it out.
Secondly- It takes more work to cut out a window or door.....how the hell does he pay less for that??
Guys....be blunt here, am I missing something.??
When I started laughing at him he got a little angry. I confronted him again with a whisper and said "hey, contractor-contractor, are you serious"? He responded with...."I ain't paying for the scrap"???
Oh well..I pay by the sheets delivered, or square footage. Hell, if the place had a bunch of widows and doors I"D PAY MORE TO HAVE IT
HUNG ! Basically this contractors dream projects would have a ton of windows....he wouldn't pay nothing to have them hung...

ProWallGuy

Pity the fools that work for him..........

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Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

taper71

lol Does he also line up the cut pieces of bead and subtract that too. He must have some really green guys if he gets away with that.

Mud Master

I have no comment


That's just real sad.

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Drywalller

I remember bidding a big commercial job and they wanted me to sign their contract stating :you will be paid by the sq foot,MEASURED IN PLACE.
That meant they would deduct for all openings ,windows and doors,I said no thanks and they changed the contract so we would do it.

thom

I'll bet, if this guy is for real, the price per foot he pays is a lot higher. Tradesmen aren't idiots (at least most aren't) and aren't going to work for a guy who pays a lot less.

Mike Finley

Thom's comments were my thoughts too. If the going rate is $2.00 a square footage based on gross square footage and this guy is paying $3.00 on net square footage, what's the difference? I might just be easier for the guy to calculate his rates based on how he is measuring the job.

mud dog

Hey taper71, when I first moved to Edmonton I was told that there's a drywall company working out of St. Albert that does that with the bead. Any truth to that? Also talked to a guy that used to work for a local company in the office and yeah, the board count that the taper gets paid to finish isnt the same count that he pays the boardmen, as he subtracts the scrap pile!

taper71

I never heard of anyone doing that with the bead, but I really wouldn't be suprised by it . As for the board count I get paid for all the board delivered to the address minus what the boarders use for canteleavers and stairwells if they are not finished. I get the liberty of knowing my next job usually before the boarders are finished so I get to see what was delivered . I have not been screwed yet , but I know some who have . The way I look at it a company will screw you if you really don't know how to charge for what you are doing. I always make it a point to get all the numbers before I start my job.

thom

I pay by the square foot. I supply material. I pay based on what is delivered to the job. Sometimes I order heavy, sometimes light. It seems when I measure heavy, the scrap pile is small, when I measure light the scrap pile is large. Maybe some hangars are more efficient in their use of materials. Either way, they get paid by what's delivered. If there is left over material, I pay anyway and offer them the left overs if they'll take them away.

1KingOfDrywall

Thats what I'm saying too Mud dog.....he pays them all different rates like subtracting the scrap pile from the board count for the finishers.
I just couldn't get over the "subtracting for windows" etc crap.
Oddly enough, although the contractor, whom I will not name has a reputation for doing good workmanship.......I guess he's not much of a business man. He has been in business for 20 years. He got very agitated when I brought it to his attention. I think I got it thru to him. For 10 minutes I thought to myself I must be miunderstanding him. Maybe he's like on of those hard working farmers who never learned to read? Maybe Dislexia?? (( the guy has good work ethic butNo COMMON SENSE)) Oh well. Thanks for the input. Like you said..............it's just sad.......lol

taper71

I guess for a laugh When I first broke out on my own I never learned how to charge. I didn't know about extras for fancy work or high ceilings or anything like that. I would charge a flat rate of .22 cents a square no bead footage or nothing plus I supplied my material. I worked for this one company for about 9 months doing nothing but really big fancy houses and if I screwed up somewhere I would also be backcharged. I got poed one day and went to another company with pics of the kind of work I do and he threw numbers at me that I didnt even know existed. I bet that one guy made about 30 000 off of my ignorance.

1KingOfDrywall

when I first went into business, I started bidding and thought I was making good money. I came to find out I was underbidding the competition by 10% and more sometimes. So on a $15000 project which my first year we did about 34 of those.....UGH!!! There went my dream car...LMAO
oh well.....you live and you learn I guess. I realized "insider information" is very valuable.

Mud Master

I underbid alot of my projects when I started. If a job came to $10,000.00 in the end i'd only have 2000 or 2500 left over and I couldn't understand why. Than I found out that I was bidding almost $7.00 less than the average rate! Which is alot when you get into a 500-1100 sheet house. No wonder I had problems making payroll!

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1KingOfDrywall

I think I did that for a hole year......OUCH.
Oh well....I'm an optimist...at least you're still in the business.
Always remember....many have fallen before you, so to even stay in business for yourself and "pay the bills"....that alone is an accomplishment.

Mud Master

Yeah, well 10 years have gone by since that, and I am into the commercial more so now than before, so majority of that is T&M, which I like a whole lot better. I still do custom homes and additions by piece, but I am much more efficent in pricing them as far as vaulted/catherdral ceilings,cornerbeads, arches, etc..

But yea like you said its always an accomplishment to make it in business, and you'll always make mistakes. No one is perfect.

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toothlesstaper

Nice of the new guy to treat you with honesty & respect, can i have his #

SelfContract

Easy. Just tell the guys you hang/cover all windows, he gonna pay full sheet price, you leave then he would cut windows out himself later.

BUTCHERMAN

My view exactly,other than walking away nodding my head. I had a guy try that with me in my early days. Unfortunatly i split the cost to avoid taking him to court because he deducted from my final payment after the job.End result he did that with all the trades and could'nt get anyone to work for him. I heard he opened a computer store that went under in a year.

Jason Whipple

O/P

If that guy did that to me, I would do this;

Hang the board over all the doors, windows, and outlets. Tell him it's hourly to cut them out.

Edit: Oops just saw SelfContracts post, sorry (great minds think alike)

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Jason E Whipple, General Manager
Historic House Restoration, Cincinnati, Ohio
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