Is it worth sanding drywall twice or just once with the right grit?

I spent an extra 4 hours on a 1,200 sq ft job in Austin doing a second sanding pass with 220 grit after the first 150 pass, and honestly, my finisher said it cut his patch time in half, but my helper swears one good pass with a pole sander is all anyone needs, so who's actually right here?

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henry_moore551mo ago

...and that's the thing, the helper isn't totally wrong about one pass being enough to make it look smooth. But the second pass isn't about looks, it's about the finisher's time. You're paying him either way, so if a 220 pass saves him three hours on a job that size, that four hours you spent just paid for itself in labor costs. Most guys who say one pass is fine are working with new drywall and good mud, not a 1,200 sq ft house with corners and cuts everywhere. So your helper's right if you only care about the primer grabbing, but you're right if you care about what it costs you to get the walls flat before paint. It's not one or the other, it's just math.

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