I was walking outside the other day and noticed, since the snow was not around, that my garage door is looking a little run down. While the garage door is definitely functional it is not the most pleasant thing to look at anymore. That really made me think more about what does a garage door cost and is this cost something that I should be concerned about or not. Well, that really made me start to look more about what all is included in the garage door cost as well, but also how I could save money on doing the job on my own.
What Does A Garage Door Only Cost
Well, I have to admit I am a penny pincher so I thought I would start to explore what does a garage door cost if I am just buying the door. This is taking the assumption that my current hardware is in good condition, but also the new door would fit into the old garage doors spot. Now, I know some people will will argue that I should go to a garage door company, but for me that just makes too much sense and honestly I like my local Home Depot.
I instantly went to the Home Depot website and started to look at the prices of the garage doors. Well, I do have to admit I was a little taken aback at the cost. The lowest price I seen in the garage door selection was coming in at around the 700 dollar mark. Then I looked at the brand of the garage door and noticed that it is mainly Clopay garage doors listed on the site and I know Clopay to be a fairly reliable and durable brand of garage doors, which in part would explain the price.
After feeling a little sick to my stomach at seeing just how much the garage door cost, I turned to Google shopping to see what I could find. By searching their I found a company called Doors On-line and seen they are selling garage doors for a lower price, but not the same brand and in fact is using Amarr doors and the price is around the three hundred dollar mark. Now, I will say that I have never heard of the Amarr brand before, so I do not know anything about the quality of the doors.
How Easy Is A Garage Door To Install
Now, comes the question of how easy is it to install your own garage door? I had to chuckle when I put that down because I know at my old job I had watched the garage door repairman come out and add in words to a vocabulary that would have made a sailor blush with the work they were doing. I quickly thought, though, that was on a commercial door for a firehouse so it had to be a lot harder to do the work on those doors.
When I started to look at the cost of the garage door installation I found it can cost a couple of hundred dollars. Well, as I mentioned I am a penny pincher. Researching the installation on my own I seen many websites said to set aside 8 to 12 hours to do the job. They also mentioned having someone help you in removing the older door. Well, that actually made sense to me since you would have to hold the door and get it lowered while not killing yourself or injuring yourself with the springs.
After reading more about the job I concluded that while it was a job I most likely could tackle, I would allow the professionals to handle the job. Yes, it would add some more cost onto the garage door, but at least it would be installed properly and in most cases have a warranty as well. Not to mention with most of the automatic garage door openers you have to get them perfectly aligned for them to work right and I knew that for me that would be a difficult challenge and one that would be hard to do.
Do Garage Door Installation Companies Do A Good Job
So this led me to looking at the garage door installation companies in my area. Well, as an added benefit to the question of what does a garage door cost is the fact that the installation companies tended to sell the doors as well. In general, the doors were being sold with a smaller markup than what I was finding at Home Depot, so the price was right on the door. Not to mention, the garage door installation companies used only name brand doors as well, like Clopay.
As far as do the installation companies do a good job? The answer is yes, the garage door installation companies in my experience do a great job on getting the doors installed. This makes it quite a bit easier for me to get the confidence in knowing my door will be installed properly the first time. What else is great is the companies tend to want a reference from you for a job well done so they do the best job they can to get the garage door installed right the first time.
What else is great is the garage door companies that handle this type of work everyday comes with the right tools and number of people to do the job. So, while the garage door cost of doing the job on my own may have been lower at the start, once I factored in my time commitment to the job I could not compete with the garage door companies in the overall cost of the project.
Why Does The Installation Cost So Much
I briefly touched on why the installation of the garage doors cost so much, but let me expand a little bit more here. The main reason the cost is so high is the physical demands of the job. Yes, I know the installation of the garage doors may look easy, but it actually is a very time consuming job. Not to mention, some of the companies will send out technicians who have underwent specialized training to get the skills to install the garage doors.
Something else that helps explain more along the lines of what does a garage door installation cost so much is the installers tend to use specialized tools. These tools are ones you can go down to your local hardware store and buy, but the tools are not that cheap. So if you are, like me, trying to save a buck and do the job safely, then getting the extra tools the pros use would definitely add onto the cost of the garage door installation.
Does The Installation Come With A Warranty
While I have talked about getting a warranty with the garage door installation it is important that you double check. Yes, most of the reputable companies provide you with a warranty on the quality of the work and the door, but not all do. With the garage door cost being high already it would be the pits to use a company that does not offer a warranty and then a week later for the garage door to stop working.
I know that most of the reputable companies that I spoke with in my area, and I would think it would be the same in your area, especially with the national companies they do have a warranty offered. If you are using a company that has the guy or gals name listed along with garage door then you need to double check on the warranty. In fact, I personally would go one step further than getting the information verbally, I would check to get the warranty with the limitations in writing.
Final Thoughts On What Does A Garage Door Cost And Why Does It Cost That Much
The answer to the question of what does a garage door cost is definitely one that has a complicated answer. I know for me some of the answer comes from the fact this is one job I do not want to do on my own. From another aspect, though, the answer of what does a garage door cost comes from just the standpoint of the garage door cost. Overall, the garage door is definitely something you need to have on your garage, but at the same time it is a pricey item that should be installed professionally and properly to guarantee the garage door cost was not wasted.