Drywall and Painting Contract Checklist: Scope, Finish Levels, Products, Coats, the Inspection Step, Payment Schedule, Holdback, WSIB and the Walk-Through

Drywall, Taping & Painting

The Contract: Fourteen Things on Paper Before Anyone Opens a Bucket, and the One Line That Stops the Drywaller and the Painter Blaming Each Other

Most drywall and painting work in Ontario is done on a one-page quote and a handshake, and most of it goes fine. The ones that do not go fine all have the same missing pieces: no finish level, no product names, no inspection step, and a deposit that was half the job. A contract does not have to be long. It has to say what is being done, to what standard, with what, by when, for how much, paid how, and what happens at the handoff between the trades. Here is the list, with the sentences I use.

Ontario’s Consumer Protection Act requires a written agreement for home renovation work over $50 and gives you a 10-day cooling-off period on a contract signed in your home. The Construction Act holdback applies to any improvement. Both are linked at the bottom.

The checklist

  • 1. The parties. Legal business name, address, HST number, your name and the address of the house. A contractor with no HST number is either under $30,000 a year or not telling you something.
  • 2. The scope, room by room. Walls and ceilings by area; what is in and what is out, including closets, garage, furnace room, stairwell. Attach the takeoff. The takeoff.
  • 3. Board. Thickness and type by location: 1/2 in. walls, ceiling board or 5/8 on ceilings, Type X where, MR board where. Delivery and boom included.
  • 4. Finish level by surface. “Walls Level 4, ceilings Level 5, garage Level 2, per Gypsum Association GA-214.” Corner bead type. The levels.
  • 5. Primer and paint. Primer product. Paint line and sheen for ceilings, walls, trim and doors. Coats: two, three on named dark colours. Who supplies.
  • 6. Trim and doors. Baseboard, casing, crown, doors (count, both sides, method), closets, caulking and filling.
  • 7. The inspection step. “Finished drywall to be inspected by the owner under a raking light before primer; the finisher corrects listed defects before primer; defects first visible after primer are corrected by the finisher and spot-primed by the painter; after finish coats, paint defects are the painter’s.” This is the sentence. Why.
  • 8. Protection and cleanup. Floors, fixtures, furniture; dust walls and vacuum sanding in an occupied house; debris removed; leftover paint labelled and left.
  • 9. Schedule. Start date, number of working days, drying time acknowledged, finish date. What happens if the house is not ready (framing inspection not passed, heat not on).
  • 10. Price and HST. Fixed price for the scope; unit rates for extras (per sq ft, per corner, per door) so an extra is a calculation, not a negotiation.
  • 11. Payment schedule. Deposit 10% or materials cost; progress after boarding, after taping, after primer; 10% holdback until the walk-through list is done. Under the Construction Act the 10% holdback is a legal right on any improvement and protects you from liens by the contractor’s suppliers.
  • 12. Insurance and WSIB. Liability certificate naming the company; WSIB clearance certificate, current. Check the clearance online; it is free.
  • 13. Exclusions and change orders. What is out: insulation, vapour barrier, repairs beyond X, wallpaper removal, asbestos. Changes in writing, priced at the unit rates, signed by both before the work.
  • 14. Warranty and the walk-through. One year on workmanship (cracks, pops, peeling) is standard and should be written; the walk-through with a light before the final payment, with a blue-tape list and a date for completing it. The checklist.

The Ontario rules, in two paragraphs

Consumer Protection Act. A contract for home renovation goods and services over $50 has to be in writing with the contractor’s name and address, a description of the work, the price, and the dates. If it was signed at your house (a “direct agreement”), you have ten days to cancel for any reason, and the contractor cannot take more than a deposit before work starts. If they do not deliver within 30 days of the stated date, you can cancel. Ontario’s consumer page on renovations is linked below.

Construction Act. The holdback: you keep 10% of each payment until 60 days after the work is substantially complete, and that money is what the contractor’s unpaid suppliers can claim against instead of your house. It is not optional and it is not an insult; good contractors expect it. The Act’s prompt-payment rules also set when you have to pay a proper invoice (28 days) and how to dispute it in writing. The Act is linked below, and the contract checker on this site reads a contract against it.

Questions people ask

How much deposit for a drywall or painting contract?

10%, or the cost of materials, whichever is less. The Consumer Protection Act limits the deposit before work starts on a direct agreement, and a contractor asking for a third or half is financing his last job.

Do I have to hold back 10% in Ontario?

Under the Construction Act, the 10% holdback applies to any improvement and protects you from liens by the contractor’s suppliers and workers. It is released 60 days after substantial completion if no liens are registered.

What warranty should a drywall contractor give?

One year on workmanship, in writing: cracks along joints, bubbles, pops that are fastening faults, corner cracks. Shrinkage cracks and pops from the house drying are usually addressed once in that year too; put it in the contract.

Can I cancel a painting contract in Ontario?

Within 10 days of signing a direct agreement made at your home, yes, for any reason, in writing. After that, the contract terms and the Act’s remedies for non-delivery apply.

Start with the scope

The calculators on this section write the room-by-room scope that goes into item 2. The complete interior finishing calculator does all three trades; the $99 review checks the quotes against this list before you sign one.

Price the whole interiorReview my quotes, $99

Sources and further reading