For homeowners, remodelers, and builders alike, drywall is one of the most volume-driven line items on any residential construction estimate. Knowing the real-time cost of drywall per square foot can make the difference between a profitable project and an underbid job. At CountBricks, we combine instantaneous voice capture with live materials databases to ensure every square foot of gypsum board is priced accurately—before the first sheet leaves the yard.
Based on recent data pulled into the CountBricks materials engine, the average cost of drywall per square foot in most U.S. metro areas falls between $1.30 and $2.20 installed. That figure breaks down to approximately:
• $0.45 – $0.75 for material only (4' x 8' sheets of 1/2" standard drywall)
• $0.85 – $1.45 for labor, fasteners, tape, and standard mud finish
Premium boards—such as moisture-resistant, Type X fire-rated, or sound-dampening—can raise material pricing by 20-50 percent. CountBricks tracks these fluctuations hourly and feeds them straight into your voice-driven estimate.
Unlike commercial shells that often measure gypsum in thousands of boards or by the truckload, single-family and multi-family projects are bid more granularly. Lenders, insurance adjusters, and city permitting offices frequently request cost breakdowns by square foot. When you present a CountBricks estimate, every wall, ceiling, and soffit is quantified digitally so stakeholders see transparent cost allocations.
• Board Thickness and Type – 5/8" fire-rated sheets add roughly $0.15 per square foot over 1/2" standard.
• Ceiling Height – Anything over 9 feet requires lifts, longer fasteners, and heavier boards, adding 10-15 percent labor.
• Level of Finish – A Level 4 paint-ready finish is typical; upgrading to Level 5 can increase labor by $0.20-$0.35 per square foot.
• Site Accessibility – Tight stairwells, limited parking, or high-rise deliveries push handling costs upward.
• Regional Labor Rates – CountBricks auto-adjusts for prevailing wages in each ZIP code, so suburban builds don’t get priced like downtown lofts.
1. Speak naturally: “450 square feet of 1/2-inch drywall on the second-floor bedroom.”
2. CountBricks captures your voice in real time, assigns CSI codes, and pulls live supplier pricing.
3. Our AI recognises assemblies—studs, screws, bead, and compound— bundling them into a single per-square-foot cost.
4. The result appears instantly in a shareable quote document, ready for homeowner signature.
A Buffalo-area remodel involved gutting a 1,900-square-foot colonial and installing new drywall throughout. The contractor used CountBricks.com/services to create a voice estimate on-site. By capturing exact room dimensions and ceiling heights, the platform calculated 7,850 square feet of wall and ceiling board at $1.62 per square foot, saving the crew an estimated 8 hours of manual takeoff work. The homeowner approved the bid within the same visit.
• Order full lifts when volume exceeds 1,000 square feet to lower supplier mark-ups
• Specify 54" wide sheets for 9-foot ceilings to minimize joints and reduce finishing labor
• Use lightweight board on upper floors to cut handling fatigue and speed install
• Track scrap: even 5 percent waste adds significant dollars on tight budgets
• Leverage CountBricks blueprint takeoffs to spot framing mistakes before drywall day
Whether you are pricing a basement remodel or a ground-up custom home, CountBricks keeps your drywall numbers precise and defensible. Start a free consultation at CountBricks.com/consultation and see how quickly real-time AI can tighten your margins.
Drywall rarely travels alone. Once boards are hung, the clock starts ticking on trim carpentry, priming, painting, and fixture installs. Because CountBricks assembles every scope into layered cost codes, you can see—in seconds—how a change in drywall spec influences downstream tasks.
When you select 5/8" Type X board inside CountBricks, the platform automatically:
• Adjusts screw count and framing fasteners
• Increases compound quantities for deeper recesses
• Pushes the heavier board weight to the material handling line item
This holistic approach means your homeowner or lender sees one coherent cost story instead of fragmented add-ons during construction.
A multi-unit developer needed quick alternates for sound-proof party walls. Using CountBricks.com/portfolio as a reference, the project manager generated side-by-side estimates—standard drywall at $1.51 per square foot versus acoustic board at $2.08. The 20-minute exercise clarified ROI for the owner, who opted for the premium assembly to command higher rents. CountBricks’ AI then pushed updated quantities to purchase orders, shaving two days off procurement.
1. Capture your floor plan with our AI takeoff tool or import a PDF.
2. Speak or type your drywall specs—CountBricks handles every measurement.
3. Review auto-generated quote documents and email them directly from the platform.
4. Export synced schedules to your project management software and stay on target.
Drywall pricing doesn’t have to be a guessing game. Plug into CountBricks today and see how effortless accurate estimating can be, from the first square foot to the final punch list.
