How Much Does It Cost To Hang/Fit a Front Door?



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Cost to Hang a Front Door




Job

Description
Labour
1You want the hardwood “Grange over Sands” front door, with three little panes of glass at the top (alas, all of them “bullseye”), these come supplied with the door. It’s usual to have a “Yale” with a puller, a morticed deadlock, a letterbox with integral knocker, an internal chain and three good quality hinges. The joiner will give it the first coat of varnish all round before he goes. You will apply the other 2 coats yourself (yeh right)!  He will collect the new door and tip the old one. That’s 1 man 2 days
£350

Plus the door (£150) + the other kit, tipping etc.
£325
2Your front door is sticking at the bottom so it needs to come off to be shaved then returned. He will charge half a day
£90
3If you want a new design, pre-painted UPVC door (they have moved on I’m pleased to say). The local window company will charge something north of ….
£1000


“Labour” at £175 a day (tradesman) £100 (labourer), includes incidental fixings etc. and tipping charges. “Materials” if mentioned, are larger things (a boiler) and stuff only you can choose (tiles etc).  Also VAT must be added all round.

Information Sheet on Front Door Hanging


So you want a new front door. Why, what’s wrong with the old one? If it’s original, it was designed for a house of that era, a new one might end up looking a bit incongruous.

I personally wouldn’t have a PVCu door for three reasons. The first is quite important – safety. PVCu doors don’t just latch shut, you have to physically lock them (usually while having to turn the handle in a wrist-breaking manoeuvre).

This is what people do at night, then put the key in the kitchen drawer “for security”.

It’s no problem getting outside at 8.45am to take the kids to school but if there’s a fire at 2 in the morning, will you find the key, fit it and get the kids out?

At least leave the key in the door!

The second reason is the threshold. For some reason some plastic doors need a ladder so you can climb over the threshold. Check the next time you’re walking through one – you’ll feel like David Hemery (Google him!)

The third reason appeals to the delicate aesthete hidden within my calloused soul; UPVc doors can look pretty naff can’t they?

So, you’re going to get a wooden one then! Well, unless you pay for a bespoke one, they’re all pretty much the same. The “Cavendish”, the Fortesque”, the “Belvedere”…

Will it be soft or hardwood?
Softwood may well be full of knots so will have to be painted.
Hardwood can be varnished or waxed.

Will it have a glazed area?
Any glazing lower than 1500mm from the hall floor will have to be safety glass. I’m not sure but I think that discounts those imitation bullseye panes, result there then!
Also make sure its “obscure” (I don’t mean somehow just a bit quirky). This is how glaziers describe glass that will stop the postman seeing you in your jim-jams, when you take Doris her morning cuppa upstairs at 7.22am.

Exterior Furniture
(We don’t know why it’s called furniture! Maybe chippies got fed up of not knowing where to look and hearing that Sid James laugh in their head, when discussing knobs and knockers with the lady of the house).
Do yourself (and the postman) a favour and make sure the letterbox is big enough to get the newspaper through.
Locks have to be considered.
You need it to latch by itself (the “Yale” type lock) and you also need a separate good quality mortice deadlock (it’s cut and fitted into the edge of the door and needs a key to lock and unlock it. There’s usually no handle.
There are also hinge bolts which are “invisible” steel studs set next to each hinge, they are supposed to stop the door being levered off its hinges by bad lads.
What self-respecting criminal is going to risk doing that, when he can just send his nipper through the cat flap?
If you live in a flat with an internal corridor outside, make sure the door is still exterior quality. This refers to the thickness particularly. The frame will be designed to take a 44mm thick exterior door (not a 36mm interior one). Also the extra security provided by the thicker door is probably more relevant in this situation.
It might be worth a call to your insurance company at this point. Don’t they give reductions for the right type of 5 lever security locks?

The joiner will want to know exactly how much furniture you want.
There’s the “Yale”, the deadlock, the letterbox, the house numbers, the spy hole, the means of pulling it closed from the outside.
Front doors don’t usually have handles, so is there to be a big central knob, or a puller around the Yale lock etc. Or are you going to just stick your hand through the letter box to close it?
There’s the knocker or the bell and inside a security chain or sliding bolts. He will want to know if it’s glazed and how much glass there is.
The only thing he should insist on, are the 3 x 100mm hinges.

The Finish
Do you want paint or varnish?
Who will be slapping it on or you?
Either way, the door must be left ajar to dry overnight and all of next day.
What about the gentlemen in stripy jumpers?

Who buys the furniture?
You.  He can’t be expected to plough through all the design and material types and colour combinations for you. You must also make sure he knows exactly where on the door you want each bit to go.

Who chooses the door?
You.  But he must tell you the door size to get.
Who will collect it from the store?
Who will dispose of the old one?

What about any glass?
If any glass has to be bought separately from the door, he must measure for it and this must be done in the door shop a few days before he fits it.
It’s no use ordering it when he comes to fit the door, it could take 3 days to arrive. The postman might have died of shock by then! But you must go to the glaziers to decide on glass patterns etc.
Who will collect the glass when it’s ready?

Where will he be cutting the new door?
Will he try and clear up the shavings when he leaves? Most of these will be in your neighbour’s garden by this time.

Who is going to do the painting?
A carpenter may not be prepared to. He might be persuaded to leave it primed though.

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