Drywall Installation and Finishing in Arvada, CO
Drywall installation in Arvada runs $1.50 to $2.30 per square foot including labour and half-inch board, which puts a 1,000 square foot job at roughly $1,500 to $2,300. That is HomeBlue's Arvada-specific figure rather than a national average, and it has held up reasonably against what we see quoted locally.
This page covers hanging and finishing together, because for a homeowner they are one purchase decision. If you are a builder looking for a finisher to follow someone else's hang, call us and say so, because that is a different conversation and a different price.
The finish level is the part of the quote that matters
Almost every dispute about a drywall job is really a dispute about finish level, and it happens because the quote did not name one. There is a published standard for this. GA-214-2021, Levels of Finish for Gypsum Panel Products, is jointly sponsored by the Gypsum Association, AWCI, CISCA, the Drywall Finishing Council and the Painting Contractors Association, and since February 2022 it has been a free download.
Get the level written on your quote. If it does not say a number, you have not agreed what you are buying, and the finisher's number and yours will not be the same one.
The two definitions that settle most arguments are in that document. Critical lighting is defined as strong side lighting from windows or surface-mounted fixtures. Non-flat paint is defined numerically: more than 5 gloss units at 60 degrees, or more than 10 gloss units at 85 degrees. If either applies to your room, or you are using a dark deep-tone colour, the standard points at level 5.
Do you need level 5, honestly?
Mostly no, and we will usually say so. Level 4 is the standard residential finish, specified for smooth walls decorated with flat paints, light or non-continuous textures, or wallcoverings. It covers the great majority of rooms in the great majority of houses.
Level 5 is worth the money in three situations: a wall that gets raking light down its length from a big window, an eggshell or satin sheen on a large flat wall, and a deep colour. In a basement with two small egress windows and a matte finish, level 5 is money spent on something nobody will ever see, and Priya's review on the homepage is about exactly that conversation.
Level 5 also has a shortcut worth knowing about. A spray-applied primer-surfacer like Sheetrock Tuff-Hide skims and primes in one airless pass, which is faster than hand skimming a whole house. USG is explicit that it goes over a completed level 4 including proper fastener coverage, and is not intended to get you to level 5 from a level 3 or below. If someone quotes level 5 cheaply, that is worth asking about.
Board choice, which is not all the same
Half-inch is the default for walls on 16 inch centres. Ceilings depend on framing spacing and texture, and there is a whole section on that on the ceiling repair page. Five-eighths Type X goes in wherever a rated separation calls for it, garage ceilings under living space being the common residential case.
One correction worth making, because it is stated wrongly everywhere: a sheet of five-eighths Type X has no fire rating on its own. AWCI puts it flatly, gypsum board as a single product has no fire-resistive rating in and of itself. Ratings belong to tested assemblies under ASTM E119, which is why the answer to a fire question is a UL design number like U305 for a one-hour wall or U301 for a two-hour, not a board thickness.
Lightweight board is worth asking for on ceilings. Sheetrock UltraLight is meaningfully lighter to lift overhead and is recognised under ICC-ES ESR-3365 for parallel application to 24 inch on centre ceiling framing with a water-based spray texture, which ordinary half-inch is not. And if you like the idea of board made in-state, American Gypsum runs a wallboard plant at Gypsum, Colorado, about half an hour west of Vail on I-70.
What good hanging looks like before any mud goes on
You can judge a hang before it is taped, and it is worth walking the job at that stage. Sheets run perpendicular to framing on ceilings. Butt joints staggered rather than stacked, and kept away from the corners of door and window openings, because a butt joint landing on an opening corner is a crack waiting for its first winter. Screws set to a dimple without breaking the paper face, because a screw through the paper is holding nothing.
Gaps at the floor are fine and expected. Gaps at internal corners over about a quarter inch are not, and neither is a sheet that has been forced into place, because forced board pushes back.
We install to ASTM C840 and GA-216, which is the pairing your architect or GC will recognise: C840 for application and finishing, GA-216 for the code-referenced version, GA-214 for the finish level. Naming all three on a quote is a fair test of whether whoever wrote it does this for a living.
| Level | Coats on flat joints | Typically specified for | Cost per sq ft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 0 | None, no tape at all | Temporary construction, or decoration undecided | n/a |
| Level 1 | Tape set only | Above ceilings, attics, plenums, smoke barriers | n/a |
| Level 2 | Tape wiped, thin coat left | Tile substrate, garages, warehouse storage | n/a |
| Level 3 | One coat, two on fasteners | Under heavy or medium texture, or heavy wallcovering | n/a |
| Level 4 | Two coats, three on fasteners | Flat paint, light texture, normal residential walls | $1.65 to $3.15 |
| Level 5 | Level 4 plus a full skim coat | Gloss or satin paint, dark colours, critical lighting | $2.00 to $3.50 |
Questions we get asked
How much does drywall installation cost in Arvada?
Drywall installation in Arvada costs $1.50 to $2.30 per square foot including labour and half-inch board, per HomeBlue's Arvada figures. That is about $800 to $1,100 for 500 square feet, $1,500 to $2,300 for 1,000, and $3,000 to $4,500 for 2,000.
What is the difference between level 4 and level 5?
Level 5 is a level 4 plus a thin skim coat of joint compound over the entire surface. Level 4 gets two coats on the flat joints and three on the fasteners. The skim is what removes the difference in porosity and texture between the finished joints and the board face, which is what shows under gloss paint or raking light.
Do you hang and finish, or one or the other?
Both, and we would rather do both, because a finisher inherits every decision the hanger made. If you already have board up and need it finished, we will still come and look, and we will tell you upfront if the hang is going to make the finish expensive.
Is Sheetrock the same thing as drywall?
Sheetrock is USG's brand name for gypsum board, the way Hoover is a brand of vacuum. Drywall, gypsum board and gypsum panel products are the generic terms. The standard that governs the board itself is ASTM C1396.
Do I need a permit to drywall a room in Arvada?
For a straight replacement, generally not. For an interior remodel, a basement finish, a garage conversion or anything structural, yes, and Arvada lists all of those explicitly. Arvada and unincorporated Jefferson County both moved to the 2024 I-Codes effective 1 July 2026. Our permits page goes through it.
Related
- Ceiling Repair · Sagging, cracked or holed ceilings put back and re-textured to match.
- Texture Matching · Knockdown, orange peel and skip trowel blended into what is already on your wall.
- Popcorn Ceiling Removal · Scraped, skimmed and re-textured, with the asbestos rule explained before we quote.
- Everywhere we work