The Western Way

For more than three decades, Western Drywall has serviced the upper Plains with high-quality service in the wall and ceiling trades. It has been involved in projects such as restaurants, hospitals, schools, retail spaces, residential communities, parking structures, airports, military structures and federal buildings.

Western Drywall specializes in commercial and residential drywall, structural/non-structural steel stud framing, ACT, insulation and FRP, among other things. The outfit, headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyo., has been in business for 31 years.

Its mission is to provide a quality product to its customers using the most innovative tools, products, and techniques in the industry. Located in the capital city of Wyoming, the subcontractor completes projects throughout Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado. Western Drywall leads the southern part of the state for drywall and steel framing experience, as well as volume of work.

Western Drywall was founded in 1992 by Dan Montgomery and has been “Rockin’ the West” for more than 30 years.

“As a family-owned and operated business, we pride ourselves on providing our team members with a full package of benefits including health insurance, dental insurance, 401k match, profit sharing, paid time off, and annual company Christmas/summer parties for our employees and our customers,” says Nate Montgomery, estimator and project manager for Western Drywall. “Western Drywall boasts an immaculate employee retention rate, with many of our employees working in the company for over 25 years. In the spring of 2023 Western Drywall moved into a brand new 14,000 square foot facility on 3.2 acres.”

The company also has a training program for forklift/telehandler/AWPs. Keith Barley is the company’s United Academy Certified instructor. This helps the company stay up to date on its certifications and safety on-site.

Dan and Shelley Montgomery are still the owners. Dan introduced automatic taping tools to the city of Cheyenne in the early ’90s when he moved from Seattle.

“Most folks around the area had never heard of automatic taping tools or could attest to the idea of them or the quality you get from them,” says Nate. “Many contractors in Cheyenne began using Western Drywall due to the speedy and quality work we were providing. The company started out exclusively residential and, now with much success in the residential market, Western has branched out to complete many commercial projects. Oftentimes, we have more than 20 commercial projects contracted. We have four commercial teams, each with its own foreman. These teams will often be working on five or more projects simultaneously.”

Steady Growth

The company has grown over the past 30 years from two employees to close to 50 hourly employees. “We just moved into a new, larger facility and continue to grow and expand,” Nate says.

Nate says he got involved in the trades because he wanted to be involved in the family business. According to him, residential construction is currently slow, while commercial construction is steady.

“Residential is slow given the current market,” Nate says. “However, we anticipate that turning around as Cheyenne continues to grow. Commercial is steady and we see it continuing that way.”

For him, the most interesting aspect of the job is the challenge of trying to acquire jobs in a competitive market. On the other side, he says employee management is the toughest.

Western Drywall is gearing up for a busy fall. Montgomery says the contractor’s long-term goals are to break into additional large-scale projects.

Project: Cheyenne Fire & Rescue Emergency Response Facilities
Location: Cheyenne, Wyo.
Owner: The City of Cheyenne
General Contractor: FCI Constructors of Wyoming
Distributor: Jones Heartz

The scope of this project for Western Drywall was cold-formed structural framing, non-structural steel framing, acoustical insulation, drywall and exterior sheathing.

The three Cheyenne Fire & Emergency Response Facilities are a result of the city of Cheyenne’s “sixth penny” sales tax money that was voted on in 2021 by the Cheyenne taxpayers. It consists of three identical fire and emergency response facilities all across the city. The city of Cheyenne was in need of these facilities due to the growth of new neighborhoods.

“These projects make scheduling a challenge due to them all being built simultaneously. The projects amount to roughly 22 million dollars between the three,” says Nate. “It is forgiving in the sense that ordering materials is simplified because all three projects are the same quantity.”

FCI is the general contractor for all three facilities and has been wonderful to work with, says Nate. One Western Drywall foreman is able to manage all three projects.

Preferred Manufacturers
American Gypsum
Armstrong Acoustical Ceilings
CEMCO
DensGlas Gold by G-P Gypsum
Johns Manville
USG