Two businesses can ask for "a new back door" and get estimates a long way apart, and both can be right. One is a steel leaf hung on a sound frame with the old lock moved across; the other is a new frame set in masonry, a heavier door, a new exit device and a closer, done after hours. The words are the same; the jobs are not. Once you know which parts of the work you are paying for, an estimate stops being a single number and starts being a list you can check.
The five things that set the price
- The door itself. A hollow metal door is the usual answer for back-of-house, stairwells and exterior service doors, and its gauge and core change the price: a heavier gauge or an insulated core costs more and lasts longer on an exterior opening. A solid wood door for an office suite, and an aluminum and glass storefront door, are different products at different prices, and a pair costs roughly twice a single.
- Whether the frame stays. The biggest swing. If the existing frame is square, anchored and not rusted through, a new door prepped to match it is hung and the job is mostly the door. If the frame has to go, the work grows: the old frame cut out, a new one set and anchored, and the wall patched around it, which in masonry takes longer than in a stud wall.
- A fire rating. A door in a stairwell, a corridor or between tenant spaces may carry a fire rating label. Replacing it means a labeled door of the same rating on a labeled frame, with fire-rated hinges, closer and latching hardware. It costs more than a plain door, and there is no cheaper substitute that passes an inspection.
- The hardware. Moving a sound lock and closer to the new door costs little. New hardware is a real part of the number: a commercial lever lock, a closer sized for the door, and on an exit door a panic bar, which our article on panic bar installation cost breaks down. Access control prep, such as an electric strike or an electrified lock, adds its own line.
- The site. Access, height and timing. A door on the ground floor with parking beside it is the simple case. An upper floor with no elevator, a door that must be swapped after closing so the business can stay open, or an opening where the old door has to be hauled out through a working store all add time.
What does not change the number much
The paint color on a steel door, within the standard range, barely moves it. Neither does a vision lite of a standard size, or a kick plate. Taking the old door away is part of the job and should be in the estimate, not a separate charge on the day.
Where the money hides
In the frame, almost always. An estimate that assumes the frame stays, written without anyone checking it, is the one that grows when the old door comes off and the frame turns out to be rusted through at the floor. The second place is hardware prep: a door ordered without the right lock and closer preparations gets cut on site, which takes longer and rarely looks right.
Why there is no commercial door price list
Commercial doors are priced per opening, not from a list, because the same door costs a different amount to hang in a sound steel frame, a frame that needs re-anchoring, or a masonry wall that needs a new frame grouted in. On a building with several doors, that is why two doors that look alike can carry different prices on the same estimate.
How to compare two estimates
Put them side by side and check that each one names the door type and gauge, says whether the frame stays or is replaced, says whether the opening is fire-rated, lists the hardware that is reused and the hardware that is new, and states when the work will be done. An estimate that is lower because it leaves one of those out is not cheaper; it is for a different job, and the difference arrives on the day.
What we do before we price it
We look at each opening before we quote it: we measure, read any rating labels on the door and the frame, check the frame for rust, spread and anchoring, and note the hardware on the door now. The written estimate is free and names the door, the frame work and the hardware for every opening, so you can compare it line by line with anyone else's.