Doors and windows
Exterior door installation cost
A fibreglass entry door is about $1,430 as a slab hung in the old frame and $2,226 as a pre-hung unit — door, jambs, sill and weatherstrip as one piece — which is the replacement that replaces the frame the fault was in. If the sill turns out soft it is $2,636 with the framing under it rebuilt; a door where there was a wall is $4,581. This prices what stays and what goes, steel against fibreglass against wood by the year, the storm door on the same visit, and the finishing every quote forgets.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-23 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Exterior door installation cost calculator
The door, and what stays
A slab keeps the old frame. A pre-hung unit replaces it. A soft sill replaces the framing under it too. The door is priced the same in each; the job is not.
The best value in a front door: does not dent, rust, warp or rot, takes paint or a wood-look stain, and insulates better than either. It arrives primed and it needs finishing, which is the line people forget.
The stock front door, and the egress door the code wants at least one of.
The old door, jambs and sill come out; a new unit — door, frame, sill, weatherstrip, all one piece — goes into the rough opening on a sill pan, shimmed at the hinges, flashed and trimmed. The real replacement.
Handleset and deadbolt, keyed alike.
Primed, not painted. Paint or gel stain before the first winter.
No second door.
A landing already there.
A carpenter, by the hour plus the trip.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
Pre-hung unit in the old opening
$2,226
single door, 36 in in fibreglass · the door is 47% of it · 6 h · about $74 a year over 30 years
The same door, four jobs
new slab in the old frame $1,430 · pre-hung unit in the old opening $2,226 · pre-hung, with rotten framing repaired $2,636 · a new opening in a wall $3,991
Slab or pre-hung
The unit replaces the frame, which is the point.
Door, jambs, sill and weatherstrip arrive as one piece, set on a sill pan and shimmed at every hinge. It is what fixes a door that sticks, leaks or lets the draught in — and if the old sill turns out soft when it comes out, the framing under it is $410 more on the day.
This job, each material
| Steel | $1,606 | 20 yrs | $80/yr |
| Fibreglass | $2,226 | 30 yrs | $74/yr |
| Wood | $3,481 | 25 yrs | $139/yr |
Same configuration, same job, with the finishing each one needs. The last column is the one to buy on.
One door, four jobs
What stays and what goes decides the price. The door does not.
What to buy, and what the day costs
- Single door, 36 in, fibreglass, pre-hung
Door, jambs, sill and weatherstrip as one unit. The best value in a front door: does not dent, rust, warp or rot, takes paint or a wood-look stain, and insulates better than either. It arrives primed and it needs finishing, which is the line people forget.$1,050 - Handleset and deadbolt
Handleset and deadbolt, keyed alike. Doors come bored for a standard 2-1/8 in lock; the old one moves over if it fits and looks right, which it rarely does on a new door.$120 - Sill pan and flashing
A pan or a bed of sealant under the sill, turned up at the ends. Where exterior doors fail, and thirty dollars to prevent.$66 - Trim, inside and out
Brickmould outside, casing inside, caulked and painted.$120 - Finishing — primed, not painted
Primed, not painted. Paint or gel stain before the first winter.$150 - 6 hours of a carpenter
The old door, jambs and sill come out; a new unit — door, frame, sill, weatherstrip, all one piece — goes into the rough opening on a sill pan, shimmed at the hinges, flashed and trimmed. The real replacement.$540 - Trip charge
The visit. A storm door on the same day shares it.$140 - The old door away
And the frame, if it came out.$40
What it costs
National average. A single door, 36 in in fibreglass, pre-hung unit in the old opening, finished. Not included: a wider opening for a unit that does not fit the old one, a smart lock's wiring, or matching weathered siding around a new opening.
The bigger door on the same wall — sliding or French — is on the patio door page, and the paint for a whole house’s worth of doors and trim on the exterior painting page.
Worth knowing
- A pre-hung unit is the door, the jambs, the sill and the weatherstrip as one piece, set on a sill pan and shimmed at the hinges — the replacement that fixes what was wrong with the old door rather than rehanging it. If the sill turns out to be soft when the old unit comes out, it becomes the $2,636 job on the day; a quote with a line for framing repair is a quote from somebody who has seen one.
- Primed, not painted. Paint or gel stain before the first winter. $150 here, and it is the line most quotes leave off: a fibreglass door arrives primed and grey, and a winter unpainted chalks the primer.
