French door installation estimate

[Rennyboy]

I am looking to have French doors installed from my kitchen leading into the 4 season sunroom. It gets very cold in the sunroom in the winter, it's all glass, and I don't have anyway of closing it off from the rest of the house. What I need is an idea of what type of job and cost of this project before I start calling for estimates. I plan on buying the doors myself and need a contractor to install them. The space is about 72" x 80. I have priced doors at about

400-500 dollars for the type I want. If anyone has any helpful info before I start making calls, please let me know. TIA

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Couple of years ago I paid $185 for installation. .

[Jamie]

I would have thought a bit more than $185. Unless the situation is dead simple -- which it never is -- you're looking at a lot of finish work in addition to just putting the doors in place. Are the doors substantially smaller or larger than the existing opening? If so you're going to be building walls or tearing down walls, too.

Anyway it depends a great deal on the exact situation. A "real" contractor probably won't be interested in a small job like this and will probably way overbid it. I'd suggest finding a good handyman sort of guy who will just charge you by the hour.

[Art]

If the door is not a perfect fit and you are talking about a insulated French door normally used for outside use, consider checking out Pella for a custom fit. Paying more for a custom fit high quality door may be cheaper in the end.

[Jeff Cochran]

In an existing framed area matching the rough opening of your new doors? Or with a new wall? Or opening a wall?

Yup, we can't see the job, we can't bid on it.

If it helps, a local company is replacing sliding glass doors with French doors for $899, including the doors, which are a $600 set of doors if you pick them up at the local box store.

Jeff

[Edwin Pawlowski]

The guy looked at the job and gave me the price. Two weeks later when I had the door and he was ready, he shows up with a cast on his hand and a helper. they spent most of the day. I gave him $200 and still felt cheap. In reality he should probably have charged double.

My main reason for tossing out the price is that it is ludicrous in reality and it was 10 year ago. So is asking for a quote on a job that we can't see and can't determine what is needed. Sort of like asking: "I'm sending some stuff to my mother. How big of a box do I need?"