How long does a steel door installation take?

Most single and double entry doors are removed, set and finished inside one working day. A large patio door wall or a run of steel windows usually takes two. We will tell you which one your job is when we book the date, not on the morning of.

Is installation included in the price of the door?

Yes. The price we quote covers the manufactured door, jamb, glass, threshold, weather stripping, deadbolt, handles and professional installation. There is no separate install invoice and no third-party contractor to coordinate.

How far ahead do I need to book?

From the day you approve the CAD drawings, fabrication runs about six to eight weeks. Add a site visit before that for measurements. Most people are looking at roughly two months from first call to installed door.

Do I need a permit to replace a door?

For a straight swap into an existing opening, usually not. If the opening has to be widened or a structural header touched, your city or HOA may want a permit. We flag that during the site visit so it is dealt with before anything is ordered.

What happens to my old door?

We take it out and haul it away as part of the install. Floors and finished surfaces near the opening get masked off first.

Do you install steel windows as well as doors?

Yes. Fixed, operable, casement, awning and full curtain wall runs are all installed by the same crew that installs the doors.

Which areas do you install in?

The Austin metro is our home ground, including Bee Cave, Cedar Park, Dripping Springs, Lakeway, Round Rock, Georgetown and West Lake Hills. We also install in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth.

Steel & Iron Door Installation in Austin, TX

We install the doors we build. Same company, same crew, from the first tape measure to the last bead of sealant.

That is worth saying plainly, because plenty of steel doors sold in Texas get shipped to the customer and handed off to whoever the builder can find that week. When the frame is out of plumb by a quarter inch, nobody wants to own it.

A steel door is not a light thing. A single entry unit with insulated glass runs several hundred pounds and a patio wall runs into the thousands. It has to go in square and plumb or it will never seal properly, and once the frame is anchored you do not really get a second try. That is the entire argument for having the people who welded it also set it.

If you are searching for steel door installers near you in Austin, Dripping Springs, Lakeway or anywhere in Central Texas, this page covers how the work actually runs: what is included, how long it takes, and what happens on install day.

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What Our Steel Door Installation Includes

Installation is part of the door price, not a line item bolted on at the end. Every job includes:

Removing the old door or window and hauling it away
Prepping and squaring the opening
Setting, shimming, plumbing and anchoring the new frame
Threshold, weather stripping and sealing
Hanging and adjusting the leaves so they swing and latch cleanly
Fitting the deadbolt, handles and any multipoint hardware
Clean-up and a walkthrough with you before we leave

The quoted price also covers the manufactured door, jamb, glass and threshold, so there is no second invoice from a subcontractor afterwards. See the FAQ for what else is bundled in.

How a Steel Door Installation Works, Step by Step

From first call to installed door is usually a little under two months. Most of that is fabrication time, not site time.

1. We come out and measure

Someone from our team measures the opening on site. Not you with a tape over the phone. Openings in older Austin houses are rarely square, and the difference between the top and the bottom of a twelve-foot patio opening is exactly the sort of thing that ruins a door built off a guess.
2. CAD drawings, then your approval

You get drawings of the actual unit before anything is cut. Glass, muntin layout, frame profile, finish, handles and lockset all get picked at this stage. Nothing goes into production until you sign off and a 50% deposit is in.
- Glass package
- Muntin and panel layout
- Frame profile and finish
- Locksets and handles
3. Fabrication in our shop

Frames are welded, ground and finished in house, then glazed and hung so the leaves are adjusted before they ever leave the building. Figure six to eight weeks from approved drawings.
4. Delivery and site prep

The unit comes out on our truck. We need driveway or side-yard access wide enough to walk it in, and we mask floors and any finished stone around the opening before the old door comes out.
5. Install day

Old door out, opening squared, new frame set, shimmed, plumbed and anchored. Then threshold, weather stripping and sealant, then the leaves get hung and adjusted until they swing and latch the way they should. Hardware goes on last.
6. Walkthrough before we leave

We open and close everything with you, show you how the multipoint hardware works, hand over keys and clean up. If something needs a further adjustment after the house settles into it, we come back.

What Install Day Actually Looks Like

A single or double entry door is a one-day job in almost every case. A wide patio run or a set of steel windows is more often two. The crew arrives in the morning, masks off floors and any finished stone around the opening, and the old unit comes out first.

