Drywall contracts come from general contractors. A project manager or superintendent awards the drywall package after getting bids from three or four subs, and the sub with the clean takeoff, the right insurance and a start date that fits the schedule wins more often than the one with the lowest number. To get on those bid lists you need a prequalification packet, a list of GCs who build what you hang, and a habit of sending priced takeoffs fast. Below is a 60-day plan for a fictional two-crew sub, with illustrative numbers.

Public and larger private projects often require subcontractors to complete a prequalification questionnaire before they can bid. Requirements vary by owner and state, so read each set of documents. The packet in week 1 is what gets you through the first screen on most of them.

A two-crew sub and a $40,000 target

Ostrander Drywall is the fictional sub: owner Beth Ostrander, two hanging and finishing crews of four, and until now work through one GC who is slowing down. Her goal is a new GC relationship that delivers a first award of $40,000 or more within 60 days. She figures she needs to bid about $400,000 of work to hit that, on a historical hit rate of about 1 in 10 by dollars in the first year with a new GC.

Week 1: prequalification packet and a list of 25 GCs

Beth builds the packet in about six hours and saves it as one PDF:

  • Certificates of insurance (general liability, workers' comp, auto) with the limits GCs commonly ask for.
  • License and registration numbers; a W-9; a safety program summary and your experience modification rate if you have one.
  • Three completed projects with square footage, the GC's name and a reference phone number.
  • Crew size, equipment, typical capacity per week.

Then the list: 25 GCs in her metro who build the kind of work her crews do (multifamily, medical office, retail fit-out). She finds them from building permits, local bid boards and the signs on active sites, and gets the name of the project manager or estimator for each. The guide to finding general contractors to sell to covers sources, and finding companies that are about to buy explains why permits are a good trigger.

Week 2: first emails to project managers

Subject: Drywall sub for your next multifamily package

Hi Tom, I saw the permit for the 48-unit building on Kessler Road. Ostrander Drywall hangs and finishes multifamily, two crews, 14,000 sq ft a week. If you're building the bid list for drywall, I'd like to be on it. My prequalification packet is attached (insurance, references, safety). If plans are out, I can have a priced takeoff back to you in 3 business days. Beth Ostrander, 31 Quarry Lane. Reply STOP to be removed.

She sends 5 a day. Seventeen of 25 never reply. Eight do: 3 add her to their bid list, 2 ask for more insurance detail, 2 say they have a sub already, 1 sends plans. Her second and third touches go out at day 5 and day 12. For the general approach to chasing a bid, read how to follow up on a quote.

Week 3: plans in, takeoffs out

Three plan sets arrive. For each, Beth does a takeoff (a count of board, sheets, finishing levels and ceilings by area) and prices it by the square foot of wall and ceiling. Her illustrative numbers for the first set:

  • Wall and ceiling area: 62,000 sq ft of board.
  • Hang and finish at level 4: $2.10 a sq ft installed, material, labor and equipment, which is $130,200.
  • Add 8% overhead and profit: $10,416. Bid: $140,616.

She marks the assumptions in the bid: the finish level, fire-rated assemblies counted separately, what is excluded (painting, patching after other trades, after-hours work) and the time she needs. Two plan sets she is quoted on in the next two weeks total $96,000 and $210,000. Total bid volume by week 5: roughly $446,000.

Weeks 4 to 8: bid follow-ups and the first award

She calls every PM two days after the bid arrives to ask if they have questions and what the schedule is. GCs usually send bid results on a project in 1 to 3 weeks. In week 6, the PM on the 48-unit building comes back for a number change after value engineering: his owner wants level 4 on corridors only and level 3 elsewhere. Beth re-bids at $1.92 a sq ft, which brings it to $119,040 plus 8%, $128,563. In week 7 she is awarded a portion: the 3rd to 5th floor package at $41,300, on the same unit prices. In week 8 the second GC invites her onto a medical office bid that goes to award after the 60 days.

What 47 hours of bidding produced

  • GCs contacted: 25. Replies: 8. On a bid list: 5.
  • Plan sets priced: 3, total about $446,000.
  • Awarded: $41,300, a little over 9% of bid dollars, in line with the 1 in 10 assumption.
  • Hours: about 6 (packet) + 5 (list) + 6 (emails) + 24 (three takeoffs) + 6 (follow-up) = 47 hours.

A first award at about 9% is normal. The reason to keep going is that bid volume and relationships compound; the GC who awarded you floor 3 to 5 now has your price on the rest of the building and the next one.

Keep the sequence, replace the rates

Copy the order: packet first, then a named list, short emails, a takeoff in three days, a call after each bid. Change the trade rates, the finish levels and the project type to your market; the $2.10 and $1.92 figures here are made up to make the arithmetic work, not market rates. Put the scope, price, retainage and change-order terms in writing (a plain service agreement is a starting point, not legal advice). Keep a bid log with the GC, project, number, date, result and reason. Painters bidding behind you can read how a painting crew did the same with managers. If you also work for GCs as a prime contractor, see how to get clients as a general contractor for the other side of the table.

The list, the emails and the follow-ups are repeatable work, which is what Rocketship is for. It finds the buyers, emails them from your own Gmail, follows up, and books the meeting on its own. Plans that get you customers start at $24.99 a month (Launch), and both Launch and Frontier start with a 7-day free trial, card required. See the AI workers.