How Much Does It Cost to Install French Doors? (2024 Update)

With modern homes trending towards open, airy spaces full of natural light, French doors are coming back into style. Also known as double doors, French doors are a stylish way to open up an area and make it more convenient to move through your home. Let’s take a look at how much it costs to install French doors. You can expect to pay between $700–­­­­$1,300.

What Are French Doors?

French doors are a set of double doors that can swing freely inward or outward, and they’re often styled with glass panes for maximum light. French doors were invented at a time when candles, lanterns, and fireplaces were the main indoor light sources, and they helped to share light between two areas. In some cases, they offered an attractive way to enter balcony areas.

Today, they serve much the same purpose: to allow entry in either direction while letting light shine through the glass panels on the body of the doors. With modern construction techniques, French doors are more durable than ever.

How Much Does It Cost to Install French Doors?

The two main costs of installing French doors are labor and the price of the doors. Labor costs are rising, and worldwide materials shortages have recently wreaked havoc with the cost of DIY projects like this one. In general, you’re looking at between $20–­­­­$40 an hour for labor, the cost of the door, and other miscellaneous materials or costs.

As with many projects, labor is so expensive because skilled labor is hard to come by. Installing French doors involves removing the existing doors, planing the area to make it suitable for French doors, fabricating holes for the door mechanisms, and more. Suffice it to say that labor is well worth what you pay.

Let’s break it all down and get you an accurate idea of what the project will cost.

French Door Installation Costs:

Your total will be between $700–­­­­$1,300, assuming no unusual circumstances. This is just to give you a broad idea of what you can expect to pay for installing French doors, as we can’t reasonably know what things cost in your area. Perhaps you can get your handy brother to do the installation for a pizza and skip on labor, or you can find French doors for a low price.

Additional Costs

In some circumstances, you’ll have to shell out more money than expected to have your French doors installed. These depend on either your home or your expectations for where your doors will go. Additional costs may include:

Fancier materials

Mass-produced doors with cheap materials are much more affordable than, say, French doors handcrafted by an experienced artisan. The same goes for your doorknob material, inlays, or engraving. Cheap doors go for about $300, while other ones go for up to $8,000 or more!

Wiring

The price may be affected depending on the area where your doors will be, especially on doors that lead outside. Many building codes require an exterior light at all exits, which includes French doors. An electrician to do the job will run you $70–­­­­$200 an hour.

Stairs, Steps, or Other Paths

If you’re adding an exit to your home, you have to have a way to access it. The exact pricing depends on your plans, as a deck is far more expensive than, say, a simple wood stairway.

Who Can Install French Doors?

Anyone who advertises themselves as a handyman can be reasonably expected to know how to install French doors, sans any necessary wiring. For wiring portions of the job, you should call a qualified electrician.

Handymen are typically fully able to install French doors, including prep work, necessary planing or excavation, and so on. Before hiring a handyman, you should ask if they’re experienced with installing French doors and what they would charge to do the job. Do not have a handyman do any wiring on your house, even if they offer to do it for cheaper than an electrician.

Do I Really Need an Electrician for Wiring?

Yes! If any wiring needs to be done for your French doors, we strongly recommend hiring a qualified and licensed electrician. Many people try to skip this, to their great detriment. Wiring done by a professional may be expensive, but it’s guaranteed to be quality work. If the electrician’s work is shoddy and presents problems later, they’re responsible for fixing it.

On the other hand, wiring done by yourself or by an unqualified person isn’t guaranteed. If anything goes wrong, you’re on the hook and will have to pay to have it fixed. Oftentimes, this cost is higher than what it would have been to hire an electrician in the first place.

Do French Doors Increase Home Value?

Yes! As with most home improvements, adding French doors increases the value of your home. It can be difficult to quantify exactly how much it increases your home value, though, because it depends heavily on how up to date your other doors are. Another thing worth noting is how well the French doors were installed. Poor workmanship won’t add any value and can, in fact, be a detriment to your home’s value.

Conclusion

French doors are a great way to open up your home and share both natural and interior lighting. Plus, they look pretty snazzy! They’re surprisingly expensive but well worth the value they bring to your home.

See also: What Is the Cost to Replace a Sliding Glass Door

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Featured Image Credit: Michelle_Raponi, Pixabay