Exterior door installation cost: the door, the labor and the parts you don't see

Replacing a standard exterior door usually costs about $1,000 to $3,500 in 2026 for a 36 inch prehung steel or fiberglass door, installed. Labor alone typically runs $350 to $1,000. Entry doors with sidelights, wood doors and doors in masonry walls cost more. What decides your price is less the door you pick and more what happens at the bottom of the opening, where the sill, the subfloor and the flashing are.

Lower Merion TwpOct 2025

The numbers

These are 2026 ranges pulled from national cost guides such as LawnStarter and other installer pricing surveys. They vary a lot between sources, so use them as a starting point.

Hourly labor for door installation runs roughly $40 to $90 nationally, and a standard exterior prehung door takes four to eight hours to do right, including removal, flashing, trim and hardware. Doors in brick or stone walls, doors that need a new sill and doors where the opening size changes take longer.

We price the door, the labor, the trim and any repair separately on our estimates, so you can change the door model without guessing how it affects the rest.

Prehung or slab

A slab is just the door, with no frame. It only works if your existing frame is square, solid and the same size. It is cheaper in material but often more labor, because hinges, lockset holes and fit have to be cut on site to an old frame.

A prehung door comes hung in its own frame with a sill, weatherstripping and hinges. Almost every exterior replacement we do is prehung, because the old frame and sill are usually the part that has failed. It costs more up front and it fixes the leak, draft and sticking problems a slab cannot.

If you are wondering whether the frame has to go too, we wrote a separate guide on replacing the door or the door and frame.

What makes an exterior door cost more

The sill and subfloor

The most common surprise. Water that has been getting under an old threshold for years rots the subfloor, the rim joist below it and sometimes the bottom of the jamb studs. When the old door comes out, we check it. If it is soft, it has to be cut out and replaced before the new door goes in. A new door on a rotten sill will fail.

Flashing

A new exterior door needs a sloped sill pan or flashing membrane under the sill, so water that gets past the threshold drains outside instead of into the floor. Then the sides and head get flashed in the right order. This adds little cost and is skipped on cheap installs more than anything else.

Masonry openings

Brick and stone openings are often out of square and a different width at the top than the bottom. The new frame has to be shimmed and fastened to the masonry or to wood bucks inside it, and the joint to the brick sealed so it can move. On the brick house in the Douglassville area, the new exterior door was set into the masonry with new white trim around it.

Douglassville areaJan 2025

Sidelights and transoms

Sidelights add glass, a wider frame and more weight. A unit with two sidelights is often three times the work of a single door, especially when the opening has to be widened or the header checked.

Changing the size

Making an opening wider or taller means cutting the wall, installing a new header and patching inside and out. That is a structural change and usually needs a permit. Keeping the same size is much cheaper.

Storm door and hardware

A new storm door, a smart lock, a mortise lockset or a multi-point lock are separate costs. Plan on them if you want them, rather than finding out at the end.

What is included in a good install

When we replace an exterior door, the work runs like this:

1. Remove the old door, frame and trim carefully, protecting the floor inside.
2. Inspect the sill, subfloor, rim and jamb studs, and repair any rot.
3. Install a sloped sill pan or flashing under the new sill.
4. Set the prehung unit, shim it plumb and square, and fasten through the jambs and hinges into the framing.
5. Check the reveal around the door and adjust until it closes evenly and seals.
6. Insulate the gap with low-expansion foam.
7. Flash the sides and head, then install exterior trim or brickmold.
8. Install interior casing, lockset and deadbolt, and adjust the strike.
9. Caulk the joints that need it and clean up.

On the stone house in Lower Merion, the fir entry door with sidelights went into the fieldstone wall under the new porch. That is the photo at the top of this page.

Choosing a door material

• Steel is the lowest cost, strong and secure. It dents and can rust where the paint chips, especially at the bottom.
• Fiberglass costs more, does not dent or rot, can look like wood and takes stain. It is the most common choice for front doors today.
• Wood is the most traditional and the most maintenance. It suits historic houses and covered entries. Uncovered wood doors facing south or west need regular refinishing.

Glass in the door adds light and cost. Decorative and privacy glass costs more than clear.

Front door, back door, side door

Not every door needs the same budget. A front door is what people see, so it often gets the better door and hardware. A back or side door into a mudroom or garage can be a good steel door and still last decades, as long as it is installed and flashed properly. Our guide on replacing a front door with sidelights covers the front entry in detail.

Permits in Pennsylvania

Replacing an exterior door in the same opening generally does not need a building permit under Pennsylvania's Uniform Construction Code. Changing the size of the opening, cutting a header or changing an exit door can. Townships vary, so we check before we start.

Home improvement contracts over $500 have to be in writing in Pennsylvania, with a three business day right to cancel. On jobs over $1,000, the deposit is limited to one third of the price plus special-order materials, which matters because many doors are special order.

How long it takes

A straightforward prehung door in the same opening is usually done in a day, including trim. Doors with sidelights, sill repair or masonry openings can take two days. Special-order doors often take several weeks to arrive, so the wait is usually for the door, not the install.

How to compare door quotes

Ask each contractor to spell out:

• The door brand, model, material, glass and swing.
• Prehung or slab.
• Whether the sill pan and flashing are included.
• What happens if the subfloor or sill is rotten, and the price per section.
• Interior and exterior trim: new or reused.
• Lockset and deadbolt: included, or bring your own.
• Disposal of the old door.

If one quote is much cheaper, it usually leaves out flashing, rot repair or trim.

Security details worth paying for

A new exterior door is a chance to make the house more secure, and most of it is in the details, not the door:

• Long screws in the strike plate and hinges, at least 3 inches, into the framing behind the jamb. This is the single cheapest security upgrade.
• A reinforced strike plate for the deadbolt.
• A deadbolt with a full 1 inch throw.
• Glass placed so it cannot be broken to reach the lock, or laminated glass near the lock.
• Solid shims behind the strike, so the jamb cannot be spread apart.

We install these as a normal part of the job, and they cost very little compared to the door.

Questions people ask about exterior door cost

Can I just replace the door and keep the frame? Sometimes, if the frame and sill are solid and square. Most exterior doors we replace need the frame too, because the sill is where the water damage is.

How much is labor to install a prehung exterior door? Nationally, about $350 to $1,000 for a standard door in the same opening. More for sidelights, masonry openings and repairs.

Fiberglass or steel? Fiberglass for a front door you want to last and look good with little upkeep. Steel for a budget back or side door.

Do new doors save energy? A well-sealed new door stops drafts noticeably, but most of the benefit comes from the weatherstripping and the install, not the door's insulation number.

Is the estimate free? Yes. We measure the opening, check the sill and floor, and send a written estimate.

See our door installation service, the Douglassville brick house job and the Andersen windows and French doors in Lower Merion.

Ask us to price your door