How to price window and door jobs

Pricing window and door work comes down to the same equation as any job: price = materials + labor + other job costs + overhead + profit. In this trade, the price lives in the opening, not the unit.

The same window can take a few hours as a clean insert. It can take most of a day when the sill is rotten, the wall is thick and the opening has to grow.

This guide shows where your labor hours per unit come from, then prices a back door widened into a sliding patio door, a new entry door and two replacement windows. Wages and material prices vary by metro and by week, so every dollar figure is yours to fill in. For the general method, see how to price a construction job; for software built around this trade, see the window and door industry page.

How window and door work is measured

Most of this trade is priced by the opening, with a few lines by the foot:

• Openings, by the each: removal, rough opening framing, headers, installation, air sealing, stool and apron, and hardware. Count them by type and by install method.
• Trim and sealing, by the linear foot: door casing, jamb extensions and exterior perimeter caulking. Measure around each opening: two legs and the head.
• Patching, by the square foot: drywall around an opening that changed size.

Order to the smallest measurement

Measure each existing opening for the order: width at the top, middle and bottom, and height at the left, center and right. Order to the smallest.

Note what each opening needs

While you are there, note what the opening needs. Those notes become the lines on the estimate:

• Is it an insert or a full-frame install?
• How deep is the wall?
• Is the sill soft?
• Is the opening changing size?

The formula for a window and door price

Every line follows the same pattern:

1. Quantity × labor hours per unit = labor hours for that line.
2. Labor hours × your full hourly labor cost = labor cost. That cost is the wage plus labor burden: payroll taxes, workers' compensation and benefits.
3. Materials: the units at your cost, plus flashing, foam, shims, trim and caulk, with waste added.
4. Other job costs: permit, disposal, and lead-safe setup on older homes.
5. Overhead for every labor hour: a year of overhead divided by the hours your crew bills.
6. Profit, as a markup on the total cost or a target margin.

The labor rate guide and the labor rate calculator build your real hourly cost from pay, burden and billable hours.

Where your labor hours per unit come from

Only you can supply the hours per unit, because they belong to your crew. A published table can't know how fast your installers work, how thick your walls run or how often your openings hide rot. Your own jobs can.

Job costing is how you get them. On every job, record the hours each stage took for each opening, then divide by the count, or by the feet for trim and caulk.

After a handful of jobs you have hours you can price from, split by install type and floor.

Track each line, not one window rate

Keep a separate number for each line, not one rate for "a window":

Count labor hours, not crew hours

A two-person crew working an eight-hour day is 16 labor hours. Then look at what changes an opening's size.

A widened opening is a different job

Widening an opening for a patio door adds a header and new framing. That can take longer than setting the door itself, before the drywall patch and the exterior repair. An opening that stays the same size is a different job from one that grows.

Install type, old openings and code

Price the install method the opening needs

An insert sits inside the old frame, so the interior and exterior trim usually stay. A full-frame install takes the opening back to the rough framing: flashing, new trim inside and often outside, and more hours.

Price the method the opening needs, and say which one on the estimate.

Carry an allowance for hidden rot

A soft sill or a sagging header shows up when the old unit comes out. Carry an allowance for a stated amount of repair, with your price beyond it in writing.

Check code items before you price

Changing a bedroom window can bring in egress size rules. Glass near doors, tubs and floors may need to be safety glass.

A widened opening needs a header sized by an engineer, the span tables or the building department, and usually a building permit.

Pre-1978 homes get a lead-safe line

Replacing windows and doors in a house built before 1978 disturbs painted surfaces. That brings in the EPA lead rules: a certified firm and renovator, containment and cleanup. Price the setup and cleanup as its own line, from what it takes your crew.

Taking off window and door materials

• Units: each window and door, with size, swing, glass, color and hardware confirmed. Special orders take weeks, so check the lead time before you promise a date.
• Install materials per opening: foam for air sealing, and flashing tape, shims, screws and caulk for each exterior unit, plus a sill pan for an entry door.
• Trim: casing and jamb board by the foot around each opening, and stool board the width of the window plus the horns, rounded up to the lengths you buy, with extra for miters.
• Caulk: by the tube, from the bead coverage printed on it, for the perimeter plus what each install uses.
• Framing: lumber, plywood and the beam for any opening that changes size.

Give the estimate an expiration date

Price everything near the job this week. Unit prices can change between the bid and the order.

Worked example: a widened patio door, an entry door and two windows

Example: A homeowner wants three things done:

• The 3-foot back door becomes a 6-foot sliding patio door, which means a wider opening and a new header.
• The front door is replaced with a prehung entry door and a new handleset and deadbolt.
• The two kitchen windows, about 3 by 5 feet, get insert replacements with new stool and apron.

The house was built in 1972, so the work is set up lead-safe.