- Fibreglass: The best value in a front door: does not dent, rust, warp or rot, takes paint or a wood-look stain, and insulates better than either. It arrives primed and it needs finishing, which is the line people forget. Per year over 30 years, fitted the same way: steel $80, fibreglass $74, wood $139.
On this page — 5 sections
The slab keeps the frame that was the problem
The short version
- Slab $1,430. Pre-hung $2,226. Rot repaired $2,636. New opening $4,581. Fibreglass, in each.
- The old frame is where the fault was — the draught, the stick, the soft sill. A slab keeps it.
- Fibreglass is the cheapest door per year. Steel for the back; wood for the look, with upkeep.
- Finishing is a line. Fibreglass arrives primed; wood arrives bare.
A door that needs replacing is usually a frame that needs replacing: the jamb racked, the hinge mortises worn, the sill soft where thirty years of rain sat against it. A slab — the door alone, hung on the old hinges in the old jamb — is the cheap job, and it keeps all of that. A pre-hung unit is the door, jambs, sill and weatherstrip as one piece, set on a sill pan in the rough opening and shimmed at every hinge: the replacement that replaces the fault.
The door is priced the same in both. The difference is the frame and the hours, and the difference between those and the framing-repair job is what the old door hides until it is out.
| Slab in the old frame | Pre-hung unit | |
|---|---|---|
| What comes out | The door | Door, jambs, sill, trim |
| What it assumes | The jamb is square, sound, same hand | Nothing about the old frame |
| Fibreglass, fitted and finished | $1,430 | $2,226 |
| Hours | 4 | 6 |
| If the sill is soft | Becomes the pre-hung job | $2,636 with framing |
MaterialsEstimator, Exterior door installation price survey · checked 2026-09-23
They fail at the sill
Rain hits the bottom of an exterior door every time it rains, the sweep holds a little of it, and the sill is the one horizontal surface on the whole assembly. Given long enough it gets in, and without a pan under the sill it goes into the subfloor and the bottom of the studs. That is the soft spot a screwdriver finds, and it is the $410 that appears on the day the old unit comes out.
The sill pan on the new unit — a tray or a bed of sealant turned up at the ends, $66 with the flashing tape — is what stops it happening again, and the manufacturers put it in the instructions. Ask for it by name.
$66
Sill pan and flashing
Where doors fail
$410
Rotten framing repaired
Found when the old one is out
$150
Finishing, fibreglass
$320 for wood
6 h
A pre-hung unit
4 for a slab
Therma-Tru / Masonite / JELD-WEN, Pre-hung exterior door installation instructions · checked 2026-09-23
Steel, fibreglass, wood — by the year
Steel is the cheapest door that works, and it dents, and it rusts along the bottom where the sweep holds water; fine for a back door, hard to make handsome at the front. Fibreglass does none of that, takes paint or a wood-look stain, insulates best and lasts thirty years — the best value in a front door by a distance. Wood is the door people picture, and it moves with the weather and wants its varnish renewed every two or three years on a face that gets sun; under a porch it lasts a century.
| Single 36 in door, pre-hung | The unit | Finishing | Fitted | Per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steel | $520 | $60 | $1,606 | $80 |
| Fibreglass | $1,050 | $150 | $2,226 | $74 |
| Wood | $2,000 | $320 | $3,481 | $139 |
Same job, same lockset, each finished the way it needs. The last column is the one to buy on.
The 36, the landing, and the wider opening
The code wants at least one exterior door with a 32 in clear opening — a 36 in door — and a landing outside every exterior door no more than 1.5 in below the threshold. The first is why a front door is not downsized to a 32; the second is why a new back door onto grass is sometimes a step as well as a door, about $320.
Sidelights and double doors are wider units: about 5 ft with two lights, 6 ft for a pair. If the opening is a 36 in door now, that is not a replacement; it is a wider opening, with a header sized for the span and, in a bearing wall, engineered — the same job as a new opening, priced from the wall rather than the door.
Before the old door comes out
- Screwdriver into the sill and the bottom of each jamb. Soft wood is the framing-repair job, better priced now than found later.
- Which hand: hinges left or right, seen from outside. A pre-hung unit is ordered that way; a slab has to match.
