Garage Door Installation Cost Calculator

Door width
16 ft
Door
Door height
Opener
Your ZIP code

Showing the national average. Enter your ZIP code for local cost estimates.

Low $2,025
Typical $2,475
High $3,075

National average

Where these figures come from
  • Finish carpentry contractors, United States: $34.37/hour, August 2026 (BLS CES CES2023835003)
  • Steel garage door, insulated: $80.00 per linear foot of door width (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)
  • Weatherstrip, seal, fasteners and lubricant: $75.00 per door (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)

Garage Door Installation costs $2,025 to $3,075 for a typical 16 ft job in 2026, against a national benchmark of $2,475. Labor runs 8.1 crew hours at $34.37 an hour. Enter a ZIP code to apply that area's measured wages for this work and its regional price level.

What makes up the price

Labor $390 8.1 hours at $34.37/hour, 40% burden, 1.00x regional
Steel garage door, insulated $1,280 16 linear foot of door width at $80.00 each
Weatherstrip, seal, fasteners and lubricant $75 1 door at $75.00 each
Removal and disposal of the old door $90
Contractor overhead and profit $642 35% applied to the work above
Typical total $2,475 $2,025 to $3,075 depending on contractor

Cost by size

National averages, before any local adjustment. Computed from the same model as the calculator above, so the two always agree.

Door width Feet of width Typical Range
9 ft 9 $1,550 $1,275 to $1,925
13 ft 13 $2,075 $1,700 to $2,575
16 ft 16 $2,475 $2,025 to $3,075
22 ft 20 $3,000 $2,450 to $3,725
27 ft 20 $3,000 $2,450 to $3,725

Ask about the spring, because nobody will tell you

The torsion spring above the door is the part that fails first, and its cycle rating is the single number that decides how long the door lasts. One cycle is one open and one close.

That is the best-value line item on the whole quote and it is almost never offered. Ask for it by name. If the installer says the door comes with what it comes with, ask what the upgrade costs — it is a different spring, not a different door.

While you are there: the spring stores enough energy to kill somebody. That is not a figure of speech, it is why unwinding the old one is the first two hours of the job and why spring replacement is the one garage door task that should never be a weekend project.

What you are actually paying for

For a 16 ft insulated steel door at $2,475:
Door, track, spring and hardware around $1,350
Labor, about 8 installer hours around $390
Removal and disposal of the old door around $90
Overhead and margin the balance

The door is the majority of it, and the door's price is driven almost entirely by width and by what is inside the panel.

Insulation is the easy decision

An insulated door costs about $250 more than an uninsulated one at the same width. People buy it for the energy saving and keep it for the second reason.

The three tiers, and what separates them:

If your existing door is sound and uninsulated, a foam-board or fiberglass insulation kit is under $200 in materials for a single door and lifts the middle of each panel most of the way. It does nothing for the perimeter gaps, which is where a lot of the loss is, so fit new weatherstrip at the same time.

You probably do not need a new opener

This is where several hundred dollars quietly appears on a quote. An opener in working order can be disconnected, reconnected and re-set to the new door, and a straight installer will tell you so.

Replace it if it is from before 1993 — openers made then do not have the photo-eye reversing sensors that have been federally required since — or if it is noisy enough to be a nuisance, or if you want the connected features.

Wall-mounted (jackshaft) openers mount beside the door rather than on a rail, which is the answer when headroom is tight or you want the ceiling clear for storage. They cost more and not every door suits one.

Measuring, and the part that goes wrong

Measure the opening, not the old door, and measure it in three places — an old garage is rarely square. Standard widths are 8, 9 and 10 feet for a single and 16 or 18 for a double; standard heights are 7 and 8 feet. Anything else is made to order and costs materially more than the figures here.

Then check two clearances that stop a job dead:

Permits, and what a good installer does anyway

Replacing a door in an existing opening usually needs no permit. Changing the size of the opening does, because that is structural.

In hurricane-prone counties — much of Florida and the Gulf and Atlantic coasts — garage doors are required to meet a wind load rating, and this is enforced. A door that is not rated for your zone is both illegal and the most likely part of the house to fail in a storm, because a double door is the largest opening in the building and losing it pressurizes the whole structure.

Things a good installer does without being asked, and a cheap one skips:

Questions worth asking

Common questions

How much does a new garage door cost installed?

