What a new garage door costs in Michigan: what we can say and what we cannot

The short version of what we know

The estimates on this page are models. Each starts from published national cost ranges for the job, which we have not verified and do not cite, and adjusts them by Michigan’s wage ratio to the US (0.94, from the wage figures below). Too few Michigan garage door companies publish a price to show a range, so none of these figures is a Michigan company’s price. One company’s own published prices appear as separate rows on the spring replacement, opener installation and cable repair pages. A real quote can land outside an estimate.

Our estimates, each with the method on its service page:

• A single door, installed: $685 to $2,075, on the door replacement page.
• A double door, installed: $800 to $3,775.
• An insulated single door: $600 to $2,050, and an insulated double door: $1,200 to $4,000.
• A new opener, installed: $245 to $675, on the opener install page.
• Both springs: $155 to $330, on the spring replacement page.

What else we have is wage data for the nearest trade, the factors that change a quote, and a method for comparing quotes that works without any published price.

The wage evidence, and what it does not tell you

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has no occupation called garage door installer. The nearest code is mechanical door repairers (SOC 49-9011), and we chose it because ONET OnLine, the U.S. Department of Labor site that republishes BLS wage data, lists garage door installer, garage door technician and overhead door technician among that code’s sample job titles. That mapping is ours, built from those titles, and not a statement from BLS. The figures come through ONET rather than from BLS itself, so they carry medium confidence.

For May 2025, the median wage for the occupation in Michigan was $25.18 an hour, or $52,370 a year, with the middle half of workers paid between $21.73 and $33.03 an hour. In the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area the median was $24.12 an hour, and in the Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood area it was $28.65. The national median for the same occupation was $26.79 an hour.

These are wages. They are what the work pays, not what a homeowner is charged. A company’s price has to cover the wage and everything else it spends to put a worker and a truck at your house, and we have no source for how large that is. Do not divide a quote by $25.18 and read the result as hours. The numbers are here to show what the trade is paid, and for no other purpose.

What to compare in each quote

Our methodology says parts drive most of the difference between jobs: springs, openers, the door model and insulation. We hold no source that ranks other factors, so what follows is a list of what a written quote should name, not a ranking of what costs most. Five items matter on a replacement.

Start with the opening size. Ask the company to state the opening width and height it measured, so you can check it against your own tape.

Insulation comes next. A door with insulation in its sections is a different product from one without, and the quote should say which you are being offered. The guide on insulated doors and R-value explains why the thermal figure quoted for a section is not the figure for the finished door.

Springs and hardware follow. DASMA says that if your door has two springs you should replace both, even if only one is broken. A quote that includes new springs, cables and rollers is not the same as one that reuses them, and the written quote should say which. DASMA also warns that putting a new door on the old track may not fit, because section thickness, weight, headroom and opener location all interact, and that the track and sections work together as a system. So ask whether the track is new.

Then the opener. Some quotes include a new opener and some leave your existing one in place. Compare like with like, and read opener or new door before you decide whether the opener belongs in the same decision.

Local requirements come last. DASMA says the building department with authority in your area is the sole and final determiner of the wind load requirements for your door, and it says the same about replacement doors. A company that tells you a particular rating is required should be able to point to your city’s rule. The wind rating guide covers the questions to ask. Permits belong here too. Michigan law says construction or alteration of a building may not start until a building permit has been issued, unless the act or code provides otherwise, but no state source we can cite says whether a door swap needs one, so the answer comes from your city. The permit guide has the detail.

Installation is part of the price

DASMA says installing a garage door can be very dangerous and is not recommended for a novice, and that trained door systems technicians should install doors. That is a reason to treat a kit sold without installation as a different purchase from a door sold installed, and to be wary of comparing the two as if they were the same job. If a quote is for the door alone, ask what the installation would cost and who would do it.

How to compare written quotes

Get at least two quotes in writing, and ask each company to put the same items in the same order. A useful quote names the door model and the thickness or construction of its sections, states the opening size, says whether the door is insulated and how the thermal figure was measured, lists the springs, cables, rollers and track that are included, says whether an opener or sensors are part of the price, says who removes and takes away the old door, and says who pulls any permit. Then put the quotes side by side and look for the lines one company left blank. A lower total with blank lines is not yet a lower price.

Two further checks help. First, ask for the total, the deposit and the payment schedule in writing. LARA’s homeowner advice is never to pay for the entire job in advance, to make a deposit when work begins, to pay by check made out to the company name, and to get a receipt. Second, ask for the license number if the company says it holds one. As far as we can tell from LARA’s list of licensed professions, Michigan has no garage door license of its own, and whether a builder license applies is unsettled, so we assert neither view. A company’s claim to hold a license is something you check, not something we vouch for. The license guide lists what else you can check.

If your contract is a residential one, the Construction Lien Act says a contractor has no construction lien on a residential structure unless the work was under a written contract, and that the contract must state that residential builders and maintenance and alteration contractors must be licensed and, if required, the contractor’s license number. A written contract therefore serves you as well as the company.

Estimates, not quotes

On this site the word estimate means a model, labelled as planning evidence, with its method on the page. It never means a quote. A quote is a company’s offer for your door, and only a company can make one. The estimate rows on the door replacement page say how many national ranges went into each figure, and the method is on the editorial policy. The written quotes you collect are the best price evidence available to you, and the only one that is about your door.