I just had two exterior doors replaced. The guy came over and measured, asked me what I wanted, then called me back with a price. In my case I just needed a fire rated door going to the garage and the other door I wanted glass with the mini-blinds inside so I didn't need to pick out a specific door (like I would for the front entry doors).He dropped by the formal proposal and it was generic "remove and dispose of existing doors, install xxx-door style". We verbally discussed the lead times. His price covered everything except I supplied the door handles. This was great because my door frames were so out of plum and awful, it took 5 hours just to install one door! I asked if he wanted to do a change order to increase cost but he said no. Ask your guy if his price includes any new door jamb or threshold if needed, etc.. Tell him your not being difficult but because of past experiences you like everything in writing up front. Good luck! You will love your new doors!

If he just did a reply to your email with the model numbers, he doesn't need to spell it out any further. It should be downthread in the email. Contractors on small jobs like yours typically do a bottom line price that includes everything, including materials markup that covers his time for ordering and transporting those materials.

Thanks for your responses! That's really helpful. I think I'm being too anal because of prior experiences.

"I e-mail him & ask for a quote on such and such door, model #, bronze hardware, 36 inches, and a 2nd door, model #, bronze hardware, 32 inches."

What's missing;
Had he been to the job site prior to the request for an estimate?

Funny, I gave a verbal estimate to a customer a while back that a new exterior mahogany door would be about $6,000. Then she wanted a complete quote--new door (requiring a new mortise lock), staining and sealing, installed in a new frame, as the old one was steel, with custom sidelites. Total $11K+. It's absolutely important that all details are spelled out beforehand.

It's typical to quote an installed price.

This post was edited by worthy on Sat, Nov 16, 13 at 12:48

Thanks for your responses. After a couple more e-mails, I determined that his quote was wrong. He hadn't understood his notes, and he quoted on two different doors, and he had, in fact, messed up on details that I caught (like including casing for a door that didn't need casing).

What I had neglected to point out about his first e-mail was that his quote included pics of two doors that didn't look like what I ordered. I figured he couldn't have gotten it THAT wrong, that those were stock pics. As it turns out, he HAD gotten it that wrong. We had discussed a type of door that I would NOT want...that's what his quote was for. He had made incorrect notes, or he couldn't read his notes properly.

I later got a correct quote, but didn't end up going with him because I decided to get only one door for now, and that's too small a job for the company.