Ontario's Plain-English Guide to Custom Home Buildingπ 705-533-1633 | βοΈ 1-866-868-6606 | βοΈ info@icfhome.ca
Drywall Cost in Ontario (2026): Per Square Foot of Wall, Not Floor, Board, Hanging and Taping, With Three Real Houses Priced
Drywall, Taping & Painting
What Drywall Costs in Ontario, and Why “Two Dollars a Square Foot” Means Nothing Until You Ask “Of What?”
Every drywall price is per square foot. Almost nobody says per square foot of what. The floor of a 2,000 sq ft house is 2,000 sq ft; the drywall in it is about 6,500, because every interior wall gets board on both sides and every ceiling counts. A contractor who says $3.45 a foot and a homeowner who hears $7,000 are both right and about to have a bad meeting. This page gives the rates per square foot of drywall, which is the only way the trade prices it, and runs three real houses through to the HST so you can see what the whole thing comes to.
The numbers
$0.75board only, 1/2 in., delivered
$1.95supplied and hung
$3.45hung, taped, sanded, Level 4
$25,300a 2,000 sq ft house, with HST
| What you are buying | Per sq ft of drywall | What is in it |
|---|---|---|
| Board, delivered | $0.75 | 1/2 in. regular, about $21 a 4×8 sheet at the yard, plus the yard’s delivery. 5/8 about $0.95. Delivery with a boom is $350 a house on top. |
| Hang only | $1.20 | Labour, screws, the ceiling lift. You supplied the board. |
| Supply and hang | $1.95 | The commonest split: a boarding crew does this, a taper does the rest. |
| Tape and sand, Level 4 | $1.50 | Paper tape, three coats, bead, sanded. Taping on its own. |
| Everything, Level 4 | $3.45 | Paint-ready. The number to compare quotes against. |
| Level 5 upgrade | +$1.00 | Skim coat over the whole surface. Where it is worth it. |
| Tall ceilings, cathedral | +$0.35 to $0.75 | Staging and slower work on everything over 9 ft 6 in. |
| Occupied house, basement | +15% | Protection, dust walls, stairs with a turn. |
These are the rates in the drywall installation calculator, which measures your rooms and does the arithmetic.
How to get the square footage right
Walk every room with a tape. Perimeter times ceiling height is the gross wall area; take off 20 sq ft per door and 15 per window. Length times width is the ceiling. Add them. Do it for closets and hallways too, because they get boarded like everything else. A typical house comes out between 3.0 and 3.5 times the floor area; a bungalow with 9-ft ceilings is at the high end, a two-storey with 8-ft ceilings upstairs at the low end.
The 12 by 12 bedroom is the example I use because the numbers are easy: 48 ft of perimeter times 8 ft is 384 sq ft of wall, less one door and one window is about 350, plus 144 of ceiling is roughly 500 sq ft of drywall in a room with 144 sq ft of floor. At $3.45 that bedroom is $1,725 hung and finished. People who priced it at $3.50 times 144 are expecting $500, and that is where the arguments start.
The honest shortcut: floor area times 3.2 times the rate. A 1,500 sq ft bungalow is 4,800 sq ft of drywall, times $3.45, is $16,600 before HST. Then walk the rooms and fix the number.
Three real houses
| House | Drywall area | Scope | Before HST | With HST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,400 sq ft bungalow, 9-ft ceilings, attached garage | 4,900 sq ft house + 900 garage | Level 4 house, Level 3 garage with Type X on the house wall, MR board in two bathrooms, boom delivery | $20,200 | $22,850 |
| 2,400 sq ft two-storey, 9 ft main, 8 ft up, cathedral great room | 7,600 sq ft | Level 4 walls, Level 5 ceilings, cathedral upcharge on 420 sq ft, two-storey foyer staging | $29,900 | $33,800 |
| 1,000 sq ft basement, occupied house, 7 bulkheads | 3,400 sq ft | Level 4, 15% occupied, 38 outside corners, stairs with a turn, dust walls | $14,200 | $16,050 |
The basement is the expensive one per foot, every time. Bulkheads are all corners and short pieces, and nobody enjoys carrying 12-ft board down a staircase.
What moves the price
- The finish level. Level 4 is the standard; Level 5 is a dollar more; Level 3 saves fifty cents where nobody will look. The levels.
- Ceiling height and shape. Everything over 9 ft 6 in. is staged. Cathedrals are staged and angled and slow.
- Board type. 5/8 is $0.20 more and twice as heavy to hang. Type X, moisture-resistant and sound board each add. Which board where.
- Corners. Every outside corner is bead and two extra coats. A square bedroom has none; a basement with ductwork has forty.
- Who else is in the house. A family, a furnace and finished floors are a 15% job.
Questions people ask
How much does it cost to drywall a 2,000 sq ft house in Ontario?
$21,000 to $26,000 before HST in 2026 for about 6,500 sq ft of board supplied, hung, taped and sanded to Level 4. Add $5,000 to $7,000 for Level 5 throughout, and $3,000 to $5,000 for an attached garage.
Is drywall priced per sheet or per square foot?
Per square foot of surface, almost always. Per-sheet pricing is a yard price for the board itself (a 4×8 sheet is 32 sq ft). A contractor quoting per sheet installed is doing the same arithmetic with a different unit; make sure the sheet count matches your area.
Does the price include delivery?
It should say. A boom truck that lifts the board through a window and stocks it in the rooms is about $350 a house and worth every dollar; without it two men carry 150 sheets by hand and you pay for that too. Sheet counts.
Why did one quote come in at half the others?
It is for hanging only, or Level 2, or it measured the floor instead of the walls, or the fellow is going to disappear after the first coat. Ask what is excluded, in writing. How to compare them.
Get your own number
The drywall installation calculator measures your rooms, counts the sheets and prices the job at these rates. If you want the painting in the same number, the complete interior finishing calculator does all three trades on one measurement.
Sources and further reading
- Gypsum Association GA-214, Levels of Finish: the standard every “Level 4” and “Level 5” on a quote is supposed to mean. Free summary on the Gypsum Association site.
- CGC Inc.: the maker of most of the board and compound in Ontario; the product sheets give thicknesses, span limits for ceilings and the right compound for each coat.
- Your rights when starting home renovations or repairs: Ontario government. The 10-day cooling-off period, the written contract rule over $50, and what to do about a contractor who walks.
