Hi all! I am remodeling part of my basement, which is ~460 square feet. One window and one door, otherwise it's just a long rectangular room. Has 8 outlets but otherwise nothing to cut around. I have a handyman helping with the drywall and it's taken him 2.5 full days (8 hours each day) to just hang the drywall and is saying it will take another 2 full days of billable time to tape and mud everything. This seems like a really long time to me...what's realistic for just the taping/mudding process? And how much time is true labor vs. waiting for it to dry? Also, I asked if he could teach me how to tape & mud and he gave me a lecture about how it's an artwork and very difficult. I know it is a true skill but am a little frustrated with how expensive this is getting. I'm relatively capable - is this something a novice can learn to do fairly easily? Thank you!

Ill be mounting a small chandelier (sub 30lbs) tomorrow using a ceiling fan box and screw in support brace. These work great for my ceiling fans. The location of the box is going to leave about an inch maybe 2 of space betweeb the edge of the electrical box and a seam where two pieces of drywall meet. The seam runs perpendicular to the 2x4 framing with about 24" of space between each beam. Technically the weight of the structure will be supported by the bracket secured across the width of the appropriate beams. The bracket does have tabs that get inserted between the drywall and the beam. Im just wondering if this is ok as i dont want to comprise the drywall seam and eventually end up splitting along the seam or worse. Thanks in advance.