What interior doors really cost
Someone sees a door for four thousand at the first showroom, a similar one for eight at the second, and decides the second place marks up twice as much. Usually that's wrong: the first quoted the slab alone, the second the full set. This article isn't about our prices. It's about how to count so you compare like with like.
A door is not one thing
A set is made up of at least seven items:
- ✓Slab — what you actually open. Its price is advertised most often because it's the smallest number.
- ✓Frame — the casing for the slab, the second most expensive part.
- ✓Architrave — trim covering the gap between frame and wall. Needed on both sides, so counted twice.
- ✓Jamb extension — a board extending the frame's depth when the wall is thicker than it. Needed almost always in an aerated-concrete new-build or a private house.
- ✓Hardware fitting — labor for the lock and hinges, fitting the frame.
- ✓Hardware — handle, hinges, lock, stop.
- ✓Delivery.
Installation is separate. We don't do it, but you will pay for it, so it belongs in your calculation. Check how many of these items were in that "door for four thousand".
What the slab's price depends on
- ✓Thickness: ours is 40 or 34 mm depending on the line. ETALON's 40 mm leaves room for sound insulation.
- ✓Finish: PVC film is the base option, color known upfront. RAL or NCS painting is made to order: exact color, but slower and more expensive.
- ✓Edge: PVC edge band is standard. An aluminum profile costs more but holds up better to impact with kids or a dog at home.
- ✓Decoration: a flat slab is cheaper than molding, molding cheaper than full milled relief.
Frame, architrave and jamb extension
A telescopic frame is the most common: adjusts to wall thickness, widths of 80, 100 or 120 mm. A flush (coplanar) frame sits level with the wall: looks more expensive and is more expensive. A concealed frame disappears into the wall entirely and is the most expensive: instead of architrave and jamb extension, it has a system of aluminum profiles.
Architrave: telescopic 80 mm (a 40 mm-wing option exists) or flush 80 mm. Jamb extension: 100, 150 or 200 mm. It's the item most often "forgotten" in a preliminary quote, only to show up later on the invoice. Measure your wall thickness and ask whether the frame covers it without an extension.
Hardware fitting
No fitting — the cheapest. Lock fitting only — just the recess. Full fitting — lock, hinges and frame adjustment: the door arrives ready to install.
This work doesn't disappear if you skip ordering it: your installer will do it on site, by hand, at their hourly rate. We fit hardware at the factory, on a machine, by template.
How to compare honestly
Ask for a quote on the same nine items: slab, frame, architrave, jamb extension, hinges, lock, handle, delivery, installation. If one quote has nine and another three, that's not cheaper, it's a different list.
And ask both suppliers two more questions: what's the production time, and what does the clock start from (inquiry, contract or payment). For us it's from the deposit landing in our account: 30 days for a standard size, 45 for a custom one.
Why the website doesn't show door prices
A set is put together for a specific opening. The same model with an 80 mm telescopic frame versus a flush frame plus a 200 mm jamb extension is a difference you can't show as one number. A number that means nothing only gets in the way: you remember it, then decide you were misled.
So we quote on request and give a line-item quote showing what you're paying for. To speed it up: send us the opening's width and height, wall thickness, number of doors and preferred color. With that, a quote comes within the day.
Sizes with no surcharge
50 mm steps: width 400–900 mm, height 1800–2100 mm. 830 mm opening? We use 800 or 850, same price. Wider and taller (950–1000 mm, 2150–2300 mm) are made to order, +20% on the slab price; a custom-size frame and jamb extension are priced the same way. Compare that with "resizing the opening to fit a standard door": demolition, bricklaying, plastering before you've even paid for the door.