Worked examples at $220 a sheet
8-ft walls, doors and windows not subtracted, rounded up to whole sheets. Each line is hung, spackled and sanded with material.
| Job | Sheets | Comes to |
|---|---|---|
| Bedroom, 12 × 14 ft, walls and ceiling416 sq ft of wall + 168 of ceiling | 19 | $4,180 |
| Same bedroom, walls only52 ft of wall × 8 ft high | 13 | $2,860 |
| Ceiling only, 12 × 14 ft168 sq ft of ceilingsmall job: the minimum may apply | 6 | $1,320 |
| Room, 20 × 20 ft, walls and ceiling640 sq ft of wall + 400 of ceiling | 33 | $7,260 |
| 1,000 sq ft of drywall1,000 sq ft of board | 32 | $7,040 |
| Basement, 20 × 30 ft, walls and ceiling800 sq ft of wall + 600 of ceiling | 44 | $9,680 |
| 100 sheets3,200 sq ft of board | 100 | $22,000 |
The basement line is the 20 × 30 ft example from our basement finishing cost guide, which adds the floor, lighting and a bathroom.
How to estimate a drywall job yourself
- Walls: add up the room's four wall lengths and multiply by the wall height. A 12 × 14 ft room is 52 ft around: 416 sq ft at 8 ft high.
- Ceiling, if it's getting new board: length times width. 12 × 14 ft is 168 sq ft.
- Divide the total by 32, the square feet in a 4×8 sheet, and round up. 584 ÷ 32 = 18.25, so 19 sheets.
- Multiply by the price per sheet. 19 × $220 = $4,180.
Our price is per 4×8 sheet, so count in 4×8 sheets. On the estimate visit we measure the actual walls, and the written proposal carries the count.
Ceilings, bathrooms, basements and garages: when the board changes
Standard board isn't right for every room, and the special boards cost more at the supplier. What two 2026 price guides published for the board alone:
- Standard board: about $10 per 4×8 panel on average (Thumbtack, July 2026); $10 to $20 a sheet for 1/2-inch board (NEDES).
- Moisture- and mold-resistant board for bathrooms, laundry rooms and basements: about $20 a panel (Thumbtack); $18 to $30 a sheet for moisture-resistant and $25 to $40 for mold-resistant (NEDES).
- Fire-rated Type X board, usually 5/8 inch, for garages and near furnaces: about 20% more than standard (Thumbtack); $15 to $25 a sheet (NEDES).
Those are market board prices, not ours. Our published $220 a sheet doesn't list separate prices for ceilings or for moisture-resistant or fire-rated board, so ask about your rooms when you call. The written proposal names the board for each room and prices it.
A room over an attached garage
New Jersey's version of the residential code requires the separation between an attached garage and the rooms above it, and the structure that supports it, to have a one-hour fire-resistance rating (DCA's amendment to Table R302.6, carried into the 2024 codes). Ask your town's construction office which assembly it accepts before the board goes up.
Bathrooms
In a full bathroom remodel the drywall is one line among tile, fixtures and electrical. Our bathroom remodel cost guide adds them up.
Repair or new board?
We take on small home repairs as well as full rooms. We don't publish a separate repair price, and the minimum job size applies to drywall, so call with the size of the damage. For a sense of the market, these are other pros' published repair figures (Thumbtack, July 2026):
- Repair a 4 × 8 ft section of wall: $225.
- Sand and texture five wall patches: $200.
- Replace the drywall in an entire bedroom: $1,500.
- A Rhode Island drywall contractor: $250 to $350 for a repair without repainting, up to $550 with painting.
A ceiling stained or sagging after a leak is the common case. Fix the leak first, then decide between patching and new board: if the damage runs across most of the ceiling, the 12 × 14 ft ceiling in the examples above takes 6 sheets.
Do you need a permit for drywall in New Jersey?
It depends on how much of the house it is. The state construction code (N.J.A.C. 5:23-2) sorts the work like this:
- No permit, no notice (5:23-2.7). Installing, repairing or replacing interior finishes on less than 25% of the wall area in a one- or two-family home is ordinary maintenance. The rule names plastering and drywall installation. Painting is ordinary maintenance too.
- Notice first, permit within five business days (5:23-2.17A). Renovation in an existing one- or two-family home is minor work, as long as no primary structural members are altered and it isn't reconstruction. Notify the construction office before work begins, then file the permit application within five business days.
- A permit before work starts for anything structural, such as moving a load-bearing wall the drywall would cover.
A finished basement usually brings framing, electrical and sometimes plumbing with it; the basement guide walks through those permits. Your town's construction office has the last word, and we check with it before work starts.
Sales tax on drywall work
New Jersey taxes a repair and a capital improvement differently (S&U-2), and drywall can be either:
- A capital improvement adds to the value or life of the house, such as finishing a basement. Give your contractor a completed Form ST-8 and they may not charge you sales tax on materials or labor.
- A repair restores the house to working condition. The contractor charges sales tax on the labor, at 6.625% (S&U-3), but may not charge it on the materials when the bill lists them separately.
- The line between them is the extent of the work. The state's own example: replacing a few loose bath tiles is a repair; replacing all of them is a capital improvement.
Why published drywall prices disagree
What the pages Google showed for this search said on October 16, 2026, and what each number measures:
- Homewyse (May 2026): $2.26 to $2.69 per sq ft, a national average for basic installation of 1/2-inch board. It leaves out general contractor overhead (add 13% to 22%), sales tax and permit fees.
- NEDES Estimating (June 2026): $2.20 to $2.65 per sq ft nationally, and $1.50 to $3.50 for a complete job of hanging, taping and finishing. Labor alone $1.00 to $2.70.
- Thumbtack (July 2026): most projects $1,235 to $3,992, around $2,204 typical. A price per project, so it depends on how big the projects were.
- Homeyou (Woodbridge, NJ, checked October 16, 2026): $1,872 to $2,037 for 1,282 sq ft of sheetrock, from its cost table, with 14.6 hours of labor.
- Real Estimate Service (an estimating firm's 2022 post): $65 to hang and finish a 4×8 sheet, as a national average.
- AB Contracting & Design: $220 per 4×8 sheet with material, hung, spackled and sanded ready to prime, from a contractor in Belleville, with a minimum job size.
Most of these are national averages or models. New Jersey drywall labor runs 28% above the national mean wage (BLS, May 2025), and a contractor's price carries the overhead Homewyse tells you to add on top of its own figure. Whichever bids you get, compare them on the same three questions: is the board included, is it finished ready to prime, and is there a minimum?
Where we hang drywall
From our office at 65 Newark Ave, Unit 1 in Belleville, across all 22 Essex County towns: Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, East Orange, Nutley, Orange, Montclair, Newark, West Orange, Verona, Irvington, South Orange, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Maplewood, Caldwell, North Caldwell, Roseland, West Caldwell, Livingston, Millburn, Fairfield. We also work in Union and Passaic counties.