Garage door spring replacement cost, and how to read a quote

Parts alone against installed price

This is the number the installer pages leave out, and it is the one that makes the rest legible.

A torsion spring is $80 to $120 as a part. An extension spring is $20 to $60. Against an installed price of several hundred dollars, that means the hardware is a small minority of what you pay, and the majority is labour.

That is not a markup complaint. It is the actual shape of the job, and knowing it stops people concluding they are being overcharged on parts when they are being charged for skilled work.

Torsion or extension: which do you have?

• Torsion: one or two springs on a metal shaft mounted above the door opening.
• Extension: long springs running horizontally along the tracks on each side, stretching as the door closes.
• Torsion is more common on modern and heavier doors, and it costs more to replace.
• Extension springs should have a containment cable running through them, and if yours does not, mention it.

Why a pair is standard practice

The reason this reads as an upsell is that installer pages assert it without explaining it. Once the cycle logic is stated, it is simply arithmetic.

Cycle ratings, and what a better spring buys

Springs are rated in cycles, where one cycle is one open and one close. That rating is the closest thing to a lifespan figure this component has.

A higher cycle spring costs more and lasts proportionally longer. Whether that pays depends entirely on how the garage is used: a household using it as the main entrance six times a day consumes cycles at three times the rate of one that uses it twice.

Ask what rating is being quoted. It is rarely offered unprompted, and the upgrade is usually modest against the labour you are already paying for.

What the labour is actually paying for

Three things, and only one of them is fitting a spring.

The first is winding the spring to the correct tension with bars, under control, without letting the energy escape. The second is balancing the door so it stays where it is left and the opener is not overloaded. The third is checking the cables, drums and opener force settings afterwards, because all of them assume a correctly balanced door.

What else gets replaced at the same time

A quote that includes more than springs is not automatically padded.

• Cables and drums get inspected after a failure, particularly if the opener kept running.
• Rollers are cheap while the door is already down and the technician is already there.
• Bearings and the shaft are checked on a torsion system as a matter of course.
• Opener force settings get reset once the door is balanced again.

Warranty, and what it actually covers

Two warranties usually apply and they are rarely the same length.

The spring warranty is often stated in cycles or years and comes from the manufacturer. The labour warranty comes from the company and is typically shorter. Ask for both, and ask what happens if the same spring fails inside the period, because that is the case the warranty exists for.

How to read a quote

Four questions make any two quotes comparable, and they take a minute on the phone.

• Is this price for one spring or a pair?
• What cycle rating is being fitted?
• Is the service call fee included or added?
• What warranty covers the part and the labour?
• Are cables and rollers included or extra?
• Is the total confirmed in writing before work starts?

When a cheap quote is a warning

A number well below the published range is information rather than a bargain.

It usually means one spring rather than two, a low cycle rating that will fail sooner, or a service call fee that appears on the invoice afterwards. Any of those may still be acceptable once you know which it is. The problem is finding out after the work is done.