How do contractors price drywall repairs?

By size tier: small patches (fist-sized), medium (football), large (sheet sections), each with a flat price from your times, plus texture match and paint scope stated. A minimum charge protects the trip.

How do you estimate water-damaged drywall?

Cause first: the repair is quoted firm, the source (roof, plumbing) is referred or priced separately, and moisture verified dry before closing up. Cut lines follow the wet map, not the stain edge.

Why is texture matching a separate line?

Because matching a 40-year-old knockdown is a craft lottery — blend area, technique, and 'closest practical match' language belong in writing before you spray.

Field guide

A Drywall Repair Estimate App for Holes With Stories

Every drywall repair has a backstory — a doorknob, a leak, a teenager — and a homeowner who thinks it's a $50 fix. Repair pricing is small-job pricing: tiers, minimums, and the texture-match reality, all stated fast enough that the small job stays worth doing. That's exactly what a phone-built estimate is for.

Tier the holes

Small (fist): patch, three coats, sand — flat price from your real time across two visits.
Medium (football to knee): backing, patch, tape, three coats — flat price.
Large (sheet sections): cut to studs, hang, finish — priced per section at your rates.
Minimum charge: stated on the quote; three coats of mud means multiple visits, and the trip math has to survive that.

Water damage: cause first, closure last

Quote the repair firm and the cause honestly: "Repair ceiling section — $X. Source appears to be tub drain above; plumbing repair by others (or our T&M line). Closing after moisture verified dry." Photos of the stain and the moisture-meter reading attach to the lines. Sealing a stain without the dryness sentence is how a $300 patch becomes a mold conversation.

The texture-match paragraph

Matching aged texture is skilled guessing, and the quote should say so: technique named, blend area defined ("feather to nearest corners"), and "closest practical match" language signed before the hopper comes out. Customers accept honesty about texture; they don't accept surprises after.

Priced in the hallway

Narrate the tiers, shoot the holes, review drafted lines at your saved prices, and hand back a signable PDF before leaving — the second-trip quote loses money on jobs this size. The drywall estimating app is free for 14 days, no credit card.

Try it on a real job: FieldSquire's Solo plan is free for 14 days with no credit card — unlimited manual estimates and AI-assisted drafts you review line by line. Start the free trial or see the drywall estimating app guide.