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New Storm Door Installation Costs
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Posted by chester_grant (My Page) on Fri, Apr 4, 08 at 17:55
| I wish to install new storm doors front and rear - the ones with a built in flyscreen so that one can get cool evening breezes in the summer. The first guy to quote came around to measure up but then called back and essentially said the job was too small. The doors cost about $350 each but I was shocked by the second installation quote of $500 for just two standard sized doors ($275 a door minus a discount for two!).
I Googled online and came up with a typical 1.5 hrs of labor for a screen door - so allowing for a generous hour of travel each way that would be $100 an hour. Isnt that a bit much, even for the TriState area? |
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RE: New Storm Door Installation Costs
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| If it is an outfit w/ employees doing the install, you have to take into consideration overhead such as workmans comp,wear & tear on vehicles ,tools that all factor in from each job. If it is an outfit w/ no employees and they do their own installs, there is still overhead, but not as much. !00.oo hr is not clear profit. I just hung a retractable screen and a single screen door for 75.00 each, but i operate solo w/little overhead in a small town. |
RE: New Storm Door Installation Costs
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I got some workmen doing a flashing job nearby to agree to do the two doors for $125. They took a door out of the box - and after asking ME for a hacksaw they decided it was too difficult and left (I had already decided that I wasnt going to let anyone without proper tools put a door on the front of my house!).
I now have a guy who has quoted $185 PER DOOR. Beggars can't be choosers. |
RE: New Storm Door Installation Costs
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| I'd check around. We just had the same 2 hung at my Dad's house for $70. each. |
RE: New Storm Door Installation Costs
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| "I got some workmen doing a flashing job nearby to agree to do the two doors for $125. They took a door out of the box - and after asking ME for a hacksaw they decided it was too difficult and left" The same thing happened to me. I wanted cabinets built, but the cabinet maker wanted alot of money!! So I hired the man who picks up the garbage who said he would pay me for the priviledge of working for me. But it also didn't work out. He said he used recycled materials, but I thought better of compressed used diapers as shelves.
Boy, That was close!!! I guess I'll be forced to hire someone that's actually qualified to do the job. What a bummer!!!
Ron |
RE: New Storm Door Installation Costs
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Ron,
There is a big difference between your "example" and me thinking that workmen doing an excellent whole house flashing job (on a neighbors house) with the specialist tools that can cut and bend and fit metal could put up a metal storm door. As it happens the job took four hours for two doors for two men who are used to screen doors. It turned out that our front door is idiosyncratic and not plumb so it took more time - which wasnt charged for. |
RE: New Storm Door Installation Costs
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| "They took a door out of the box - and after asking ME for a hacksaw they decided it was too difficult and left" Your words, not mine.
It was so far out of their experience range, they just walked away.
I'm pretty familiar with the project. I've put a few in, my 30 years in the remodeling business. That's what sparked the response. The assumption that just because someone does the job you see him doing, well, will translate to him doing the job you want done with the same level of competance is faulty. Would you have an excellent Podiatrist do a knee replacement?
You're just lucky they didn't butcher the doors in a vane attempt at the install.
Ron |
RE: New Storm Door Installation Costs
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| They had installed storm doors before - but it appears that the Larson is a sphisticated product with flexibility and assembly that requires "tailoring" and their $125 estimate was way too low. I was surprised none the less that they didnt have a hacksaw in a truck that was full of various tools. The pros that did the job took ~ 2 hrs/door including lunch and smokes. ........If you think that your second (medical) example is remotely similar to this situation then I think you should see a shrink. There are plenty of contractor/workmen types who are capable of doing a range of construction jobs - its not brain surgery after all. I could have installed these doors myself had I the tools. However there are a bunch of "workmen" out there in the "construction" business who have no skill other than the ability to part one from one's wallet........Like the guy I paid 50% money to for "materials" who quit halfway through the job......He had been recommended by a reputable supplier so it just proves how hard it is for the layman to find a real pro. |
RE: New Storm Door Installation Costs
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| It always amazes me when some bozo complains about the "cost" or "quality of a "Construction worker" . Most of the time these pompous clowns are making 6 digit figures for doing what "Selling" used cars ? Or another profession in a cushy air conditioned office.....GMAFB. Go on a job and work off a swing scaffold 600 feet in the air for a few months ...or hang 14 ft sheets of 5'8 drywall a few weeks ...Same old same old for these knuckleheads who "think" a tradesman makes too much money.....75.00 a screen door by the way < removal and hanging a new door > is more than fair . As for the time involved ..Clean up and set up takes a good half hour. Locksets ofte need to be drilled / a closer installed / sometimes shimming the existing framing to make the door close correctly ...A handy man who has never done this before ...could easily have 4 hours involved . A qualified carpenter with plenty of experience can probably average about 2 to 2 and a half hours per door installation clean up etc. Yea 35-40 bucks an hour is outrageous ..WHEN SOME USED CAR SALESMEN OR OTHER SALES JOB ANYONE CAN DO ..IS MAKING AN AVERAGE OF 100 OR MORE AN HOUR?????......Cut the comedy. |
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