- The lock bore: 2-1/8 in standard, with a 2-3/8 or 2-3/4 in backset. Most old locksets do not look right on a new door anyway.
- A landing outside within 1.5 in of the threshold, or a step to build.
- Fibreglass: order it primed and plan the paint. Wood: plan the varnish and the every-three-years after it.
- Storm door on the same visit, if wanted — and not on a dark full-glass door that gets sun.
- Sidelights or a double door in a 36 in opening is a new header. Price it as the new-opening job.
International Code Council, IRC R311.2 — Egress door, and R311.3 — Floors and landings at exterior doors (2021) · checked 2026-09-23
What goes wrong
01A slab in a frame that was the problem
The draught, the stick and the rot were in the jamb and the sill. The new door keeps them.
Instead — A pre-hung unit — $796 more — and the frame is new.
02No sill pan
Water past the sill goes into the subfloor, and the next door is the framing-repair job.
Instead — A pan or a sealant bed, turned up at the ends: $66 with the flashing.
03Leaving the fibreglass door in primer
Primer chalks and stains over a winter, and the paint then needs a wash and a sand first.
Instead — Paint or gel stain before the first winter, about $150.
04A wood door on a south face with no porch
Sun and rain take the finish in two years, and the door moves with every season.
Instead — Fibreglass with a wood-look stain, or wood under a porch with the varnish kept up.
05Shims only at the top and bottom
The jamb bows between them, the door binds at the latch, and the weatherstrip never meets evenly.
Instead — Shims behind every hinge and at the strike, and a gap even all the way round.
06A storm door over a dark full-glass door
The heat trapped between them cooks the finish, and the door's warranty says so.
Instead — A storm door on a solid or light-coloured door, or vented, or none.
07Sidelights in a 36 in opening
The unit is 5 ft wide. It is a new header, not a replacement, and the quote that priced it as one is wrong on the day.
Instead — Price it as the new-opening job: about $5,803.
08A back door with no landing
The code requires one within 1.5 in of the threshold, and stepping down onto grass in the rain is why.
Instead — A pad, a step or a small deck: about $320.
- 01Press the sillA screwdriver into the sill and the bottom of the jamb. Soft wood is the framing-repair job, and it is better known now than when the old door is out.
- 02Check the jambSquare, plumb, hinges tight, door closes evenly. If all four, a slab will do. If any fail, it is a pre-hung unit.
- 03Measure the door and the openingThe slab width and height; the rough opening if the frame is coming out. A 36 in door is the egress door the code wants at least one of.
- 04Choose the material by the yearSteel for a back door; fibreglass for a front door that stays thirty years; wood for the look, with the finish kept up.
- 05Add the finishingFibreglass arrives primed, wood arrives bare. It is a line, not an afterthought.
- 06Look outside the doorA landing within 1.5 in of the threshold, or a step to build. And a storm door on the same visit if you want one.
Sliding and French patio doors are priced the same way — by the opening before the door — with the header and the sill pan that decide it.
The bigger door on the same wall- Slab
- The door alone — no frame, hinges or sill — bored for a lockset, to hang in an existing jamb. Cheap, and it assumes the jamb is right.
- Pre-hung unit
- Door, jambs, sill and weatherstrip assembled as one piece, hung on its hinges at the factory. The replacement that replaces the frame.
- Jamb
- The frame the door closes against — two legs and a head. On an old door it is where the rot, the racking and the worn hinge mortises are.
- Sill and threshold
- The bottom of the frame, sloped to shed water, with the threshold the door sweep seals against. Where exterior doors fail.
- Sill pan
- A tray or bed of sealant under the sill, turned up at the ends, so water that gets past the door goes back out instead of into the subfloor.
- Rough opening
- The framed hole in the wall, about 2 in wider and 1 in taller than the pre-hung frame, with the difference shimmed out at the hinges.
- Brickmould
- The exterior trim around the frame, covering the gap to the siding. Also what a storm door mounts to.
- Hand
- Which side the hinges are on and which way the door swings, seen from outside. A slab of the wrong hand does not fit; a pre-hung unit can be ordered either way.
- Egress door
- The one exterior door the code requires to give a 32 in clear opening — a 36 in door. A 32 in front door is not a replacement for it.
- Landing
- The floor outside the door, no more than 1.5 in below the threshold. Required, and often absent at a back door onto grass.
