For door and hardware suppliers and installers
Door, frame and hardware estimating services
Every door counted by type, size and rating from the door schedule, with its frame and its hardware set item by item, priced line by line.
- Doors by type and rating
- Hardware sets item by item
- 24 to 48 hours
In short
What door, frame and hardware estimating covers
Door, frame and hardware estimating is the takeoff and pricing of a building's openings from the door schedule and the hardware sets: wood, hollow-metal and aluminum doors, their frames, and every hinge, lock, closer, exit device, stop and threshold. Each door is counted by type, size, material and fire rating, and each hardware set is multiplied by the doors that use it. MassBid Estimation prepares door, frame and hardware takeoffs and estimates for door and hardware suppliers, carpentry and glazing contractors, and general contractors, typically in 24 to 48 hours.
- Scope
- Wood, hollow-metal and aluminum doors, frames, hardware sets, sidelites, automatic entrances
- CSI section
- 08 11 13 hollow metal doors and frames, 08 14 16 wood doors, 08 71 00 door hardware
- You send
- Plans, door schedule, door and frame types, hardware sets, specs and addenda
- You get
- A marked-up door schedule and plans, and a priced workbook by door type and hardware set
- Turnaround
- 24 to 48 hours on most projects
- Checked by
- A separate QA team, twice on every job
- Coverage
- All 50 states, priced to the project's ZIP code
- Quote
- Free, usually back in about 20 minutes
Friday · 10:05 AM
The door schedule has sixty rows. The hardware is in nine sets, and three doors point to a set that is not on the sheet.
Doors are the most scheduled item on a job and still one of the easiest to get wrong. The count is in the schedule, the construction is in the door and frame types, the hardware is in sets listed somewhere else, and on apartment buildings the unit doors have to be multiplied by the number of each unit.
Hardware is where the money hides. A set is a dozen items, and it repeats on every door that carries its number.
Four ways a door and hardware bid loses money
01 · The sets
Hardware priced per door instead of per set
An office door and an exit door can differ by hundreds of dollars in hardware. An average per door is wrong for both.
What changes
Each hardware set is listed item by item and multiplied by the doors assigned to it.
02 · The units
Unit doors counted once
A unit plan shows one apartment. The building has eighty-four of them, in two or three types.
What changes
Unit doors are counted per unit type and multiplied by the unit count, with the multiplication noted.
03 · The ratings
Fire ratings and frames ignored
A 20-minute or 45-minute door in a hollow-metal frame is a different product from a hollow-core door in a wood frame.
What changes
Material, core, fire rating and frame are carried in each line from the schedule.
04 · The trade line
Hardware by others priced twice, or not at all
Storefront and sliding door hardware is often by the door manufacturer, and some cylinders are by the owner.
What changes
Who furnishes each item is noted on the line, so it is carried once.
Then and now
What has changed in door and hardware estimating
Doors used to be counted and priced each, with a hardware allowance. Four things have changed the takeoff.
Electrified hardware
Card readers, electric strikes and power transfers have added items to ordinary doors, and they cross into the electrical and security scopes.
Accessibility and egress
Closers, lever hardware, thresholds and exit devices are specified door by door and inspected.
Hardware in the project manual
Hardware sets are often in the specification book, not on the drawings. Where they are missing, the estimate has to say an allowance was used.
Lead times
Hollow-metal frames and hardware carry long lead times, so the door list is needed before the framing starts.
Real door and hardware work
Sample door, frame and hardware takeoffs
Pages from finished jobs: a childcare building, a self-storage building and a dental office in Georgia, a grocery store in North Carolina and an apartment building in Pennsylvania. Client names, brand names and title blocks are removed; the quantities are as delivered. Click any page to enlarge.
Hardware sets
Door and hardware schedule marked up by hardware set
Protects you fromOne hardware price for every door.
Door schedule
Door and frame schedule with hardware groups and door types
Protects you fromHardware by others priced twice.
Sidelites
Door schedule takeoff with hardware, sidelites and transoms
Protects you fromSidelites that belong to nobody.
