Drywall Patch Price Check
How to use it
The patch takes an hour; the margin dies on the return trips. Compound needs time between coats, so small jobs mean multiple visits for a few hours of real work. This calculator counts all of it. Pick a preset: Nail pops, Small patch, Water damage, or Room hang, each filling sheets, patch count, trips, and drive and admin minutes as editable starting points. Enter full sheets and sheet cost, patches and materials per patch, the texture-matching toggle (adds 45 minutes plus material cost), and paint materials if included. The hidden-hours card is the core of the tool: trips to the job, drive round trip per trip, supply stop, and quoting, cleanup, and admin minutes. Set your minimum hourly rate ($75 default) and profit margin percent (20 default). Results show a line-item breakdown of materials, on-the-wall time, hidden hours, true cost, and profit, the recommended quote (true cost plus margin, rounded up to the nearest $25), and your effective rate versus your bar. Verdicts are PRICED FAIRLY, WORKING TOO CHEAP with the exact raise, or LOSING MONEY. The gut box grades your instinct quote, and the month planner converts a take-home goal into jobs needed and committed hours.
Worked example
Example only, not typical pricing. Small patch preset: 2 patches, texture matching on, 2 trips. Patch materials are 2 x 8 = $16.00, texture materials $25.00, so materials total $41.00. Labor minutes are 2 x 90 patch + 45 texture + 2 x 40 drive + 20 supply + 15 admin = 340 minutes = 5.67 hours. True cost is 41 + 5.67 x 75 = $466.00. Recommended quote is 466 x 1.20 = $559.20, rounded up to the nearest $25 = $575. Effective rate is (575 - 41) / 5.67 = $94.24 per hour, above the $75 bar, so the verdict is PRICED FAIRLY. A $150 gut quote is $150 - $466 = $316 under true cost: LOSING MONEY. A $6,000 goal at $109 profit per job needs 56 jobs, or 317.3 committed hours.
FAQs
**Q** Why does a small patch need so many trips?
Joint compound has to dry between coats. Each coat is a visit, and the trips field counts drive time per visit so the return legs stop being free.
**Q** How should I charge for texture matching?
Use the toggle. It adds 45 minutes plus material cost. Blending texture into an old wall is skilled finish work, not a free favor.
**Q** What goes into the profit margin?
Everything beyond your hourly rate: callbacks, slow weeks, tool wear, quoting time that goes nowhere. 20% is a starting point, not a rule.
**Q** Should I waive the trip charge for nearby jobs?
Keep counting drive minutes per trip anyway. Even short drives stack across three visits, and the math stays honest.
**Q** What if the job loses money at my rate?
Fix the quote first. The month planner refuses to give a job count when profit is zero or negative, because no volume fixes a bad quote.