4 openings, 37 feet of casing, 69 of caulk

• Lead-safe setup: one, priced once. If the openings are set up on different days, price a setup for each.
• Removals: 2 exterior doors and 2 windows.
• Air sealing: 4 openings, both doors and both windows.
• Door casing: the entry door, 7 + 7 + 3 = 17 feet, and the patio door, 7 + 7 + 6 = 20 feet, 37 feet.
• Jamb extensions: the patio door sits in a thick wall, 20 feet.
• Drywall patch: around the widened opening, 24 square feet.
• Exterior caulking: entry 17 feet, patio 20 feet, and two windows at 5 + 5 + 3 + 3 = 16 feet each, 32 feet: 69 feet.

Labor: 44.88 hours

Say your crew's own records show the hours per unit below. They are example inputs to show the arithmetic, not a standard: use your own.

The check: 3 + 2 + 1.5 + 5 + 3.5 + 3.5 + 5 + 4 + 2 + 1 + 1.92 + 3.7 + 3 + 3 + 2.76 = 44.88 labor hours. For a two-person crew, that is about 22.4 hours each, three working days.

The patio door alone takes 14.5 hours

The patio door's removal, header, framing and install are 1 + 5 + 3.5 + 5 = 14.5 hours, before its air sealing, patch, trim and caulk. The entry door's removal, install and hardware are 1 + 3.5 + 1 = 5.5.

Pricing both doors at one rate per door would lose most of the widening.

Add a line for the siding patch

The hours above have no line for patching the siding and exterior trim around the widened opening. Price it as your own line, or as a sub's price if someone else does it.

Materials: round each item up

From the openings themselves, piece lengths and the coverage printed on each product:

• Units: 1 sliding patio door, 1 prehung entry door with a sill pan, 2 insert windows and 1 handleset with deadbolt.
• Header and framing: an LVL long enough to span the 6-foot opening with bearing at each end, an 8-foot piece unless the engineer specifies otherwise. Add king studs, jack studs and cripples from the framing layout, plus 2 adjustable shore posts for the temporary support.
• Flashing tape: the sill and jambs of both doors, 17 + 20 = 37 feet, plus the heads and overlaps. From the roll length, usually 1 roll.
• Foam: low-expansion foam for the 4 openings, from the coverage on the can, rounded up.
• Silicone caulk: 69 feet of perimeter plus the beads under each sill and unit, from the bead coverage on the tube, rounded up.
• Trim: door casing for 37 feet, plus about 14 feet of casing per window for the legs, head and apron, 65 feet in all, bought in lengths that suit the cuts. Stool board the width of each window plus the horns, about 4 feet each, 8 feet. Jamb board for 20 feet, so two 12-foot boards.
• Drywall: 24 square feet. A 4 × 8 sheet covers 32, so one sheet, with screws, compound and tape.

Price each item near the job and add them up. Call the total M.

Add six cost lines, then markup

A 25% markup is a 20% margin; a 20% markup is only about 16.7%. The markup vs margin guide explains the gap, and the job cost calculator adds the lines up.

Common window and door pricing mistakes

• One price per window. An insert, a full-frame install and a widened opening are three different jobs.
• Forgetting the trim and caulk. Stool and apron, jamb extensions and perimeter caulk are real hours on every opening.
• No repair allowance. Rot under an old sill is common and invisible until removal.
• Ordering before the deposit. Special orders are made to your measurements, and many cannot be returned.
• Skipping lead-safe setup. On a pre-1978 house it is a line, not a favor.

How to present a window and door estimate

• Group the lines by opening, so the client sees what each window and door costs and why.
• Name the units: brand line, size, glass, color, swing and hardware finish, or mark them client-supplied.
• State the install method for each opening: insert or full-frame.
• Put the repair allowance in writing, with the amount included and your price beyond it.
• List exclusions: painting, exterior siding beyond the patch, and window treatments.
• Set the deposit to cover special-order units, and the balance at completion. The progress billing guide covers how.

The window and door estimate template lays these sections out, and the window and door invoice template bills the deposit and balance. For a one-off, the free estimate generator makes a clean PDF.

Pricing windows and doors with BuildWell

BuildWell builds a window and door estimate from a description of the job, such as "widen the 3-foot back door to a 6-foot slider with a new header, replace the front entry door with new hardware, two insert windows in the kitchen with stool and apron, house built in 1972." The AI decides what work the job needs and how much; it does not set prices.

BuildWell prices materials at stores near the job and labor at the metro's median wage for each trade on the job, plus your overhead and markup. You can change any quantity, hour or price, add your own line for the siding patch, or mark units the client bought as client-supplied. The client signs on their phone.

A window and door pricing checklist

• Every opening measured for the order and inspected for what it needs
• Install method set for each window: insert or full-frame
• Openings that change size flagged for a header, permit and patch
• Labor hours opening by opening, including trim and caulk
• Units and install materials at current prices near the job
• Repair allowance, permit, disposal and lead-safe setup
• Deposit set to cover special orders
• Overhead on every hour, then profit and a per-opening check