Your entry will be open to the outside for part of that day, so it is worth putting pets somewhere else and moving anything valuable back from the doorway. We do not leave a house open overnight. If a job is going to run into a second day, the opening gets closed and secured before the crew leaves.

What we need from you is simple: clear access from the street or driveway to the opening, and somewhere to stage a unit that may be twelve feet wide.

Replacing a Door in an Existing House

Most of our installations are replacements, not new builds. We measure the rough opening you already have and build the unit to it, which means the stone, stucco or brick surround does not need to be cut back or rebuilt. That is normally the cheapest way to get a steel door into an existing house, and it is the difference between a one-day install and a masonry job.

It works even when the old door is nothing like the new one. On our Dripping Springs project, a pair of stained wood doors with small leaded panels came out and a black steel double door with a full-height transom went into the same opening. In Lakeway, wide-framed white patio doors were swapped for steel French doors across the same run.

Where an opening does need to be widened, or a structural header is involved, we tell you at the site visit. That is a bigger job and it may need a permit, and neither of those should be a surprise after you have paid a deposit.

What We Install

The same crew installs everything we make, residential and commercial:

Steel single entry doors and steel double doors
Steel pivot doors, including oversized entries
Wrought iron entry doors
Doors with sidelites and transom windows
Steel French, sliding, bifold, panoramic and accordion patio doors
Steel interior doors, pocket doors and wine cellar doors
Fixed, operable, casement and awning steel windows
Steel curtain walls and window walls

Glass, thermal performance and hardware are chosen per job. There is more on that under energy efficiency, glass options and locksets.

Why This Is Not a DIY Job

People do try it. The failures are always the same three:

A frame that is out of plumb, so the door drags or will not latch
Gaps at the threshold and jamb that leak air and drive up cooling bills
Chipped glass or a bent frame from trying to walk a few hundred pounds of steel into place without the right gear

None of the three are cheap to undo. A frame that has been anchored and sealed into masonry does not come back out gently.

Recent Installations

Black steel double entry door installed on a stone home in Dripping Springs, TX — Dripping Springs – a steel double door and transom set into the existing stone opening.

Black steel patio door wall installed across the back of a Lakeway home facing a golf course — Lakeway – steel French patio doors across the back of a golf course home.

Installers plumbing and anchoring a steel door frame during an Austin area installation — Setting and plumbing a frame. This is the part that decides whether a door seals.

More of them, start to finish, on the projects page.

Where We Install

The Austin metro is our home ground, and we install across the rest of Texas as well.

Not on the list? See all service areas or call us at (512) 773-4192 and we will tell you straight whether we cover you.

Steel Door Installation FAQs

How long does a steel door installation take?
Most single and double entry doors are removed, set and finished inside one working day. A large patio door wall or a run of steel windows usually takes two. We will tell you which one your job is when we book the date, not on the morning of.
Is installation included in the price of the door?
Yes. The price we quote covers the manufactured door, jamb, glass, threshold, weather stripping, deadbolt, handles and professional installation. There is no separate install invoice and no third-party contractor to coordinate.
How far ahead do I need to book?
From the day you approve the CAD drawings, fabrication runs about six to eight weeks. Add a site visit before that for measurements. Most people are looking at roughly two months from first call to installed door.
Can you install into an existing opening, or does it have to be new construction?
Both. Most of our work is replacement. We measure the rough opening you already have and build to it, so the stone, stucco or brick surround does not need to be cut or rebuilt. The Dripping Springs and Lakeway projects on our projects page were both done that way.
Do I need a permit to replace a door?
For a straight swap into an existing opening, usually not. If the opening has to be widened or a structural header touched, your city or HOA may want a permit. We flag that during the site visit so it is dealt with before anything is ordered.
What happens to my old door?
We take it out and haul it away as part of the install. Floors and finished surfaces near the opening get masked off first.
Do you install steel windows as well as doors?
Yes. Fixed, operable, casement, awning and full curtain wall runs are all installed by the same crew that installs the doors.
Which areas do you install in?
The Austin metro is our home ground, including Bee Cave, Cedar Park, Dripping Springs, Lakeway, Round Rock, Georgetown and West Lake Hills. We also install in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth.

More answers on the general FAQ page, or read up on how to measure before your site visit.