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New drywall in Gainesville costs $2.00 to $3.50 per square foot, hung and finished, in 2026. A patch runs $250 to $900 per job. Popcorn ceiling removal runs $1.50 to $3.00 per square foot. The card on this page holds the live ranges.
Each quote we write lists board, hang, finish, and texture as their own lines. Call (352) 649-3354 for a free check.
Most jobs cost $2.00 to $3.50 per square foot, hung and finished. A single room often lands near $900 to $2,400 all in.
Why do bids vary so much?
Finish level and texture are the gaps. A low bid often stops at a rough coat. Ask for each line in writing and compare line to line.
What does the calculator leave out?
Paint, framing repair, and asbestos tests. Those need a site visit to price. The written bid adds them as named lines.
How long does a room take?
Most rooms take two to four days with dry time. Patches often take one to two visits.
Can you match my wall texture?
Yes, in most cases. Orange peel and knockdown are the common Gainesville textures. We test a small spot first so the blend is checked before the full wall is done.
Is the site visit free?
Yes. The visit and the written bid cost nothing. You owe us nothing if you pass.
What Does My Drywall Project Cost?
Drywall is priced by the square foot of wall and ceiling surface — not by the size of your floor. That one fact explains most of the gap between quotes. Here are the ranges we see on real jobs around Gainesville, and a calculator built on the same numbers.
Drywall Repair & Patch
Most single repairs land between $250 and $800. Pros price patches by the square foot of damaged area — roughly $55–$75 a foot locally — but every repair carries a minimum job charge, because a patch takes the same setup and the same repeat trips for drying coats whether it's the size of a dinner plate or a door. Grouping several spots into one visit is the cheapest way to fix them: they share one minimum. Some repairs are priced flat by the job instead of the square foot: a wet wall section cut out, dried, and replaced (a 4×8 section ran $820 flat), long seam cracks (five re-taped seams across two rooms ran $590 flat), and popcorn removal finished smooth (a 200 sq ft ceiling ran $520 flat).
New Drywall Installation
For bare studs finished paint-ready (a standard Level 4 finish), plan on $1.60–$3.05 per sq ft of wall and ceiling surface, materials and labor included. A typical 12×12 bedroom with 8-foot ceilings — that's 528 sq ft of surface — runs about $845–$1,610 around Gainesville.
Room Remodel & Replacement
Tearing out old drywall and hauling it off adds $0.60–$1.20 per sq ft on top of new installation — a combined $2.20–$4.25 per sq ft. That same 12×12 bedroom, gutted and re-drywalled, runs about $1,160–$2,245. Opening walls can uncover surprises — water damage, old wiring — and those get priced once they're visible, never guessed at in advance.
Garage Drywall
Garages run $1.55–$3.30 per sq ft depending on finish. Code requires 5/8-inch fire-rated (Type X) board on the wall shared with the house, and on the ceiling when there's living space above it — that's the fire separation, not an upsell. Most two-car garages land between $1,900 and $4,100 finished.
Texture, Skim & Paint
On walls that are already up: skim coating runs $0.95–$1.30 per sq ft, orange-peel or knockdown texture $0.80–$1.85, and primer plus two coats of paint $1.05–$2.80. A typical room's walls — about 415 sq ft of surface — usually land between $770 and $1,930 for texture and paint together.
What Moves the Price
Finish level. A full Level 5 skim coat (for gloss paint or bright, raking light) costs more than standard paint-ready Level 4.
Ceilings. Overhead work runs roughly 20–25% more than the same area on a wall — lifts, heavier board, two sets of hands.
Ceiling height. Taller walls mean longer sheets, scaffolding, and slower work.
Texture matching. Blending a patch into existing orange peel or knockdown is hand work, and it's priced like it.
Tear-out. Removing old drywall and disposing of it is its own line on the quote.
Job size. Small jobs carry a minimum charge; on big jobs the setup spreads over more feet, so the per-foot price drops.
Where these numbers come from. Published national cost guides — Angi, HomeAdvisor, HomeGuide, Fixr, and Thumbtack project data — adjusted for Gainesville-area labor using Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data for Florida (drywall installer wages in Florida run about 30% below the national mean; derivation in the North-Central Florida drywall rate card). They're planning ranges, not a quote: your final price is confirmed after an in-person look, before any work starts.
A note on materials. These ranges are figured with standard drywall board and the finish level you pick above. Board isn't all the same price, though: moisture- and mold-resistant board — the green or purple board for bathrooms and basements — costs more a sheet than standard board, and on a big job that can push you toward the top of your range, or a little past it. Tell us where the work is and we'll confirm the exact board and the price at the in-person estimate, before any work starts.
Estimate Your Project
Measure the damaged section itself — length × width. A full 4×8 sheet section is 32 sq ft.
Spots done in one visit share a single minimum charge.
Price includes tearing out the old drywall and hauling it off.
