Drywall Cost Cedar Rapids
How to Decrease Your Drywall Cost
Drywall isn’t one of the most expensive home remodeling processes in the world. However, it can be surprisingly pricey if you don’t take the time to properly manage your costs and drive them down as much as possible. So if you want to avoid high drywall cost in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, pay attention to these simple tips to save yourself real cash. Each should be easy enough for most homeowners to do.
Budget Ahead to Avoid Surprises
When you’re trying to drive down your drywall cost, it is crucial to think of any mistakes that may occur while you are installing your drywall. This type of predictive exercise is not as impossible as you may think. For example, always budget in at least 10 percent of what you expect to pay to handle any installation or material mistakes that could otherwise cost you money.
For example, your experts may accidentally cut a drywall sheet too short, which means that you need to buy more drywall. Try to budget in extra sheets just in case you run into this situation. Doing so helps save you money by making it unnecessary for your installers to travel to pick up new sheets. Instead, they can use the extras that are already on your job site and use them for the new sheet.
Backup material like this is particularly helpful because you can often send back the stuff that you don’t use and get the money that you paid rebated. As a result, you should seriously consider this idea if you think that you can genuinely save good money doing it. Many experts will tell you to expect this kind of extra material and will suggest sending it back rather than holding onto it after a job is over.
Pay for Good Materials
You may be tempted to think that you can cut your drywall cost by buying cheaper materials. This step is almost never a good idea, and you can probably imagine why. Try to think of what would happen if you built your entire home out of cheap materials. Yes, you would save yourself a lot of money and would probably end up paying a fraction of what you would typically pay.
However, think about what would likely happen to these materials over time as your home aged. They would start wearing down more quickly than more expensive materials. As a result, your home would fail more speedily and require costly upgrades to stay strong and to avoid serious complications. The same is true of your drywall, but on a much smaller and more focused scale.
So always go for the best material that you can find instead of going cheap. Though it’ll cost more in the short-term, you’ll save in the long-term. That’s a running theme for this process. Saving yourself money on drywall isn’t always about cutting costs upfront but doing what you can to minimize your later investments. This process is one that requires you to be smart about how you spend your cash.
Cutting Back on Labor
The most expensive part of your drywall cost is always going to be what you pay on labor. This factor is something that can seem almost impossible to manage because your home has a certain amount of labor hours it needs to get its drywall finished. You can’t just skimp on these hours or you typically end up selling yourself short. As a result, you may want to find ways to streamline labor without decreasing your actual labor needs.
For example, you can do things like adding buttboard to your drywall as a way of saving time. Buttboard helps by minimizing the amount of labor needed to feather the butt-joint. You may also want to use a quick-dry finishing solution that takes less time to dry and cure than other types. Waiting for hours for the finish to dry is both frustrating for the drywall expert and costly to your ultimate bottom line. Though some experts may wait until the end of the day to add this finish, this option isn’t always available. So quick dry is often the best alternative for you in this situation.
Just as importantly, you need to find ways to streamline your labor that make it easier to handle. Some people like using online hour tracking apps that make communication between you and your drywall experts easier. Other people want to utilize specialized tools that may cost a little bit of money to maintain, but which can cut hours off of a drywall job. Ultimately, you need to do what makes sense for your needs to give your drywall the protection that it needs.
Don’t Do Drywall Installation Yourself
Like many homeowners, you might think that drywall installation looks rather easy. This misconception is one that will cause you more harm than good. For example, you are likely to run into complications when installing drywall that makes it harder to manage. These mistakes include the issues mentioned previously, such as cutting drywall boards too short and needing extra materials.
Even worse, you may end up finding yourself struggling to handle necessary maintenance procedures during the installation process. When this complication happens, you may end up experiencing problems that add up to significant concerns for your drywall. Even worse, you could find that your drywall is in miserable shape years later and requires professionals to fix anyway. And then, your drywall cost will only go up.
As a result, you will save yourself money by hiring professionals instead of doing the installation on your own. While the short-term savings you get attempting DIY installation may seem significant at first, they will quickly disappear in the long-term if you run into complications and repair issues. So be smart: call an expert right away to ensure that things go as smoothly for you as possible.
Let Us Install Your Drywall
So if you are worried about drywall cost in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and want the best installation possible, please call us at Dan Gardner Drywall to learn more today. Our experts have years of experience working in the area and know how to work on homes like yours. They also fully understand how to provide the kind of incredible service that your home deserves.