Finisher Spotlight: Chad Hesser of Hesser Drywall

Drywall finishing wasn’t always part of Chad Hesser’s plan for himself — in fact, at first, he hated it. But he was still learning the trade little by little, working for some extra money on the side while his kids were still quite young.

Eventually, the monotony of his day job working at a factory became too much for him to bear, and the benefits of drywall finishing were starting to outweigh the negatives. After all, he got to move around and be outside a lot, and no two days were exactly alike. He got to be his own boss — there was no one telling him what to do and when to do it. He got to exercise his creative muscles and challenge himself every day.

The more that drywall finishing made sense to him, as Chad told us, “it just started growing on me.” Years later, business is booming at Chad’s company, Hesser Drywall, where he works on around 40 new-construction houses a year in and around Effingham, Ill., along with plenty of custom work, repairs and remodels.

“There's more of an art to it,” Chad said when we asked why he wound up falling in love with drywall finishing. “I've always been — I don't know, I won't say ‘artsy,’ but I've always been into the arts. Growing up, I was always a drawer, always a painter or something like that.

"Building houses was fun, but at the same time, too, you don't really get to see that finished product. I know finishing drywall is not really a finished, finished product, but that's when the house starts looking like the house. When I walk in and it's just bare walls, it could be anything, but when you start putting drywall up and finishing out all the trim work and stuff like that, to me, that's more interesting. It takes more of a creative edge to really be good at it. It's still challenging every day, no matter how good you get. I think that's what drew me into it more was the challenge and the creativity of it.”