Priced estimate
Priced door and frame estimate by unit type
Protects you fromA door allowance per unit.
Every estimate is built to the client's own specification, so yours may be laid out differently. To see a past project in your own trade, ask for an example. Examples are finished work for other projects, not an estimate of yours; for pricing on your own job, send the door schedule for a free quote.
A real door and hardware estimate
Door, frame and hardware cost breakdown for an apartment building
Group totals from one finished estimate: a four-story apartment building in Pennsylvania of about 48,000 square feet, with 338 doors.
Openings trade cost came to $580,413, or $12.09 per square foot: $181,353 of labor and $399,059 of material. Unit doors, multiplied across two unit types, were 60% of it. With markups the bid total for openings was $737,851. On a phased renovation of a senior-living building in Massachusetts, the door, frame and hardware package ran from $64,326 to $259,345 per phase.
Figures are from the delivered estimates, labor plus material, rounded to the dollar, with related lines combined. They are specific to those projects and are not a price guide.
Real jobs, not a price list. Each figure comes from one project, priced for its own ZIP code and that client's wages, overhead and profit. Prices change by region and over time. Yours will be priced for your location.
| Item | Quantity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Unit interior doors and frames, larger unit type | 210 EA | $302,699 |
| Common-area doors and frames | 94 EA | $134,304 |
| Door hardware allowance and kick plates | $94,089 | |
| Unit interior doors and frames, smaller unit type | 30 EA | $43,243 |
| Exterior doors and frames | 4 EA | $6,078 |
| Openings trade cost | 338 doors | $580,413 |
Building somewhere else? See figures from jobs in Texas, California, Florida and other service areas.
Full sample
Read a full sample, page by page
We do not have a sample for exactly this scope online yet. This is the closest one. Storefront and glazing, from a finished job: a equipment rental building, 10,500 sq ft in North Carolina. Open it full screen, scroll through all 4 pages and zoom in on any line.
This is one real job, shown as an example. It was built to that client's own specification: their wage rates, labor style, type of pricing, and overhead and profit. Prices also change by region and over time, so yours will be priced for your location.
Want a current sample in your own trade or specialty, or have a question? Use the contact form, email [email protected] or call (832) 356-4237.
Who it is for
Door and hardware estimating for suppliers, installers and general contractors
Door and hardware suppliers
A door list by type and a hardware list by set, in your format, ready to price.
Supplier takeoffsCarpentry contractors
Doors and frames hung with the finish carpentry, with labor hours per door.
Carpentry estimatingGlazing contractors
Aluminum entrance doors and their hardware with the storefront they sit in.
Storefront estimatingGeneral contractors
An independent Division 08 number to check a door quote, or to carry when none comes in.
GC estimating
Door and hardware scopes we take off
- Hollow-metal doors and frames
- Solid- and hollow-core wood doors
- Aluminum entrance doors
- Fire-rated doors
- Sliding and pocket doors
- Automatic entrances
- Sidelites and transoms
- Hinges and pivots
- Locksets and exit devices
- Closers and stops
- Thresholds and weatherstripping
- Kick plates and accessories
Pricing data
Where the prices come from
Quantities are priced from our own pricing database, built with local vendors across the United States. The estimator enters the project's ZIP code and gets current material prices for that market.
Material prices change from region to region and from month to month, so a price book or a national average is out of date before the bid goes in.
Priced by ZIP code
Current local material prices for the place the job is built, not a national average.
Updated by vendors
Local vendors update their prices in the database as they change.
Labor as you bid it
Union, open shop, or Davis-Bacon and prevailing wage rates with fringes.
How it works
From door schedule to a finished estimate
Send the drawings
Plans, the door schedule, door and frame types, the hardware schedule or sets from the project manual, the Division 08 specification and addenda.
Free quote
We review the set and reply with a quote and a delivery date, usually within about 20 minutes.
Count, multiply, price and two QA reviews
Doors are counted by type and multiplied by unit counts; hardware sets are listed and multiplied by their doors. A separate QA team checks the counts against the schedule, then the priced estimate.