Includes 5/8″ Type X fire-rated board on the wall shared with the house — and on the ceiling when there is living space above it — as code requires.
Your estimated range
Free — no obligation. Your calculator numbers ride along with the request.
Send Your Project to Gainesville Drywall Pros
Your estimate is attached automatically. Add your info and — if you can — a few photos of the project. Photos help us price the job before we ever set foot in the house. Prefer to talk? Call (352) 649-3354.
Real scopes, real numbers. Every project below is priced off the same researched rate card as the calculator above — pick a card, then run your own rooms through it.
Representative projects. The details below are example jobs priced in researched local ranges. A verified customer job replaces each example as jobs close.
Bedroom Hang and Finish — Gainesville
New Drywall Installation · Gainesville, FL · 3 days with dry time
Hung and finished a 12 by 12 ft bedroom left at bare studs after a remodel gut — walls and ceiling, three-coat Level 4 finish, sanded paint-ready. 480 sq ft of surface at $2.81 per sq ft.
Final price: $1,350
"Our spare room sat at bare studs for months after the remodel gut, and guests were sleeping on an air mattress. They hung the whole room, ran three coats, and sanded it paint-ready in three days for $1,350. I primed it that weekend and the seams never showed."
Water Damage Drywall Repair · Newberry, FL · 3 days with dry time
Cut out a wet 4 by 8 ft wall section under a slow bath leak, dried the cavity, set mold-resistant board, and matched the orange peel texture so the patch blends in.
Final price: $820
"The stain under our bathroom wall kept growing, and I was worried the whole wall was rotten. They opened only the wet section, showed me the meter reading once the cavity was dry, and patched it to match. The full repair was $820, and the wall looks untouched."
Popcorn Ceiling Removal · Alachua, FL · 2 days with dry time
Tested, wet-scraped, skimmed, and re-finished a 200 sq ft living room popcorn ceiling to a smooth, paint-ready surface after the test came back clear.
Final price: $520
"The popcorn ceiling made the whole living room feel stuck in 1985. They tested it first, scraped it wet so the dust stayed down, and skimmed it smooth for $520. The room reads ten years newer, just like they said it would."
Drywall Repair & Patch · High Springs, FL · 2 days
Cut out and re-taped five settled seam cracks across two rooms — about 38 linear feet of seams — set in hot mud, floated wide, and sanded ready for paint.
Final price: $590
"Five seams had split across our living room and hall, and the cracks kept printing through every coat of paint. They cut the old tape out instead of mudding over it, set the new tape in hot mud, and charged $590 for both rooms. Eight months on, every seam is still shut."
Hung and finished a bare 22 by 22 ft two-car garage — 5/8-inch Type X fire-rated board on the house-side wall, Level 4 finish through the rest — 1,276 sq ft of surface at $2.75 per sq ft.
Final price: $3,509
"My Micanopy garage was open studs and spider webs, and I wanted a shop I could stand to be in during summer. They put the fire-rated board on the house wall like code wants, finished the rest smooth, and wrapped in four days for $3,509. It is a real room now."
Full skim coat over 520 sq ft of tired, patched-up walls in a living room and hall, then primer and two coats of paint for one even finish under hard afternoon light.
Final price: $1,612
"Years of patches and touch-ups left our living room walls looking like a quilt, and the west light showed every bit of it. They skimmed the whole room, primed it, and put two clean coats on for $1,612. The walls finally read as one wall again."
Area is the big one: the price is per square foot of wall and ceiling. Finish level adds coats. High ceilings add lift time. Wet damage adds cut-out and dry time.
Each bid shows these as lines, so you can cut a line and see the price drop. Read a bid the way you read a store receipt: each line should say what you bought and what it cost. If a line will not say, ask.
How a job runs
You call or send the form.
We visit, measure, and check for wet or cracked board.
You get a written bid with each line priced.
We set a date, hang or patch, and clean up.
Common questions
Local price ranges
Market ranges for the Gainesville area, 2026. Your written quote is free.
Ranges come from the cost guide on this site. Final price is set after a site visit.
Cost calculator
Pick a job and a size. The range updates from the same numbers in our cost guide.
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Recent work
Check out what clients say
“We had several cracks and holes in our walls after years of wear and a few home projects. The drywall repair was excellent—the patches blended in so well that we couldn’t even tell where the damage had been. Everything was cleaned up afterward, and the finished walls were ready for paint."
— Michael R., Gainesville, FL
“Our ceiling needed extensive drywall work after a renovation. The crew did a great job with the installation and finishing. The surface came out smooth and ready for paint, and they took care to keep our home clean during the project.”
— Sarah L., Gainesville, FL
"We needed drywall and metal framing installed for several new interior partitions in our commercial space. The team worked efficiently and kept the project moving without disrupting our business operations. The finished walls were straight, clean, and professionally finished.”
