Door Installation Cost Calculator

Professional door installation typically runs $200 to $1,500 per door, driven mostly by the type. Interior doors are cheapest at roughly $150 to $400 installed, exterior entry doors $500 to $1,200, French doors $900 to $2,500, and sliding glass patio doors $1,000 to $3,000-plus. Storm or screen doors land around $250 to $500. Whether you hang a slab in an existing frame, replace the whole pre-hung unit, or cut a new opening also matters, along with material quality and extras. Doing several doors at once lowers the per-door cost.

A slab is just the door panel — no frame, no jamb. You install one when your existing frame and hinges are still square and solid and you only want a new door; the installer mortises the hinges and bores the handle holes to fit. It's cheaper because there's less material and the frame stays, but it demands precise fitting. A pre-hung door comes as a complete unit — the door already hung in its own frame — and drops into the rough opening as one piece. It costs more but gives a properly aligned, sealed result, and it's the standard for exterior doors where the frame and weather-sealing matter.

Three reasons. The door itself is heavier and more substantial — insulated steel, fiberglass, or solid wood built for weather and security, versus a lightweight hollow- or solid-core interior panel. The install is more demanding: it has to be sealed against air and water with weatherstripping, a threshold, and flashing, and aligned precisely for insulation and security. And it comes with more hardware — deadbolts, weather-rated locksets, sometimes glass or sidelights. An interior door just needs to swing and latch, so a sub-$400 interior job compares to $700-plus for an entry door and more for patio sliders.

It depends on the frame. If your jamb is solid, square, level, and undamaged, a new slab or pre-hung that fits it saves money — no reason to tear out a good frame. But if the frame is rotted (common on older exterior doors), warped, out of square, or the door has never sealed right, replacing the whole unit with a new pre-hung is the better call, since a new door in a bad frame keeps the same problems. For exterior doors especially, frame integrity drives weather-sealing and security. Changing the door's size or location means reframing the opening entirely.

Usually, yes. A big share of any job is the overhead of showing up — travel, setup, and the minimum service charge — which spreads across all the doors instead of one. Once the installer is on site and in a rhythm, each similar door goes faster. So replacing all your interior doors at once beats doing them one at a time. The savings are biggest on lower-cost interior doors, where labor is a large share of the total; on high-cost patio sliders the material dominates, so bundling helps less. If you have several to do, get them quoted together.

For interiors: hollow-core is cheapest and lightest (fine for bedrooms and closets but little sound insulation), solid-core is the popular upgrade for a substantial feel and better sound blocking, and solid wood is the premium look. For exteriors: steel is economical, secure, and efficient but can dent and rust if damaged; fiberglass is durable, low-maintenance, efficient, and can mimic wood — a strong long-term value; and solid wood is beautiful but priciest and needs the most upkeep against weather. On glass doors, look for insulated/Low-E glass. The calculator's builder, mid, and premium tiers show how quality shifts the price.

For a like-for-like swap — same size door in the same opening — usually not, since you're not changing the structure. But cutting a new opening, enlarging an existing one, or adding a door where there wasn't one typically does require a permit, because it alters the wall framing and may involve load-bearing structure that needs a properly sized header and an inspection. If the wall is load-bearing, an engineer or permit is more likely. Rules vary by municipality, so check locally for any new or resized opening. The calculator's 'cut a new opening' option reflects that more involved, permit-prone work.

They're what make an exterior door actually seal. Weatherstripping around the jamb and a properly set threshold (with a sweep at the bottom) block drafts, wind-driven rain, dust, and insects — and a door that doesn't seal leaks conditioned air, driving up heating and cooling bills. On a replacement, worn or missing weatherstripping is a common reason an old door felt drafty. Fresh weatherstripping and a good threshold (~$60/door) restore the tight seal that makes the door energy-efficient and comfortable. The calculator includes it as an add-on, and it's well worth it on any exterior install.

A pre-hung interior door replacing an existing one is a realistic DIY if you're handy — set it plumb and level in the opening, shim it, fasten it, and hang the trim. A slab that needs custom fitting (mortising hinges, boring for the handle) is fussier and unforgiving of small errors. Exterior doors are harder because the weather-sealing, flashing, and precise alignment matter for energy and security, and a poor seal causes leaks and drafts. Cutting a new opening involves framing and a header — leave that to a pro. When in doubt, exterior and structural jobs are worth hiring out.

Most are quick. A pre-hung interior door replacing an existing one is often 1 to 2 hours, so an installer can do several in a day. A slab needing custom fitting takes a bit longer per door. An exterior entry door is usually 2 to 4 hours for the careful fitting, weather-sealing, and hardware. French and sliding patio doors take longer still — often half a day or more each — for their size, weight, glass, and precise operation. Cutting a new opening adds substantial time for framing and finishing, potentially a multi-day job. Painting or staining adds drying time.