I finally looked up how much mud I actually waste per job

I was cleaning out my van last Tuesday and found three half-used buckets of joint compound from jobs back in May. Decided to weigh what was left and it came out to about 14 pounds total. That's basically a whole extra bucket I'm tossing every couple months just from overmixing and not sealing them right. Has anyone else actually tracked their mud waste or am I just being sloppy?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_dylan14d ago

You're talking about a whole 14 pounds over a couple months. That's like what, five bucks worth of compound? If you're losing sleep over that you probably have bigger problems in your business than mud waste. Tape and float is already cheap as hell, so I wouldn't stress about it too much.

troymorgan14d ago

I used to think exactly like Dylan until I added up what I was actually throwing away over a full year. It wasn't just that 14 pounds from a couple months, it was the random half-used buckets of all-purpose and topping compound that dried out because I left the lid cracked. That five bucks per bucket adds up to maybe 60 or 70 bucks a year, which is a solid tank of gas for my van or a couple decent lunches. Once I started looking at it as money I just threw in the trash, it bugged me more than I expected. I switched to smaller buckets for smaller jobs and started pressing the plastic wrap down tight before sealing the lid, and it cut my waste down by more than half. It's not going to make or break anyone's business, but it feels cleaner to not just toss it.