VHCOL area. I'm getting some bids from local drywallers to skim coat over existing texture walls and ceilings (About 600 SqFt of floor space).
Right now there are top two bidders.
Over 15 years of experience in the industry. Large commercial/mid-high rise apartments and single family house remodel jobs. About 10 online reviews. Quoted for $3250 for 3-4 days job.
Over 8 years of experience in the industry. Mostly patches. Didn't see too much of remodel jobs. About 50 reviews. Quote for $3680 for 5-6 Days job.
Who would you choose?
I owned a drywall company for sixteen years. Had fourteen to twenty four people work for me at any one time. Number 1 all day long.
Number 1
I was a taper for 40 years #1
Number 2 would roughly be equivalent to hiring me. But with less experience. š
Edit: Just to be clear, you donāt want to hire me for that.
Just based off your descriptions i would Say obviously number 1. Seems like your job for them will be smaller than they are used to which is good
Bid 1 , more experience
Itās a 4 day job and is relatively simple. Day 1 prepping, looking for damage and fixing, toss on 1-2 layers of easy sand. Day 2 knock down weird ridges and toss on a layer ofplus3. Day 3, some sanding and one more coat or spot fixes with a bright light at angle. Day 4 come in morning an do one last inspection, potential some small spots to either sand or add thin layer. Collect mine at noon.
Thatās about how I would do it. But I donāt have 15 years experience.
Days 3 and 4 Iām only around half the day. Pick up a job somewhere else for the afternoons. $3300 is worth the money if they do a good job. Skim coating to perfection is an art. The pros can do it fast and with quality. I ca do it with quality but double the time
Not enough information. Both quotes seem to be similar to each other.
Who has pictures (before and after of their work) to show you what they started with and what it ended up looking like? You should choose the person who can show you how good their work looks. What are you paying for? Will you get the results you want? Thatās what I really want to know.
Comparison: I recently patched some walls and skim coated over all the walls a couple times for a perfectly smooth walls in a full bath and powder bath, and I charged $2,600 in DFW area. Youāre $3,200-$3,600 price seems too low to me.
Comparison 2: I hired a larger drywall crew to drywall my great room, and skim coat it all to a level 4 finish (they called it level 5) and I was well prepared to know that I likely wasnāt going to get the results I wanted, since Iām more of a perfectionist, and I do drywall work, so it was a minor annoyance. They charged $4,000 to hang (not counting drywall sheets I purchased for about $450-$500), tape and bed, and float over 28 sheets of drywall surface area. Your 600 square feet of floor space is about a third more than what I have. Your quote should be closer to $5,000-$10,000. That being said, I would not expect high quality workmanship for anything in that price range.
The drywall is already up and finished, although has texture on it and they want it smooth finished. How is that $10,000 or even comparable to your paying to hang, bed, and mud float?
When I skim over existing texture, Iām usually floating the first coat of mud, and then using a block sander to make things flat and generally smooth. For 220 sq. ft. of wall surface, that took me 7 hours.
I have to float over that again with a second coat at least, and then do some finish sanding. This process takes me 3 hours.
Sanding again and texture took me another 4 hours.
At $75/ hour X 14 hours, that is $1,050 for 220 sq. ft of wall surface, but I would have charged for 2 whole days, plus materials.
I have no idea how your 600 sq. ft. of floor area translates into wall surface area, since I donāt have the ceiling height and wall layout, so tough for anyone on Reddit to be more helpful. Thatās why we can only give examples or vague advice.
I would never, ever use a drywaller for a skim job that didn't know about GARDZ and use it.Ā
1 is the way to go
Are either using Festool dust extraction for sanding? How about skimming blades. Donāt show up with a 14ā knife talking about feathering entire walls smoothā¦