Labor Cost to Install a New Front Door

Labor Cost to Install a New Front Door - This is the quick long-distance estimate I created for Irene to help her understand why it costs thousands of dollars to install a new front door and repair water damage. The bid assumes $80 per hour for labor. The estimate was produced in January, 2026. Copyright 2026 Tim Carter

Labor Cost to Install a New Front Door - Many Small Numbers Add Up

I talked with Irene on the phone a few days ago. She lives in Connecticut and used my affordable phone coaching service. She needed to make sure the bid she received to repair wood rot next to her front door was reasonable. Irene was about to have a new front door installed. Irene said at the end of the call, “Oh my, investing in this phone call was the best thing to do. I now feel comfortable that I’m not getting ripped off!”

I believe you’ll understand why I recommended Irene, and I, talk after you read what she sent to me in an email: “I'm getting a new front door, but before it can be installed, I'm ashamed to say that there's been water damage under the tile right when you enter the foyer through that door.  Overall, the area where the tiles need to be removed/replaced, and new plywood installed, is around thirty square feet.  A contractor gave me an estimate of $4,300.00, not including the cost of the new door. I went to ChatGPT, and it says that his number is too high. What would you say about this?”

I replied to Irene that we should talk on the phone. She placed the order for the call within an hour. I decided to produce a detailed breakdown of the costs of this job. I did many such jobs for customers, and knew that there’s no one aspect of the job that’s a big number. The trouble is, all the small numbers add up to a big one.

I discovered, quite by accident, forty years ago, how to sell more jobs to my customers. This is why I knew my phone call with Irene would put her at ease. Creating the detailed breakdown of her job would only take me a few minutes. It was a fast exercise to see if the contractor’s bid was realistic, too low, or higher than kite flying at the beach.

Here’s why I closed more deals than all my competitors years ago. It was my secret weapon. I was asked to bid on a room addition project for a homeowner. Business was slow at the time. I had scads of time to do an accurate takeoff, obtain tight bids from my subcontractors, and time to make sure each and every cost item was covered.

I was very lucky to be the last contractor to make the presentation. Inside my briefcase was a fat folder that contained all my material takeoffs, the bids from subs, and a dot-matrix printout of a basic spreadsheet showing all of the costs along with the total cost. It was normal practice at the time for me to just share the total job cost. There was zero transparency. No one got a look inside my magic folder.

I shared my number. The homeowners’ cheery red faces transformed to pasty white. My number shocked them. The temperature in their dining room seemed to fall ten degrees. You could hear a pin drop. I said after an uncomfortable pause, “My number is high, isn’t it?”

The husband cleared his throat and said, “Yes, you’re the highest bidder of all three contractors.” I was desperate for the job. I could feel that they wanted me to leave. Their body language spoke volumes.

I said, “I can prove that my number is accurate, and that the other two contractors just guessed at the price. If you award the contract to one of them, I guarantee you’ll be hit with change orders, and the total cost will exceed what I just quoted you. Would you be willing to give me just ten minutes to prove this to you?”

They exchanged glances, and the wife said, “Sure.” I opened up my briefcase, removed the folder, and spread out all my documents on the table. They were immediately shocked by the amount of detail. The transparency was like a warm ocean breeze blowing through their home. You could smell the salt air!

Within minutes, they discovered that no one aspect of the room addition was that much. They could clearly see that the total of all the costs, plus a reasonable profit and overhead, added up to my quote. The transparency short-circuited the bum’s rush from their home.

Thirty minutes after sitting down at their table, I had a signed contract in my hand. I adopted this full transparency approach in all my subsequent presentations. My closing rate went from 25% to 60%. From that point forward, I was booked out nine months in advance, never worrying about how I was going to pay my bills.

Here’s a quick snapshot of Irene’s front-door job. Each and every one of these tasks has to be accounted for: demolition, temporary weather enclosure since the door must be taken out, replace the rotted wood, install the new wood floor, install the new flashing under the door, install the door, install the tile, grout the tile, install all the door trim, and paint/stain all the trim/walls.

All of the above are what I call hard job costs. Most homeowners are unaware of the soft job costs. These happen away from your home. Examples of soft costs are: time spent bidding, time spent looking at your job before the contract, picking up materials, going to the dump with refuse, loading and unloading the truck before each day, etc.

There are more soft costs you’re unaware of. Self-employed contractors pay double what you see taken out of your paycheck for Social Security and Medicare. You probably don’t realize it, but your employer matches what you pay. Contractors like me have to pay for both parts!

Think of what it costs to operate that 3/4-ton truck the contractor drives. The current cost per mile is somewhere between 80 cents and $1.00 per mile. The 2025 IRS allowance, which is always low, is 70 cents per mile. A contractor might travel 30 miles each day to get to your house and then go back home. That’s $150 a week in costs just for his truck!

A contractor needs to charge you for wear and tear on his tools, insurance, Workman’s Compensation payments, etc. All of these costs, which are invisible to you, must be accounted for. You want your contractor to make a small profit so he stays in business when you need him again.

My quick cost estimate for Irene showed she was getting a great deal from her contractor. I estimated the total cost for the job, not including the cost of the front door, to be just under $5,000.00.

If you need my help to make sure a bid you get is fair, I’m happy to do for you what I did for Irene. Just go here to set up our phone call: http://go.askthebuilder.com/talktotim Be sure to type go followed by a period in the URL.

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