Around $2,475 for an insulated steel 16 ft double door, with most jobs that size falling between $2,025 and $3,075. A single 9 ft door in the same specification is about $1,550, an uninsulated door is roughly $250 less at either width, and a three-layer polyurethane door about $900 more. A wood or carriage-house door is roughly double — closer to $2,950 single and $4,950 double.

What is a garage door spring cycle rating and why does it matter?

One cycle is one open and one close, and the rating is how many the spring is built for. The standard 10,000-cycle spring that comes on most doors lasts six to nine years at three or four cycles a day, which is an ordinary family. A 25,000-cycle spring lasts fifteen to twenty years and costs a few tens of dollars more on a new installation. It is the best-value line on the whole quote and it is almost never offered, so ask for it by name.

Is an insulated garage door worth it?

For about $250 more at the same width, usually yes — and most people end up valuing the second benefit more than the first. The energy argument only applies to an attached garage. The one that applies to everybody is that a layered door is quiet and stiff where a single skin of steel booms when it closes and flexes in the wind, and it resists dents from hail and bumpers far better. If there is a bedroom over the garage, a three-layer polyurethane door is the answer on noise alone.

What R-value do I need for a garage door?

R-6 to R-9 for an attached garage that is not heated or cooled, which is what a standard two-layer insulated door gives. R-12 to R-18 for an attached garage you actually heat, for a genuinely cold climate, or where there is a room above — that means a three-layer polyurethane door. A detached garage gains little from insulation in energy terms, though the quietness and dent resistance still apply.

Do I need a new opener when I replace the door?

Usually not, and this is where several hundred dollars quietly appears on a quote. An opener in working order can be disconnected, reconnected and re-set to the new door. Replace it if it predates 1993, because openers from before then lack the photo-eye reversing sensors that have been federally required since; if it is noisy enough to be a nuisance; or if you want connected features. Otherwise ask why it is in the quote.

Chain drive or belt drive opener?

Belt, if there is any living space near the garage. A chain drive is about $200 on top of reusing your existing opener and is clearly audible through the house; a belt drive is about $500 and close to silent. With a bedroom over the garage the difference pays for itself the first night. A connected belt drive at around $700 adds phone control, a camera and battery backup so the door still opens in a power cut.

How long does it take to install a garage door?

About half a day for two installers on a standard replacement — roughly eight installer hours in total. The first part is unwinding the old spring and stripping out the old door and track, which is unhurried work for good reason. Then the opening is squared, new track set plumb, the sections stacked, and the spring wound and balanced. Winding and balancing are the skilled part and do not get faster on a narrow door.

How do I measure for a new garage door?

Measure the opening rather than the old door, and measure the width in three places because an old garage is rarely square. Then check two clearances that can stop the job: headroom, the gap between the top of the opening and the ceiling, which wants about 12 inches for a standard torsion assembly; and backroom, the depth into the garage, which wants about 8 feet of clear ceiling for a 7 ft door plus more for an opener rail.

What are the standard garage door sizes?

Singles are 8, 9 or 10 feet wide and doubles are 16 or 18, with standard heights of 7 and 8 feet. Those sizes are stocked and priced accordingly. Anything else is made to order and costs materially more than the figures here, so if your opening measures something unusual it is worth asking whether it can be framed to a standard size instead.

Do I need a permit to replace a garage door?

Normally no, if the door is going into an existing opening. Changing the size of the opening does need one, because that is structural work. The real regulatory issue is on the coasts: in hurricane-prone counties a garage door must meet a wind load rating for its zone, and it is enforced. That is not a formality — a double door is the largest opening in the house, and losing it in a storm pressurizes the whole structure.

How can I tell if the door was installed properly?

Disconnect the opener and lift the door by hand. A correctly balanced door moves easily and stays where you leave it at waist height; if it falls or creeps up, the spring is wrong and the opener will wear out doing the spring's job. Also check the photo eyes are no more than six inches off the floor and that the door reverses off a block of wood laid in the opening. Both tests take a minute and both are worth doing before the installer leaves.

Can I insulate the door I already have?

Yes, and it is cheap. A foam-board or fiberglass kit is under $200 in materials for a single door and lifts the middle of each panel from almost nothing to roughly R-5 to R-9. What it does not fix is the perimeter, where a lot of the loss actually is, so fit new weatherstrip and a bottom seal at the same time. It also adds weight, which on an older door can push the spring out of balance — check by hand afterwards.

Where these numbers come from

Nothing here is copied from a contractor directory. Labor is priced from what the trades are actually paid, materials from published producer prices, and both are adjusted to your area using federal cost-of-living data.