Delivery and revisions
The package typically arrives within 24 to 48 hours. Addenda and revisions are free, with no limit and no time limit, and are handled on priority.
The work is done in-house by more than 20 estimators, typically with 7 to 10 years of industry experience.
What it costs
Door and hardware estimating prices
- Single project
- From $199. Simple scopes typically run $100 to $250.
- Larger buildings
- Typically $200 to $500. Large or phased projects are quoted individually.
- Monthly plan
- From $1,499 for 10 to 15 projects, for suppliers and contractors who bid every week.
Every job is quoted individually from the drawings, and the quote is free. See all pricing
After delivery
An editable Excel workbook and free revisions
- Formulas built in
An Excel workbook you can change yourself
The estimate arrives as an editable Excel workbook with the formulas built in. Change a quantity, a rate or a markup and every total follows. Move overhead and profit from 25% to 30% and the whole bid recalculates on the spot.
- No waiting
Adjust your bid at the last minute
If something changes just before the deadline, you do not have to send the estimate back and wait. Open the workbook, change the number and submit. The control stays with you.
- Priority turnaround
Free revisions, with no limit
Addenda, scope changes and pricing updates are all free, however many times you come back, and there is no time limit. Revisions are handled on priority and typically come back within an hour to a few hours.
Questions
Door, frame and hardware estimating FAQ
It is the takeoff and pricing of a building's doors, frames and hardware. Doors are counted by type, size, material and fire rating from the door schedule, hardware sets are listed item by item and multiplied by the doors that use them, and labor and material prices are applied.
Every door by type and size, its core, material, fire rating and frame, sidelites and transoms, and the hardware: hinges, locksets, closers, exit devices, stops, kick plates, thresholds and weatherstripping, by set.
By set. Each hardware set is listed item by item and multiplied by the number of doors assigned to it on the schedule. On one storage building, a set on five door pairs came to ten hinges, ten push-pulls, ten closers and five locksets.
Doors are counted for each unit type and multiplied by the number of units of that type, and the estimate notes that the quantity is multiplied. One building had 240 unit doors across two unit types.
Where the sets are only in a project manual we have not been given, hardware is carried as a stated allowance per door and flagged, so it can be replaced when the sets arrive.
Yes. Storefront and sliding door hardware by the door manufacturer, and items furnished by the owner, are noted on the line so they are carried once.
It depends on the building. On one four-story apartment building we estimated, doors, frames and hardware came to $12.09 per square foot before markups.
Yes. This page shows a full sample from a finished job (storefront and glazing, for a equipment rental building, 10,500 sq ft in North Carolina), which you can open full screen and read page by page. It is the closest sample we have online for this scope. It was built to that client's own specification, so the wage rates, pricing and overhead and profit are theirs. Ask us for a current sample in your own trade.
From our own pricing database, built with local vendors across the United States. An estimator enters the project's ZIP code and gets current material prices for that market, and vendors update their prices as they change. Labor is priced as union or open shop, or at Davis-Bacon rates with fringes on government work.
Yes. The estimate is delivered as an editable Excel workbook with the formulas built in. Change any quantity, rate or markup and the whole estimate recalculates. If overhead and profit was set at 25% and you want 30%, change that one cell and every total updates, so you can adjust your number minutes before the bid is due without sending it back to us.
As many as you need. Every revision is free, including addenda, scope changes and pricing updates, however many times you come back, and there is no time limit. Revisions are handled on priority and are typically returned within an hour to a few hours, depending on the size of the change.
Division 08 Openings: hollow metal doors and frames 08 11 13, wood doors 08 14 16, aluminum entrances 08 41 13 and door hardware 08 71 00.
A single project starts at $199 and larger buildings typically run $200 to $500; the quote is free and usually back in about 20 minutes. Every estimate is built to the client's own specification, in your template if you send one.
Related services and service areas
Have a door and hardware bid due? Send the door schedule.
Free quote in about 20 minutes. Door, frame and hardware takeoffs and estimates typically in 24 to 48 hours, built to your format, with free revisions with no limit. Based in Houston and estimating openings in all 50 states.