Wiring and drywall from one company: what it changes on a new build

Look at a house frame before the drywall goes up and you are looking at the last time anyone can see inside the walls. Everything that has to live behind the board, the wire, the boxes, the switch legs, has to be right before the board closes it. Then a different crew shows up and covers all of it.

That handoff is where a lot of new-build schedules lose their days. It does not have to be two handoffs between two strangers.

The order of a wall

The sequence is the same on most new construction. The house is framed and sheathed. The electrician runs wire through the studs and sets the boxes. That stage is called rough-in. Once the rough-in is checked and cleared to close, the walls get insulated and the board is hung. After that come taping, mudding, sanding and priming. Finish electrical, meaning fixtures, switches and outlet covers, comes last, once the walls are painted.

Notice that electrical bookends the drywall. The same trade that opens the walls comes back after the board is finished. That is why the relationship between those two crews matters more than people expect.

Where two companies lose time

• Boxes set at the wrong depth, so the board sits proud of the box or leaves it recessed. Someone has to come back and fix it.
• Cutouts that do not line up with the boxes, which means patching before the tape goes on.
• A wire that was moved or nicked during hanging and nobody noticed until the finish stage.
• A gap between crews because each one is waiting on the other to call it done.
• A repair after the fact where each company points at the other for who has to fix what.

None of these is exotic. They are small problems that cost a day, then another day, because each one has to travel through two schedules and two phone numbers.

What one company changes

When the same company wires the house and finishes the board, the person setting the box already knows how the board is going to go over it. The crew hanging the sheets already knows where the boxes are and why. There is one schedule to manage, so the gap between rough-in and hanging is something you plan, not something you chase.

And when something does go wrong, there is one company to call. You skip the part where two businesses decide whose problem it is while the calendar keeps moving.

What builders and owners say

Craine’s does both trades. It is in the name, and it goes back to Ralph Craine’s drywall business in the 1950s, which his son Robert expanded to include electrical work. Two Google reviews show the two halves from different angles.

Justin Cullers, who has been building in Northwest Arkansas for over a decade, wrote: “Craines Electric has been a huge part of our success.” He also named “excellent customer service and people that stand behind their work,” and “a professional staff we can connect our clients to directly.”

Will Trapp wrote about the drywall side on his own new-construction home: “Craine’s did our drywall on our new construction home. They were one of the best subcontractors we dealt with throughout the entire homebuilding process.” He singled out Seth, “a quick and great communicator.”

His review also tells a story about a bathtub that turned up broken. Nobody could tell whether it happened before or after the drywall. Craine’s offered to pay for the entire repair. Will chose to split the bill, because he felt he should have protected the tubs better and another sub could have caused it. That is what owning a problem looks like when nobody can prove whose it is.

Questions to ask before the walls close

• Who sets the box depth, and who checks it against the board thickness?
• How long between rough-in clearing and the board going up, and who owns that gap?
• Who patches around the electrical, and who comes back for the finish work?
• If a wire or box is damaged during hanging, who finds out, and when?
• Who is my one phone number when something is off?

You do not need to be a builder to ask these. If a company can answer them in plain words, that tells you how the job will run.

Planning your build with Craine’s

Whether you are a builder with several homes going at once or a family building one, talk to us before the framing is done, not after. We can go over the sequence for your job, what you want finished when, and what a combined electrical and drywall schedule looks like on your plans.

Call (479) 750-1672 in Northwest Arkansas or (417) 952-0828 in Southern Missouri, Monday to Thursday, 8 to 5. You will get a free, fair and honest quote with no strings attached, and you are welcome to compare it with others in the area.