Howdy,
Just trying to get a general Idea for the going rates for interior door installation including trim. Just moved from a rather higher end (cost of living wise) area and have started a new remodeling company. For some reason I keep getting requests to replace interior doors. I figure it can be lucrative, and it is inside (live in WA) so I’ll be dry. Where I came from door replacement started at $150.00 per with trim and then went up depending on trim style, type of door, etc. THis price did not include finish for the doors and trim. Any insight would be awesome
Replies
less than half a day but it'll take up most of one ...
so $320 it is.
labor.
4 or 5 more would be pretty much the same price ...
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Check this for fun with estimating -- http://www.improvenet.com/HomeOwner/projecttools/estimators/index.html
I punched in a Seattle zip code, Wood door, flush, prehung, HC, standard quality and got a range of $310- $370.
Buck sez $320 and if you search some of his other posts you'll find that he knows what he's doing.
Best luck!
T
Check the local box stores for a starting point. I have had some very good days charging their price.
I'm with Jeff on this one.
It's not how much per door but rather how much per day or half day.
If you get a call to replace just one door, how much time will that burn and how much other work will you get done in the time left over?
If it's one door: you arrive at the job at 7:55 and knock on the door at 8:00. It takes 30 minutes to get out the tools you need and make nice with the homeowner. It takes an hour and a half to pull out the door, put the new door in and case it. it takes 30 Minutes to clean up all the tools and the job site and another 15 to make small talk and get paid. So now, you'r pulling out of the driveway at roughly 11 AM.
Can you go somewhere and work still? If not, can you survive on the $150 you just made for today?
If you've got ten doors in the same house, $150 a unit might work.
If it's one, you have to get paid for at leas 60% of a day's pay, if not the full day.
When I first started installing rails, It was $300 for a day and $150 for a half day job. It took me about a month to realize that 1/2 day was $200 or $225.
why do all my "half day's" take 6 hrs!
man ... can I fill a void ....
Hubcap told me once ... Time abhors a vacuum ... and dog's are scared of them too!
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
why do all my "half day's" take 6 hrs!
They always do. Can't answer it but they do.
A wise man told me once the secret to success was to only work half a day. It doesn't matter which 12 hours, so long as you get that half day in every day.
dang, and mine are all taking 12!"Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things, I am tempted to think -- there are no little things" - Bruce Barton
i always have a half-day minimum. I didn't give enough info, this particular job is 14 doors and casework. I learned a long time ago that everything always takes a minimum of a half day, for the reasons you mentioned. Really I was looking for an average going rate for mass door installation, and I probably should have mentioned that. ANdy input is much appreciated
Assuming it's wood framing, half way decent plaster, and none of the casing needs ripped to fit(i.e. a narrow hallway).
For 14 doors I would figure 4 days. 1/2 day to remove the old doors, 1/2 set up, get going, stage the doors where they are going. 1 day to cut all the trim, and preassemble the casing. 2 days(probably really only 1, but 2 is safe) to hang the doors, and nail on the casing. Working alone.
$2500 including dump fee for the old doors.Speak the truth, or make your peace some other way.
Dustin,
When I ran 14 doors I came up with about $2100. Not too far apart from you.
Now I have to ask this. If you threw that price out to homeowners, what percentage balk and what percentage sign the Contract?
If you threw that price out to homeowners, what percentage balk and what percentage sign the Contract?
10% think you are a gouging SOB and should be jailed
23% don't have the money, or they decide to spend it on the big screen TV instead
33% sign then and there because your price is "fair"
23% call back within a week to do it, or will do it if you follow up with a phone call
10% think they got an incredible deal.
Just sort-of a SWAG (Scientific Wild-Azzed Guess)
But ya know, I could imagine getting the same percentages at any price point between $1500 and $3000.
Bowz
Depends. If I received the call, I received it because they wanted the job done.
First thing right off the bat, if I had any thought the job wasn't already sold. I would hand them 15-20 pictures of interior doors I have hung in the past. I would also hand them a reference list of 10 customers, with contact information.
14 doors is probably most of the doors in the house, and probably part of large improvement project(maybe spread out over a few years). I would explain to the customer that carpet/flooring, paint, and doors are the key to any face lift.
I would also explain, that you get what you pay for, and if they want the doors to work I'm there best bet. If they want to take a chance, and save some money maybe they should find someone else.
In the back of mind I'm scared of the number, and hoping that they don't balk at it. Especially if I think it would be a good job, or I'm slow.
If I get the feel they really want to do it, but just can't afford it, I'd offer some different price points. Maybe, they could dispose of the doors, or they could do 7 now 7 later. I'd negotiate options, but not the price.
Speak the truth, or make your peace some other way.
Edited 3/23/2006 11:13 am ET by dustinf
I always figure cost of materials plus markup plus estimated hours times my labor rate plus tax.
There is never a set price for any one type of job. All job sites are not the same.
In Seattle, I'm sure that parking can be an issue as well as climbing up stairs to a 3rd floor bedroom and hauling material and tools the entire way.
Price each job individually.
I quoted $80.00 per door to two young ladies living together (who had already tried to do it by themselves - talk about a mess) and was almost physically thrown-out as a "scoundrel!" But have sold similar jobs for $200 per door. A buck seventy five is pretty good. BOWZ hit the nail dead center.
