What every homeowner should ask before handing over a deposit -- from insurance and finish levels to dust containment and who actually does the work.
Drywall seems straightforward until you get a quote that looks too cheap, a contractor who disappears after deposit, or a finish that needs to be re-done because the mud cracked or the texture doesn't match. Most of those problems are avoidable if you ask the right questions before you sign anything.
These are the questions we get asked regularly -- and the ones we think every homeowner should be asking every contractor they're considering, including us. If a contractor can't answer them clearly, that tells you something.
This guide is written from the perspective of a drywalling specialist. No fluff, no generic contractor advice. These are the specific things that matter for drywall and ceiling work.
This is the non-negotiable. Any contractor working inside your home should carry general liability insurance. Ask for a certificate -- not just "yes I'm insured." A legitimate contractor can email you the certificate within a day. Liability coverage protects you if a tool goes through a water line, the ceiling repair cracks your hardwood floor, or something breaks that you didn't expect.
WCB (Workers' Compensation Board) coverage is separate. If the contractor has employees or sub-contractors on your job, WCB coverage protects you from liability if a worker is injured on your property. Sole operators can often opt out of WCB personally, but if they bring workers, those workers need to be covered.
The answer changes your risk significantly. A fixed quote means the price is the price -- if the job takes longer because of a problem they didn't account for, that's on them. An hourly estimate means cost overruns land on you.
Neither model is inherently dishonest, but you should know which one you're getting before you agree to anything. For most residential repair and finishing work (ceiling repair, skim coating, taping and mudding), a fixed price per project is the norm. For large renovation scopes where unknowns are genuinely high, time-and-materials arrangements are more common.
If a contractor gives you a vague estimate and won't commit to a fixed quote on a well-defined scope, push back. "I'll have to see how it goes" is not a quote.
References matter most when they're specific and recent -- someone who had work done in the past year in your area is more useful than a testimonial from five years ago in another city. Ask if you can see a photo of a finished job, or speak with a past client directly.
A Google Business Profile with a meaningful number of reviews (and the contractor responding to them) is also a reasonable signal. Anybody can write testimonials for their own website. Reviews from real Google users are harder to fabricate.
This is underrated. A lot of general contractors who offer drywall as one item on a long list are actually subbing it out to whoever is available. That's not inherently a problem, but you should know it's happening.
If the person you're talking to won't be the person doing the work, ask who will. Are they experienced in finish work specifically? Do they carry their own insurance? The quality you see in the portfolio photos might not be the quality that shows up to your job.
Finish levels for drywall run from Level 0 (no finishing at all) to Level 5 (a full skim coat over the entire surface). Most residential work should be Level 4 at minimum -- taped joints and fastener heads covered, sanded smooth, ready for standard paint sheens. Level 5 adds a thin skim coat across the whole wall, making it suitable for glossy or flat paint under critical lighting conditions.
The problem: many contractors quote "standard finish" without specifying the level. You later discover they did a Level 2 or 3 when you paint and see every seam and fastener under the first coat of eggshell. Ask explicitly.
If a contractor doesn't know what Level 4 or Level 5 refers to, that tells you something about their experience with finish work. Our taping and mudding work is done to Level 4 standard minimum; Level 5 is specified for skim-coating and high-finish applications -- see our taping and mudding page for more detail on what those levels mean in practice.
Texture matching is arguably the hardest skill in residential drywall finishing. Any competent contractor can fill a hole -- the difference is whether the patch is invisible after paint.
The answer you want to hear involves specifics: what techniques they use for knockdown vs. orange peel vs. stipple, whether they prime before texture, whether they spray or apply by hand, and whether they test a sample on a scrap piece before touching your wall. A contractor who says "oh yeah I can match anything, no problem" without describing how should get a follow-up question.
Calgary's older NW communities (Edgemont, Hawkwood, Ranchlands, Silver Springs) have a lot of older knockdown and stipple ceilings from the 1980s and 1990s that are genuinely hard to match perfectly. A contractor who has worked those areas extensively knows what to expect. See our ceiling repair page for what this work actually involves.
Ask this question for whatever your specific job is. The point is to get them to describe their actual process, not just confirm they can do it. For a ceiling crack the answer should include: how they determine whether the crack is cosmetic or structural, whether they tape the joint or just fill it with compound, how many coats they apply, how long they allow between coats, and how they handle the texture match after.
If the answer is "I fill it and paint it," that's not a proper repair. Compound applied without tape will crack again, usually in the same place, usually soon. The correct approach for any crack wider than a hairline is to tape the joint before mudding.
Priming before texture matters because joint compound is porous. If you apply texture over bare compound, the compound can absorb moisture unevenly from the texture spray and pull the texture to the surface, resulting in adhesion problems and a patchy look.
Priming after texture (before paint) matters because the first coat of paint will raise the nap of any drywall surface that isn't properly sealed, and compound absorbs paint differently than the face of the board. Without primer, you'll often see "hot spots" where joints are slightly shinier or flatter than the rest of the wall.
Drywall sanding creates fine gypsum dust that travels further than you expect and settles on everything -- appliances, clothing in open closets, HVAC returns, electronics. A contractor who doesn't take containment seriously will leave you with a cleanup problem that far exceeds the cost of the repair itself.
Reasonable containment involves plastic sheeting on doorways, drop sheets on floors and furniture, covering HVAC returns in the work area, and ideally wet sanding or using a vacuum-equipped sander to capture dust at the source. Ask what their process is. Ask if they cover returns.
Dust containment is a core part of how we work -- we treat it as part of the job, not an afterthought. It's one of the reasons we get called back.
Joint compound needs to dry fully between coats -- rushing that step causes cracking. Depending on Calgary's humidity level (which varies significantly between winter and summer), a full three-coat mud application on a new job may take two or three visits spread over several days.
A contractor who promises to complete a full Level 4 finish on a room in one day is either planning to use fast-setting hot mud throughout (fine for some applications, not for finish coats) or isn't planning to come back and do it properly.
Ask for a realistic visit schedule. If it's a multi-visit job, what happens between visits -- is the room livable? Can you run HVAC? Where does your furniture go?
A good contractor should be willing to walk you through the finished work before they consider the job complete. The standard they use for "done" should be: can you see the repair or the joint under a raking light (a light held close to the wall from the side)? If yes, it's not done.
Ask if they do a walkthrough with you at the end. Ask what happens if you notice something during or after the walkthrough. A contractor who won't commit to a walkthrough or gets defensive about that question is worth noting.
Our standard: we do not leave a job until the finish passes under a raking light. If something isn't right, we come back. That standard is baked into our quoting process, not an extra.
The most common scope disputes happen when the homeowner assumed painting was included (it usually isn't -- most drywalling contractors stop at primer-ready), when priming wasn't specified, or when disposal of old material wasn't in the quote and shows up as an extra.
Ask explicitly: "What's included and what's not?" The list should cover material cost vs. labour-only, whether priming is included, whether garbage and offcuts are removed, and whether touch-ups after the homeowner causes a ding post-walkthrough are covered.
On our quotes: material and labour are priced as one line item per project. We remove offcuts and waste. We don't include painting. Priming is specified per project -- on repair jobs it's typically included (stain-blocking primer for water damage); on new finishing it's specified as an optional add-on.
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