How To Become A Drywall Mechanic: What It Is and Career Path

What is a drywall mechanic and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a drywall mechanic. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.88 an hour? That's $39,271 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 3% and produce 4,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreDrywall MechanicUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,271

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.3

Growth rate 3%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.19%

Asian 1.08%

Black or African American 9.38%

Hispanic or Latino 33.59%

Unknown 3.62%

White 50.15%

Gender

female 4.31%

male 95.69%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.7

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.8

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a drywall mechanic

Explore drywall mechanic education requirements

Most common drywall mechanic degrees

High School Diploma

53.1 %

Diploma

16.3 %

Associate

11.2 %

Start to develop specific drywall mechanic skills

Skills	Percentages
Ladders	25.37%
Stud	19.93%
OSHA	15.53%
Acoustical Ceilings	7.43%
Caulking	5.30%

Complete relevant drywall mechanic training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New drywall mechanics learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a drywall mechanic based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real drywall mechanic resumes.

Research drywall mechanic duties and responsibilities

Ensure high quality work in metal stud framing, drywall, and acoustical ceilings installations.
Rinse, drain, or wipe coat work pieces to remove excess coating material or to facilitate setting of finish coats.
Collaborate with electricians, carpenters and mechanics to complete construction projects.
Follow strict safety guidelines including wearing personal protective equipment.

Get drywall mechanic experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a drywall mechanic. The most common roles before becoming a drywall mechanic include carpenter, drywall finisher team lead and maintenance technician.

Prepare your drywall mechanic resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your drywall mechanic resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a drywall mechanic resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable drywall mechanic resume templates

Build a professional drywall mechanic resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your drywall mechanic resume.