How Much Does It Cost to Install a Door? (2026 Contractor Pricing Guide)
Almost every "door installation cost" guide online is written for the homeowner getting quotes — here's your range, here's the national average, call three pros. Helpful if you're paying. Useless if you're the one swinging the hammer trying to land on a number that wins the job and still pays.
This guide gives you both. The quick ballpark first, then the part the homeowner guides skip: how a contractor actually prices a door install — prehung versus slab, the labor time that drives the number, and the line items guys forget to bill.
The Quick Answer
Installed door costs break down by where the door goes:
| Door type | Typical installed cost (door + labor) |
|---|---|
| Interior door (existing opening) | $150 – $700 |
| Interior door (new opening framed) | $500 – $1,200 |
| Exterior / entry door | $400 – $2,000+ |
| French or double door | $700 – $5,000+ |
| Sliding / patio door | $1,000 – $3,500+ |
Those are real ranges, but a range isn't a bid. The spread between $150 and $700 for one interior door isn't random — it's the difference between a prehung swap into a good opening and a slab door you have to hang from scratch. So let's price it the way a contractor does.
What Contractors Actually Charge to Install a Door
Most door pricing happens per door, not per hour — but the per-door number is built from labor time underneath. Get the time right and the price takes care of itself. The single biggest factor in that time is one question: prehung or slab?
Prehung vs. slab: the time difference
A prehung door comes in its own frame with the hinges already mounted. You pull the old unit, set the new one, shim it plumb and square, fasten, and case it. On a clean opening that's roughly 1 to 2 hours of work. More expensive to buy, faster to install.
A slab door is just the door — no frame, no hinges, no bored handle. You reuse the existing jamb, which means mortising the hinges to match, boring the handle and latch, and trimming the slab to fit an opening that's probably not perfectly square. Cheaper to buy, but the labor runs longer because you're doing the millwork the prehung came with. New contractors underbid slab doors constantly because the door costs less — and then the day disappears into hinge mortises.
Build the labor from your rate
Take your hourly rate and multiply by realistic install time. At $65/hour, a 1.5-hour prehung interior swap is about $100 in labor; a slab door that runs 3 hours is closer to $195; an exterior door with weatherstripping, threshold, and a deadbolt to bore can run half a day. Same rate, very different jobs — which is exactly why a flat "I charge $150 a door" leaves money on the table on the hard ones. (If you're not sure what your hourly rate should be in the first place, start with our contractor rate calculator guide.)
Add the door and hardware with markup
The door itself: a hollow-core interior prehung runs $50 to $150 at the supplier; solid-core or solid wood $150 to $400; a steel or fiberglass exterior door $200 to $1,500+. Add your material markup — most guys run 15 to 30 percent — plus the hardware that's easy to forget: hinges, the knob or lever set, a deadbolt on exterior, weatherstripping, and a threshold. (For the full breakdown on pricing materials, see our guide to contractor markup on materials.)
Then bill what slows you down
The forgotten line items are where door jobs quietly lose money:
- Old door and frame removal. Pulling the existing unit and hauling it off is real time and a disposal cost. Bill it — don't fold it into the install for free.
- Out-of-square openings. Old houses settle. An opening that's racked means custom shimming and scribing, and it can double your set time on a prehung.
- Slab hardware boring. Mortising hinges and boring a fresh handle on a slab door is skilled millwork. If you're doing it, it's a line item.
- Casing and trim. A new prehung almost always means re-casing the opening, which is its own material and labor — and ties back to your trim pricing.
- Exterior weatherproofing. Flashing, sealing, and weatherstripping an exterior door right takes time and matters. It's not optional and it's not free.
- Painting or finishing. A new slab or primed prehung isn't done until it's painted or sealed — and that's its own labor and material, billed as its own line. (Pricing the paint side? See our guide to what it costs to paint a room.)
The contractor's rule of thumb: a prehung interior door into a good opening is a one-to-two hour job; a slab door, a racked opening, or an exterior door is a different animal. Price each door for the work it actually takes, not a flat per-door number that averages the easy ones with the hard ones.
A Real Example
Take a standard interior prehung swap — pull the old hollow-core, set a new solid-core prehung in a decent opening, re-case it. Here's the bid built from real numbers instead of a flat "$300 a door":
| Line | How it's figured | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Labor | ~2 hrs @ $65/hr (remove, set, shim, case) | $130 |
| Door | Solid-core prehung $160 + 20% markup | $192 |
| Hardware + trim | Lever set, casing, shims, fasteners | $70 |
| Disposal | Haul-off of old unit | $25 |
| Total bid | Built from real numbers | $417 |
That lands inside the $150–$700 interior range from the table up top — but you didn't pull it from a range, you built it from your rate, the actual door, the hardware, and the haul-off. Swap in a slab door, a racked opening, or an exterior unit and every number moves because the work moved. That's a bid, not a guess.
Build estimates from your real numbers — not a flat per-door price.
TradePilot uses your labor rate, your markup, and your price book to build door estimates that actually pay. Scan the opening, set your rate, send the bid.
Join the Waitlist →How to Keep Door Jobs Profitable
Three habits separate the guys who make money on doors from the ones who lose the afternoon:
Ask prehung or slab before you quote. It's the question that determines the whole labor number. Quoting a door without knowing which one is quoting blind.
Check the opening. A quick check for square and plumb tells you whether this is a one-hour set or a custom-shim afternoon. Old houses lie — verify before you price.
Bill removal and disposal every time. Pulling and hauling the old unit is the most-skipped line on a door bid. It's real time and a real cost, so it's a real line item.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to install a door?
Interior doors typically run $150 to $700 installed; exterior doors $400 to $2,000+. A simple prehung swap into an existing opening sits low; a slab door, a new framed opening, or an exterior unit costs more because the labor is longer.
How much does a contractor charge to install a door?
Most contractors price per door, but the number is built from labor time. A prehung interior door is roughly 1 to 2 hours; a slab or exterior door is longer. At a $65/hour rate that's roughly $65 to $200+ in labor per door, before the door and hardware with markup.
Is it cheaper to install a prehung or slab door?
A slab door is cheaper to buy but takes longer to install because you mortise the hinges and bore the handle yourself. A prehung costs more in material but installs faster since it comes framed with hinges attached. Prehung usually wins on total time when there's no usable frame; slab wins when the existing jamb is solid and square.