- Storm door
- A second door of glass and screen outside the entry door, mounted to the brickmould. Protects the finish and adds a layer of air; cooks a dark full-glass door in sun.
- Sidelights
- Narrow fixed glass panels either side of the door, as one unit with it. About 5 ft wide together, which is not a 36 in opening.
Common questions
- How much does it cost to install an exterior door?
- About $2,226 for a fibreglass entry door as a pre-hung unit in the existing opening — the door with its frame, sill and weatherstrip, a lockset, a sill pan, trim, finishing, and 6 hours of a carpenter. As a slab hung in the old frame, about $1,430. If the old sill was rotten, about $2,636 with the framing repaired; in a new opening, about $4,581. Steel is about $1,606 pre-hung; wood $3,481.
- What is the labour cost to install an exterior door?
- About $680 for a pre-hung unit — 6 hours including finishing, plus the trip — and $500 for a slab. Labour to remove and install door and frame with rotten framing repaired first is about $950; a new opening is a day and a half at $1,625, before the header, the wall and the permit.
- Slab or pre-hung?
- A slab is the door alone, hung in the old jamb: cheaper by $796, and it assumes the jamb is square, the sill is sound, the hinges line up and the hand is the same. On a door that needs replacing, at least one of those is usually false, and the old frame is where the draught, the stick and the rot were. A pre-hung unit replaces the frame, which is the point. Press a screwdriver into the sill; if it goes in, the decision is made.
- How much does it cost to replace a front door?
- A fibreglass front door with a half-lite of glass, pre-hung, with a new handleset and painted: about $2,699. With two sidelights — which is a 5 ft unit and, if the opening is 36 in now, a new header — about $5,803. A double 6 ft entrance in a new opening about $6,163. In wood, add about $1,255 to any of them and a varnish every three years.
- How much does a storm door cost to install?
- About $320 for the door and 1.5 hours — $455 added to an entry door on the same visit, or roughly $595 on its own with the trip charge. It mounts to the existing brickmould, which has to be sound and square. Not a fit with a dark full-glass door in sun: the heat trapped between them cooks the finish.
- Steel, fibreglass or wood?
- Steel: $1,606 fitted, 20 years; Fibreglass: $2,226 fitted, 30 years; Wood: $3,481 fitted, 25 years. Per year fibreglass is the cheapest of the three — it does not dent, rust, warp or rot and it insulates best — steel is right for a back door, and wood is the look, with a finish that wants renewing every two or three years on a face that gets sun.
- Does the door need painting?
- A fibreglass door arrives primed, not painted, and a winter unpainted chalks the primer; a wood door arrives bare and wants stain and three coats of marine varnish; steel is primed and lasts a season. It is about $150 for fibreglass and $320 for wood, the line most quotes leave off — $2,226 finished against $1,941 not.
- What if the sill is rotten?
- Then the subfloor under it and the bottom of the studs beside it are too, and they are cut back to sound wood and rebuilt in treated lumber before the new unit goes in: about $410 more, and it appears on the day the old door comes out. A quote with a line for framing repair is from somebody who has seen one; the sill pan on the new unit is what stops the next one.
- Can I replace an exterior door myself?
- A pre-hung unit, with a helper: about $1,506 of door, lockset, pan, trim and paint. The old frame out, the opening checked square, the sill pan in, the unit set and shimmed behind every hinge until the gap is even all round, the flashing in the order water runs, the trim back. A morning if the opening is square. A slab is chisel work at the hinges and strike, and it takes three fittings. A new opening in a bearing wall is not a first job.
- Do I need a permit to replace an exterior door?
- For a door in the existing opening, usually not, though some jurisdictions ask for one on any exterior door. For a new or wider opening, yes: it is structural work, and the permit is the inspection of the header.
- Does an exterior door need a step outside?
- A landing no more than 1.5 in below the threshold, on both sides — the code requires it, and a back door onto grass often has not got one. A pad, a step or a small deck, about $320, and it is why a new back door is sometimes a step as well as a door.
- Can I put in a 32 in door instead of a 36?
- Not as the main door: the code requires at least one exterior door with a 32 in clear opening, which is a 36 in door, and a 32 in door gives about 30 in clear. A second door can be narrower. Most houses have their 36 at the front, which is why the front door is the one that is not downsized.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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