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How much does garage door spring replacement cost?

A spring change is an hour or two of work. At the rate the trade actually bills, that is $110 to $220 of labour. Everything above it is springs and margin, and here is how to tell which is which.

A spring change is an hour or two. That is $110 to $220 of labour. The Economic Census measures what the trade takes in per hour of a worker's time: $109.66.
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So on a quote of $600, something like $400 is springs and the margin on springs, and you are entitled to ask what the springs cost. Then ask the question nobody asks: what is the cycle rating? A cycle is one open and one close. You get a 10,000-cycle spring by default, because that is what is on the van. Open your door four times a day and that is a seven-year part. A 20,000-cycle spring lasts fourteen years and costs a few tens of dollars more. Get the rating in writing.

§ 01 Your numbers

The number nobody offers you, and it decides whether you do this again in seven years or fourteen. A cycle is one open and one close. You get 10,000 by default because that is what is on the van. Ask for the rating in writing.
Count every trip. Two cars out and back is four. This turns the cycle rating into a lifespan.
Most doors run two. If one has broken, replace both: they were fitted the same day and have done identical work, so the survivor is on the same clock.
Ours, not sourced. No federal source prices a torsion spring (the assumptions say where we looked). Put your quote's parts line here.
Ours. About an hour and a half for one experienced person, including winding the springs properly. A seized shaft or a bent track adds to it.
Measured from the Economic Census: what the trade takes in per hour of a worker's time, net of materials. It is a national average, and across the states it runs $81.14 to $136.09, so your local rate may sit outside it.
We strip out the springs at your price above and divide the rest by the hours. That is what your quote charges for the person in your driveway.
Estimated cost
$284

Typical range $227 – $454

  • Labour, overhead and profit$164
  • Springs$120
  • Total$284
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§ 02 The return

These springs should last6.8 yr
What the trade bills, per field hour$109.66
What your quote bills, per field hourn/a
Of the labour, what the crew is paid$45

The billed rate, the wage and the state spread are measured from the 2022 Economic Census. The spring price and the hours are ours, and both are boxes you can change.

Where the money goes

Labour, overhead and profit$164
Springs$120

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About what the arithmetic says a pair of springs should come to. Get the cycle rating in writing and ask for high-cycle springs while they are there.

By the numbers

  • A spring change is an hour or two. At the $109.66 a field hour the trade actually bills, that is $110 to $220 of labour. Everything above it in a quote is springs and the margin on springs.
  • Springs are rated in CYCLES: one open and one close. The standard is 10,000, which at four openings a day is a seven-year part. A 20,000-cycle spring is a fourteen-year part and costs a little more. Almost nobody is offered the choice.
  • If you have two springs and one has broken, replace both. They were fitted on the same day and have done identical work, so the survivor is on the same clock. Paying twice for the same call-out is an expensive way to save money.
  • The trade bills $109.66 a field hour and pays the person doing the work $29.71. That gap is the truck, the insurance and the profit, not evidence of a scam.
  • But $109.66 is a national average, not a limit. Across the states the same trade runs $81.14 to $136.09 a field hour, and individual firms sit outside even that.
  • The government files residential garage door work under FINISH CARPENTRY (NAICS 238350), alongside interior doors and windows. It is 6.3% of that class's business.
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    • We have no injury statistic, and every competitor does. We could not get CPSC's data out of its query tool, and we could not trace the figures on garage-door company sites to any CPSC publication. Do not touch a torsion spring: that is our opinion, and we are labelling it as one rather than dressing it up as data.

Sourced: the billed rate and the wage, from the 2022 Economic Census. Garage door work is filed under finish carpentry (NAICS 238350), the same class that fits your windows, and it is 6.3% of that class's receipts, so this is the class's rate rather than a garage-door specialist's.

