Job pricing guide
How to price a door installation job
Price door installation from slab or prehung scope, opening condition, fitting, hardware, trim, weather sealing, finishing, and disposal.
How should you price this job?
Define whether the job is a slab installation in an existing jamb or a complete prehung replacement, then inspect the opening, frame, swing, dimensions, floor clearance, hardware, trim, and exterior exposure. Estimate removal, fitting, mortising, setting, shimming, fastening, adjustment, sealing, cleanup, and disposal. Add supplied materials, travel, overhead, concealed-opening risk, and your target margin.
What affects the price?
- Slab or prehung installation
- Opening, jamb, and floor condition
- Interior or exterior hardware and finish scope
Pricing considerations
- A slab fitted to an existing jamb and a prehung unit installed into a rough opening require different measurements, demolition, alignment, trim, and finish assumptions.
- Separate the door unit, lockset, hinges, jamb materials, shims, fasteners, trim, threshold, weather seal, paint or stain, and haul-away in the scope.
- Licensing and permit requirements vary by jurisdiction; structural opening changes, rated assemblies, and some exterior work may require additional review or approvals.
What costs should you include?
Count every hour the job occupies—including paid travel—then add raw materials, vehicle cost, allocated overhead, and job-specific expenses. Add visible pricing adjustments and a risk reserve before using margin math to find the selling price. The pricing methodology explains each allocation and the difference between markup and margin.
Pricing workflow
- Measure the door, opening, jamb depth, swing, floor clearance, hardware locations, trim, and exterior details before ordering or quoting.
- Determine slab versus prehung scope and inspect square, level, rot, fasteners, threshold, weather exposure, and surrounding finishes.
- Estimate removal, opening preparation, fitting, mortising, setting, shimming, fastening, hardware, adjustment, sealing, trim, cleanup, and disposal.
Scope checklist
- Identify the exact door unit, opening, swing, hardware, jamb, trim, threshold, weather seal, fastening, and disposal included.
- State who supplies materials and whether pickup, delivery, paint, stain, caulk, and return visits are included.
- Exclude concealed rot, framing changes, siding, flooring, electrical security components, and permit-sensitive alterations unless separately inspected.
Common scope variables
- Old-door and frame removal
- Hinge and lockset preparation
- Trim, threshold, and weather sealing
- Paint, stain, and disposal
Costs commonly forgotten
- Out-of-square or damaged opening
- Rot behind exterior trim
- Repeated fitting and finish return visits
Treating a door installation as a simple swap before measuring the opening and checking jamb condition, floor clearance, hardware preparation, trim, threshold, and exterior water management.
Flat rate or hourly?
Use a flat rate after measuring and defining a complete slab or prehung scope. Use allowances or written change orders for concealed rot and opening correction. Keep repair-only adjustments on the related door-repair guide so this quote remains focused on installation.
In either case, calculate every planned allocation first. A flat rate should still pay for estimated working time, travel, overhead, risk, and target-margin surplus.
Worked pricing example
These hypothetical assumptions run through the same pricing engine as the calculator:
- Labor time
- 6 hours × 1 worker
- Travel time
- 1 hours
- Desired hourly compensation
- $58.00 per worker-hour
- Planned labor compensation
- $406.00
- Raw materials
- $140.00
- Material pricing adjustment
- 15% = $21.00
- Overhead allocation
- $1,200.00 ÷ 100 billable hours × 7 hours = $84.00
- Vehicle and job expenses
- $63.00
- Difficulty adjustment
- 20% = $110.60
- Contingency / risk reserve
- 10% = $80.36
- Target margin
- 25%
- Calculated minimum price
- $1,206.61
- Rounded suggested quote
- $1,225.00
The rounded quote contains $320.04 of target-margin surplus after all listed allocations. Replace every assumption with your own job numbers.
Frequently asked questions
How does slab installation differ from prehung pricing?
A slab requires precise fitting and hardware preparation in the existing jamb. A prehung job adds frame removal, setting, shimming, fastening, trim, and opening work.
Should paint or stain be included?
Only when clearly stated. Define preparation, sides and edges, coat count, drying, and any return visit as a separate finish scope.
What if the opening is damaged?
Exclude concealed rot and unverified framing correction from the base fixed price or define a written change-order method. Requirements vary by jurisdiction.
Use your actual numbers
Calculate your door installation quote
Travel time is paid business time in this calculator. No local or national price averages are used.