Drywall estimate template — and a generator that fills it in

Most drywall disputes come down to one unstated thing: finish level. Here's the full structure, plus a generator.

Generate this estimate now

Describe the job in plain words. No email needed to see your first estimate — about fifteen seconds for a small job, a little longer for a big one.

What you get — see the format first

A complete estimate you can send to the customer, built from the rate you enter:

Description	Qty	Unit	Unit price	Total
Labor — itemized by task	hrs	hour	your rate	—
Materials — with your markup applied	qty	ea / sq ft	cost + markup	—
Permits, disposal, access	—	—	—	—

Plus a plain-English scope summary, assumptions (what had to be guessed), exclusions (what you are not doing — the section that prevents most change-order arguments), and a validity period. Printable, or send the link.

Every figure comes from the rate and markup you supply. We never fill in a market price for you.

3 free drywall estimate and bid templates

An estimating spreadsheet that opens in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets, or prints to PDF. Pre-filled with the line items a drywall estimate should contain, plus a checklist of what drywall estimating most often leaves out — so you price it before you send, not after.

Blank — the line items, ready to price by hand.
Auto-calculating — same sheet with the maths built in; type a quantity and a rate and it totals itself. Formulas work in Excel and Google Sheets.
Printable — a clean one-page layout to fill in on site or save as PDF.

Blank (Excel / Sheets) Auto-calculating Printable PDF

How drywall jobs are bid

Drywall is bid per sheet or per square foot for hanging, with finishing priced by level because level 4 and level 5 are genuinely different amounts of work. Repairs are bid in hours rather than area: a small patch carries the same setup, texture matching and multiple return trips for coats as a large one, which is why small drywall work is so easily underpriced.

What a drywall estimate should contain

Sheet count by thickness and length, and whether moisture or fire-rated board is required
Hanging labor, separate from finishing
Tape and mud coats — how many
Corner bead, inside and outside corners
Finish level, stated explicitly (Level 4 and Level 5 are not the same price)
Texture type, or smooth, and matching existing texture on repairs
Sanding and dust containment
Primer, if you're including it
Stocking — carrying sheets upstairs or around the house
Debris removal

What gets left out of drywall estimates

Finish level left unstated, which is the single biggest source of drywall arguments
Texture matching on patches, which can take longer than the patch itself
Dust containment and protection in an occupied house
Each coat is a separate trip — a three-hole patch is two or three visits with drive time and setup, not one continuous job

What the labor actually costs

$28.74/hour — US median wage for drywall and ceiling tile installers and tapers, May 2025 ($59,780/year).

That is a wage, not your billing rate. It excludes payroll burden, insurance, the hours you spend driving and quoting, overhead and profit. Billing at or near it means working the job for free once those land — which is where underpricing starts. What your multiplier should be depends on your business, so put the rate you actually bill into the generator and every line prices from your number.

Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook — national median, May 2025. Wages vary widely by metro.

Your prices, not internet averages

Generic AI quotes national averages. BidWand builds a price book from every estimate you send and every rate you correct, so by the fifth bid it prices like you do — your labor rate, your markup, your exclusions.

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