What it's for
This drywall estimate template is for the drywall contractor or estimator who has measured the rooms and needs a price to send.
As in our guide on how to build a construction estimate, cost stays apart from price: overhead and margin go on after the job cost. Rooms are rectangles. For other work, see our construction estimate template, the painting estimate template or the remodeling estimate template.
What's inside
Five sheets, each protected with no password and each printing on one page. Pale yellow cells are yours to fill in, and all other cells are locked.
Rooms. A project block, then 12 ROOMS lines: ROOM, LENGTH (FT), WIDTH (FT), HEIGHT (FT), OPENINGS (SQ FT) and CEILING (Yes or No). The WALL AREA is 2 × (length + width) × height, less the openings and never below zero. The CEILING AREA is length × width when the ceiling is Yes, and 0 when it is No. Together they are the BOARD AREA. TOTALS gives the Wall area (sq ft), Ceiling area (sq ft) and Board area (sq ft).
Materials. A Waste allowance, for the board only, and a Sheet size (sq ft). Then Drywall sheets, Joint compound, Tape, Screws and Corner bead, each with a QUANTITY, a UNIT COST and an AMOUNT, adding up to the Materials total. Sheets, compound, tape and screws round up to whole units.
Labor and job. Hanging and Finishing are the board area × a rate per square foot each, measured, without the waste allowance. Add Additional hours at an Hourly rate and you have the Labor total. Equipment rental and disposal join the Materials total and Labor total in the Direct cost. Sales tax on materials, permits, bonds and contingency bring it to the Job cost, overhead to the Total cost, and the Bid price is "Total cost ÷ (1 − margin)".
Quote. The page your client sees, on your letterhead: DRYWALL QUOTE, QUOTE NO., DATE and VALID UNTIL, then CLIENT, PROJECT and ADDRESS, six SCOPE OF WORK lines, the Price and signature lines for you and the client.
About this template. Three steps, a note on the example figures, the version (v2, 2026-09-24), the license and links.
How to fill it in
- On Rooms, type over or clear the two example rooms. A line counts once its name or any figure is filled in. A ceiling choice alone does not make it count. Enter an L-shaped room as two lines.
- Sizes are in decimal feet. The height takes 0 to 30 ft: type 8 for 8 ft. OPENINGS (SQ FT) is an area to deduct, not a count of doors and windows.
- On Materials, type the Waste allowance with the percent sign. It applies to the board only, so the coverage for compound, tape and screws reads the board area without it.
- Enter your board's Sheet size (sq ft), then for compound, tape and screws the square feet of board one unit covers. A blank or 0 orders none. Type the corner bead pieces you count, as a whole number.
- On Labor and job, the hanging and finishing rates read the board area as measured, without the waste allowance. Blank lines count as 0.
- Enter the tax and contingency rates as percents. Sales tax applies to the Materials total only, and the file doesn't decide what your state taxes. Replace the example overhead and margin with your own, keeping the margin under 100%.
- On the Quote, type over the yellow letterhead. CLIENT and PROJECT don't copy from Rooms, and the Price can't be typed over: change the figures on Labor and job. Send the Quote alone, printed or as a PDF. The workbook holds your costs, overhead and margin.
The worked example
The file opens on an example, and every figure typed into it sits on a line marked "Example:" or carries an "Example:" note. The About tab calls the 12% overhead and 15% margin the bid price calculator's worked example, and the rest illustrative, not recommendations, norms or typical prices. Use your own figures.
| Room | Length × width × height (ft) | Openings (sq ft) | Ceiling | Wall area | Ceiling area | Board area |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example: bedroom | 12 × 11 × 8 | 36 | Yes | 332.00 | 132.00 | 464.00 |
| Example: hallway | 20 × 4 × 8 | 42 | Yes | 342.00 | 80.00 | 422.00 |
| Line | Figure |
|---|---|
| Totals: wall, ceiling, board (sq ft) | 674.00, 212.00, 886.00 |
| Sheets, at 10% waste and 32 sq ft, $14.50 each | 31, $449.50 |
| Joint compound, 450 sq ft a unit, $18.00 | 2, $36.00 |
| Tape, 400 sq ft a unit, $6.50 | 3, $19.50 |
| Screws, 1,000 sq ft a unit, $12.00 | 1, $12.00 |
| Corner bead, 6 pieces at $4.50 | $27.00 |
| Materials total | $544.00 |
| Hanging, 886 sq ft at $0.55 | $487.30 |
| Finishing, 886 sq ft at $0.65 | $575.90 |
| Labor total | $1,063.20 |
| Direct cost, with $75.00 disposal | $1,682.20 |
| Overhead, 12% of job cost | $201.86 |
| Total cost | $1,884.06 |
| Bid price, 15% margin | $2,216.54 |
| Profit | $332.48 |
| Markup on total cost for this margin | 17.65% |
| Price marked up by the margin % instead | $2,166.67 |
| Left on the table by marking up | $49.87 |
Equipment, the tax rate, permits, bonds and contingency are blank, so the job cost equals the direct cost. The Quote's Price reads $2,216.54. Our guide to markup vs. margin explains the last three lines.
Frequently asked questions
Does the file do the math?
Yes. Every calculated figure is a live formula.
Does it work in Google Sheets or Numbers?
Both open .xlsx files. This one has no macros, and its formulas use only IF, AND, MAX, ROUND, ROUNDUP and SUM.
How does it treat doors and windows?
You add up their area and type it in OPENINGS (SQ FT). The file subtracts it from that room's wall area, and the wall area never goes below zero.
Can I add more rooms?
The Rooms table holds 12 lines. To add more, unprotect the sheet (there's no password), insert rows between two room lines so the totals count them, and copy the three calculated cells into each new row.
Can I put my logo on it?
Yes, on the Quote: insert it where the sheet says YOUR LOGO. That row is 36 pt (half an inch) tall, so a logo sized to it fits without dragging the row taller. To remove the YOUR LOGO text, choose Review > Unprotect Sheet (there is no password), then protect the sheet again.
Is the Quote a contract?
No. It's a quote: a scope, a price and an acceptance block with signature lines. It has no contract terms, and the file doesn't decide yours.