The older you get the more the journey matters.
Your post brings to mind trying to sell my work to strangers. I have encountered potential customers a couple times where when I left I questioned my business practices.
The more firemen deciding to supplement their income coupled with layoffs in the auto industry, the more "competition" and price gouging occurs here in the Toledo area.
Damn demoralizing at times.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
A couple of things to figure in:
To make the new doors work(because the old ones didn't)do you have to cut the base moulding on one side of the jamb and add to the other side?
Who is going to repaint the white walls to hide the half inch to nothing strip of blue paint that's showing now that you have hung the doors plumb?
Think of anything else that might mess you up?
How about a really bowed stud-cripple on the hinge side?
Little details that make fine tuning a door take forever.
What about pricing for hanging french doors where a slider currently is? Removing and disposing of slider, dealing with CBS exterior walls (here in SoFla), etc. Any suggestions?
What about pricing for hanging french doors where a slider currently is? Removing and disposing of slider, dealing with CBS exterior walls (here in SoFla), etc. Any suggestions?
That's the problem with giving numbers as an answer to a price question. All of the sudden people want us to do their bids.Speak the truth, or make your peace some other way.
Thanks for the help. I guess I'll just try to pick some number out of the air, and if it's too high risk not getting the job, or too low undercut the competition, and not make enough for my time to boot. I was under the mistaken impression that this forum was to help each other. I'm glad you were never in a position when you were starting out that you needed to ask someone else in the trade a question…
Good god man, what do you expect? We can't see the job and don't know your skills nor the area where you are figuring this from.
If it were me, I would go to an install/sales center for whatever door you're interested in and pick their brain for an estimate. Then when you have that info, go back and think through your own job trying to come up with the hours and material you need to do it. Multiply the hours by what you want to make an hour including whatever overhead you have. Add that to the price of the materials and add on your profit to the whole shelonga. Now, if you're price is lower than the install store, maybe rethink your numbers. If it's more, maybe do the same thing, rethink.
Know your rough openings, size is important here so one goes out-one goes in.
Figure on having to use new trims as you'll probably booger it up taking the old one out.
Don't forget to deal with flashing (VERY IMPORTANT) at the top/sides and you bet, the sill.
Be Careful and charge accordingly.
Best of luck.
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
What Calvin said.Speak the truth, or make your peace some other way.
No doubt a conservative, right wing, steeler fan.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Thanks, Calvin. That's the kind of intelligent, concise response I had hoped for when I first made my post on this forum. I didn't expect someone to think that they had to go into great detail and spend a lot of time with a complex explanation. I did think, however, that by posting I would be able to get enough information to figure out for myself what to do. I didn't expect to get flamed on my very first post. I couldn't care less about the Steelers. I'm a die-hard Bama fan.
Let's settle down gents, please check your egos at the door :)
Forbesearl: Remember, it's tough to figure prices for somebody else, in a different part of the country. Consider re-phrasing that type of question in the future to ask what types of issues other people consider when putting a bid on a door maybe? Or what they charge for a truly basic door installation perhaps.
In defense of Dustin, we have recently had some new guys sign on the forum and start asking lots and lots of questions about pricing out very particular jobs... was a bit fishy because it was almost as if they wanted other people to set prices for a huge range of jobs, so some of the guys around here are kind of wary of that right now.
That stuff aside, welcome to the forum!Justin Fink - FHB Editorial
What!!!? Somebody needs a price????
$1000.
blue
sir......
would ya please reconsider yer price...
it seems.....
welllllll....
way cheap.....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Justin, Your post is a good start at a different way of dealing with what you moderators find to be an offensive post-one that might be pulled or a strike called for. How about you give this "cool off" tactic a try instead of just dropping the hammer right off?A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Thanks for the input. This forum has been a learning experience… I was able to check out servicemagic.com and get some idea. Those prices shoot way up when you punch in a south Florida zip code. Guess that's because you can't buy an average home here now for less than $400,000. And you should see the flood of contractors coming down here from all over after Wilma. By the way, the reason I was asked to do this job is because the customer couldn't find a carpenter that wasn't six months out…
Alright, we've got the football out of the way.
Now, how's about the right wing conservative republican part?
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
I would like to apologize to all for the sarcasm I presented in my answer to the first post. To be honest, you could label me conservative, and I would say I'm more libertarian than either republican or democrat. In God I trust. Simple. Period.Now let's all get to work and see if we can make an honest living doing quality work to the best of our ability.
I read this forum for a good while b/4 I posted the first time. Wanted to get a lay of the land prior to opening my big mouth. It helped to get to know the regulars and protocol. Don't sweat it and best of luck.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Good for you with the apology, like Calvin says stay around for a while and find out who to avoid, you should fit right in.As you've probably already gathered, we get a lot of blanket requests for information here, sometimes it gets old. With your question specifically, someone could give you their best number but if they are within 15% (pretty good considering the circumstances) you still could end up losing money on the job, and nobody wants to see that happening.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Thanks, Jon. I'm starting to find out that there are some pretty good folks hanging around here. It doesn't take a rocket surgeon to separate the good from the bad suggestions.
$90,500.97SamT