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Across the states it runs $81.14 to $136.09, so treat the national figure as a shape, not a ceiling. Ours: the spring price and the hours. No federal source prices a torsion spring: we read the Economic Census products file, and every quantity cell for spring manufacturing is suppressed. Not here at all: an injury statistic. Every competitor quotes one. We could not get CPSC's data out of its query tool, and we could not trace the figures on garage-door company sites to any CPSC publication, so we have none. We still think you should not touch a torsion spring. That is an opinion, and we are saying so.

Sources: US Census Bureau, 2022 NAICS index (residential garage door installation, filed under finish carpentry) · US Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, EC2223BASIC (the billed rate, the wage, the state spread) · US Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, EC2223KOB (garage door work as a share of the class)

How this estimate is calculated

  • WHAT IS ACTUALLY IN THE CLASS WE PRICE FROM. NAICS 238290 is 0.4% 'garage door and overhead door installation contracto'. A NAICS code is a bucket, not a job, and the rate here is the bucket's.
  • The billed rate is measured: $109.66 is what NAICS 238350 takes in per hour of a construction worker's time, net of materials. Note the unit, because we got it wrong once: the Census counts WORKER-hours, so two people for an hour is two field hours.
  • It is a class rate, and the class is bigger than the job. Garage door work is 6.3% of finish carpentry's receipts, so this is not a garage-door specialist's rate. It is the measured figure we have.
  • It is also a national average, and an average does not bound your contractor. Across the states the trade runs $81.14 to $136.09 a field hour, and those are themselves averages of firms.
  • The spring price and the hours are ours. No federal source prices a torsion spring: the Economic Census products file carries 17 product lines for spring manufacturing and every quantity cell is suppressed, so no unit price is derivable.
  • There is no injury statistic on this page, deliberately. We could not get CPSC's NEISS data out of its query tool, and we could not trace the figures on garage-door company sites to a CPSC publication. Our advice not to touch a torsion spring is an opinion and we are labelling it as one.
  • The low and high band (20% below, 60% above) is our estimate of quote-to-quote spread, weighted upward because what moves a real quote is what gets added once somebody is standing in your driveway.

Frequently asked questions

How much should garage door spring replacement cost?
Start with the half you can check. The trade bills $109.66 a field hour and a spring change is an hour or two, so the labour is $110 to $220. The springs themselves we cannot price for you, because no federal source publishes what a torsion spring costs. That gives you a floor and a question: if your quote is $600, roughly $400 of it is parts and margin, and you can ask what the springs cost and what their cycle rating is.
What is a cycle rating, and why has nobody mentioned it?
It is how many open-and-close cycles the spring is built to survive, and nobody mentions it because the standard 10,000-cycle spring is already on the van. Do the division: four openings a day is 1,460 cycles a year, so a 10,000-cycle spring is a seven-year part and a 20,000-cycle spring is a fourteen-year part. Over the life of the door the high-cycle spring is obviously cheaper. Ask for the rating on the quote.
One spring broke. Do I really need to replace both?
Yes, and this is the one upsell that is honest. Both were fitted on the same day and have done identical work, so the survivor has the same cycles on it as the one that just failed. Replacing only the broken one means a second call-out fee, quite possibly within the year, on a job whose labour is most of the bill.
Can I replace a torsion spring myself?
We would not, and here is the honest version of why. A torsion spring holds a great deal of energy and it is released through winding bars, above your head. That is our opinion. What we will not do is quote you an injury statistic, because we could not verify one: CPSC's data would answer it and we could not get it out of their query tool, and the figures on garage-door company sites trace back to nothing we could check. Every competitor will give you that number with total confidence. We would rather be honestly unhelpful.
How do I check the quote I was given?
Ask what the springs cost and how long they will be there, then put both in the calculator. It strips the parts out and divides the rest by the hours, which is what you are really paying for somebody's time, and it puts that beside the $109.66 the trade bills. $130 an hour is unremarkable, especially in an expensive state. $400 an hour is not necessarily robbery, but there is something in that number nobody has named.

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