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New-Home Interior Finishing in Ontario: Drywall and Paint Cost by Grade, Takeoffs, Quotes, Contracts and Who Is Responsible for What
Drywall, Taping & PaintingNew Homes & Contractors
New Homes, Basements and the Contractors: One Budget for the Whole Inside, and the Paperwork That Stops the Trades Blaming Each Other
What the inside of a house costs from bare studs to painted walls, how a builder takes it off the plans, how to compare three quotes that were written three different ways, and the contract that names who signs off the walls.
On a new house the drywall-and-paint line is the biggest finishing number after the kitchen, and the one most likely to arrive as an “allowance” that turns out to be half of what the house needs. I budget it at $18 to $24 per square foot of floor for a mid-grade finish, and I measure every house off the plans before I believe any number, including my own. These pages are that process: the takeoff, the grades, the quote grid, the contract, the sequence from inspection to final coat, and the one piece of paper that settles the drywaller-versus-painter argument before it starts.
The numbers
$18-24per sq ft of floor, mid grade, drywall through paint
3.2xdrywall area to floor area, typical house
$42,000a 2,000 sq ft house, mid grade, before HST
12lines every quote needs on the grid
The guides
New-home drywall and paint cost
Per square foot of floor by grade, what the allowance should be, and three real houses priced.
Drywall takeoff from plans
How a builder measures walls, ceilings, sheets and paint from a set of drawings, with the ratios.
How to compare quotes
The twelve lines every drywall or painting quote needs on the same grid, and the questions to send back.
Contract checklist
Scope, levels, products, coats, inspection step, payment schedule, holdback, WSIB and the walk-through.
Drywaller vs painter: who fixes what
The sign-off before primer, the defects each trade owns, and how to stop paying for the argument.
The construction sequence
Inspections, insulation, board, tape, prime, trim, paint, floors, finals: the order and why it matters.
Builder allowances
What “drywall and paint allowance” buys, the upgrades that eat it, and how to negotiate the number.
Four rules for the inside of a new house
- Measure it off the plans before anyone quotes. Walls both sides, ceilings, by room. Hand every trade the same sheet. The takeoff.
- Specify by level and product, not by adjective. “Level 4 walls, Level 5 ceilings, PVA primer, two coats Regal eggshell” is a contract. “Professionally finished and painted” is a hope. The contract.
- Name the sign-off. Somebody inspects the taping with a raking light before primer and signs. After that, defects are the painter’s. Who is responsible.
- Check the allowance against the per-square-foot number. If the builder’s allowance is $12 a foot and the house needs $20, you have found the extra before it finds you. Allowances.
Have quotes or plans in hand? Let a builder read them first
For $99, I put your drywall, taping or painting quotes on one grid, check the square footage against your rooms, name the finish level and the coats each one actually promised, and tell you what is missing and which one to sign. For a new build or a basement, $249 turns your plans into a room-by-room takeoff of board, finish levels, primer, paint and trim, with a budget by grade, that three contractors can price the same way.
