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Thread: Just got a quote for a new front door

  1. #16
    Join Date
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    Six years ago my son replaced his front double door with a single with sidelights. He bought it at HD and we had a pro builder friend install it with our help. It took us two hours to remove and replace and he had to trim the top of the opening to make it fit. Install cost $200. Looking at HD website, I see plenty of Feather River fiberglass doors with side lites. Here is one for $3500. That is exactly why I am a DIY'r.

    NOW you tell me...

  2. #17
    I love these kinds of threads thinking contractors are too expensive. Being in business is expensive. Does one haggle with their dentist, doctor, attorney, ask if they cook the food at the restaurant if it's cheaper?

  3. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Darcy Warner View Post
    I love these kinds of threads thinking contractors are too expensive. Being in business is expensive. Does one haggle with their dentist, doctor, attorney, ask if they cook the food at the restaurant if it's cheaper?
    There's nothing wrong with people charging what the market will bear for a product or service that is "elective". (Putting aside the dentist doctor attorney stuff where it can smell like legalized extortion.) There's also nothing wrong with DIY, if you actually know how to do it.

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Darcy Warner View Post
    I love these kinds of threads thinking contractors are too expensive. Being in business is expensive. Does one haggle with their dentist, doctor, attorney, ask if they cook the food at the restaurant if it's cheaper?
    I never haggle with a contractor, I either take the bid or I don't. While I understand most bids are what is needed for the contractor to make a fair living, it is often about my budget at the time. Things always take longer than I thought it would when I do a job myself. I believe if I had to estimate jobs I would be out of business for the time estimates alone.

  5. #20
    There are so many variables in renovation, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Go T&M, might seem scary but makes the most sense for all involved.

  6. #21
    Dennis- have you gotten quotes from other contractors? On a job that expensive I always get several- it’s also a good way to judge what’s a fair local price.
    Last edited by Mark Daily; 01-26-2020 at 11:55 AM.

  7. #22
    Join Date
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    If you don't haggle with your lawyer you'll end up paying double what you should. They are like rug salespeople and price the service way high initially so that you can feel good when they agree to charge you $450 an hour rather than $800. (I speak from many decades of negotiating for legal services for a major corporation). Most contractors don't play that game, so I don't haggle with them. I do get a couple of bids and often find a 3x variation for the same scope of work. I wouldn't try to talk the expensive guy into working for cheap though.

    FWIW, prices from doctors are also often negotiable. It can't hurt to ask.

    I can tell you that absolutely everyone asks artists and musicians to work for free or cheap.

  8. #23
    I’ll make you one transom and sidelights single door 1.75” sapele or the like. No hardware excepts gaskets for $9K installed.

    I’m in mass I’ll drive it down and instal it you have interior and exterior casing on hand.


    Quote Originally Posted by dennis thompson View Post
    We would like to replace our current front door. It currently also has sidelights and a transom. We got a quote for a fiberglass door from Pella. The installation would be exactly the same size as the current door,with sidelights and transom.
    The installed cost is $6595.( Wood would be twice as much) I have no idea how to determine if this is a reasonable price.
    What do you think? ( I'm in Monmouth county NJ)
    Note that I have no interest ,nor do I have the capability of ,doing this myself

  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Daily View Post
    Dennis- have gotten quotes from other contractors? On a job that expensive I always get several- it’s also a good way to judge what’s a fair local price.
    I have asked for quotes from three different contractors, so far only one has replied.
    Thanks for all the responses, it looks to me that the price is reasonable for this area.
    Dennis

  10. #25
    Quote Originally Posted by Darcy Warner View Post
    I love these kinds of threads thinking contractors are too expensive. Being in business is expensive. Does one haggle with their dentist, doctor, attorney, ask if they cook the food at the restaurant if it's cheaper?
    Having been in the construction business for the last 52 years, some contractors (most likely builders as they don't have a Contractor's licensee) think a lot more of their work than it's worth. Some jobs I priced , I was told I was way over priced, so someone else did them the first time. But when I went back to clean up the mess they made, my price didn't seem so bad. One customer had a center sash in a flat bay rotted at bottom. Simple replacement. Order correct size sash, and replace the old one. Caulk paint, haul off old sash and collect. Yahoos she hired scabbed a piece over rotted area. She admitted, when I handed her the bill, that she had paid more for messed up job than I charged to do it correctly.
    Last edited by Bruce Wrenn; 01-25-2020 at 7:58 PM.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Northern Michigan
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    Dennis, DO NOT BUY A PELLA!

    Your climate is similar to mine and I am replacing Pellas I put in new houses 15 years ago. All rotten. Called Pella, and their answer was that I should have caulked the sash to the glass when I installed them because that is where they leak. REALLY!!! Crap and a crap company.

    Price is about right I would say, not in your market, BUT DON"T BUY A PELLA!

  12. #27
    Idk my option is worthless probably bit kinda not.

    I have plenty of experience installing the big names in windows and doors and the fact is they are all crap with a short shelf life.
    ‘That’s coming from a guy that spent $26k for like 19 top of the line marvins for his tiny bungalow like four years ago.

    What other choice do we really have unless we can afford custom made from a mill shop. Ben the better top of the line used to be eagle or whomever that’s that other name I think it begins with a K are kinda just crap. Have joe build you some windows and I bet you will get a window that last provided you maintain the exterior of them.

    Anyway I could not bring myself to spend $7k on a simple interior exterior passage door when I dam well know I could make the thing myself jamb in all in what is at most 40 hrs worth of work spread over a few weeks taking into account sourcing acclimatizing and milling lumber. For the same $7k o could build myself one kick ass door.

    What I could never ever ever do is purchase anything from a big box store and tour talking to a guy that is a hourly cabinet maker. A fire code basement door in a bulkhead sure but other than that not a chance I’d ever buy a big box or Pelli anything.

  13. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Darcy Warner View Post
    I love these kinds of threads thinking contractors are too expensive. Being in business is expensive. Does one haggle with their dentist, doctor, attorney, ask if they cook the food at the restaurant if it's cheaper?
    Quote Originally Posted by Doug Dawson View Post
    There's nothing wrong with people charging what the market will bear for a product or service that is "elective". (Putting aside the dentist doctor attorney stuff where it can smell like legalized extortion.) There's also nothing wrong with DIY, if you actually know how to do it.
    The hidden cost of DIY is called opportunity cost. Assuming the DIY'er has the skills to do the job in the first place, how long will it take and what else would he/she done with their time? I read a thread here on SMC where a guy decided to build his entire kitchen cabinet package to save $$. Due to his day job, the kitchen project consumed every weekend for a year. That's a year of weekends that guy will never get back. There's a price to a DIYer's time, and an aggravation factor too.
    This is not to argue against DIY, but thinking of it as an apples to apples comparison to hiring a professional is not accurate either.

    By the way, I'm not disagreeing with either comment above, just adding some thoughts.

  14. #29
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  15. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Wrenn View Post
    Having been in the construction business for the last 52 years, some contractors (most likely builders as they don't have a Contractor's licensee) think a lot more of their work than it's worth. Some jobs I priced , I was told I was way over priced, so someone else did them the first time. But when I went back to clean up the mess they made, my price didn't seem so bad. One customer had a center sash in a flat bay rotted at bottom. Simple replacement. Order correct size sash, and replace the old one. Caulk paint, haul off old sash and collect. Yahoos she hired scabbed a piece over rotted area. She admitted, when I handed her the bill, that she had paid more for messed up job than I charged to do it correctly.
    Sometimes that's the only way one can learn a lesson, with their pocket book.

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