How to Price Painting Hollow Metal Doors and Frames

On a commercial job, the doors and frames rarely look like the big item. The walls are where the gallons go, the ceilings are where the lifts go, and the doors seem like a line that can be added at the end. Then the crew reaches the corridors and finds dozens of steel frames, each needing a clean, a sand, a careful cut against the wall and two coats on every face, with closers, hinges and hardware in the way.

This guide is for the painting contractor pricing hollow metal doors and frames on commercial work, whether new construction or a repaint in an occupied building. It explains why steel openings are counted rather than measured, what to read before the walk, how to band each opening, and how to build a line on the estimate that survives both the general contractor and the crew. For the craft of painting a single door, the step by step method is in how to paint a door. This post is about the number.

Why commercial doors are counted, not measured

A hollow metal door has a flat face, and it would be easy to measure it as area and price it like a wall. That approach fails for the same reason it fails on trim. The time on a steel opening is spent on edges, stops, hinge preps, hardware, the joint between frame and wall, and the setup of moving from one opening to the next. The face itself is quick. Everything around it is slow.

So most commercial painters price openings by the piece. A door is one unit, a frame is one unit, and each has its own rate by band. A pair of doors in a double frame is priced as two leaves and one wide frame, not as a single door. A frame with a transom or a sidelite is a larger frame band. The count is what the crew will actually handle, one opening at a time.

Counting also makes the estimate checkable. A general contractor or a facility manager can look at a door schedule, count the openings, and see that the painter has priced the same number. An area figure cannot be checked that way, and a painter who prices doors inside the wall rate has no way to show where the door time went when the job runs long.

Reading the door schedule before the walk

On new construction, the door schedule and the hardware schedule are the most useful documents a painter can read. The door schedule lists every opening with its mark, size, door type, frame type, material, finish and fire rating. The hardware schedule lists what goes on each door. Together they tell the painter how many openings there are, which are steel, which are wood or aluminum and belong to someone else, which arrive factory finished, and which carry a rating.

A takeoff that starts from the schedule is faster and more accurate than counting doors on the plans, and it catches openings that a plan count misses, such as doors in closets and mechanical rooms. The general method of reading drawings for a painting bid is in painting takeoff from plans, and the specification sections that set the paint system are covered in how to read painting specifications.

The key column is finish. A factory finished door is not for the painter to touch, except for touch up if the contract says so. A factory primed door or frame is for the painter to finish. A door marked by others, such as a wood door stained at the mill, is not in the painting scope at all. Getting this column wrong is the most common way a door line goes wrong, because it changes the count of what the painter actually paints.

Factory primed, factory finished and field painted

Most hollow metal doors and frames arrive on site with a shop primer. That primer is there to protect the steel in transit and storage, not to serve as a finish. It is often thin, it scratches easily, and by the time the frames are set and the walls are finished it may have rust spots, drywall compound, tape residue and fingerprints on it.

The painter has to decide, and price, what happens to that primer. On a clean frame, a scuff, a wipe and a spot prime of any bare or rusted areas may be enough before the finish coats. On a frame that sat outside or was set early and taped over, the prep can be much heavier. The difference is large enough that the estimate should state which condition the price assumes, and what happens if the frames arrive worse.

The finish itself is usually a direct to metal acrylic, a waterborne alkyd or an industrial enamel, as set by the specification. The product choice and why primer matters on steel are explained in the best paint for metal. For doors and frames that sit beside wood trim, the product and sheen questions overlap with the best paint for trim and doors, which is the residential side of the same decision.

Frames set in the wall versus frames set later

Commercial frames are installed in different ways, and the method changes the painting. A welded frame set in a masonry wall or grouted in place is there from the start. The drywall or block is finished around it, and the painter paints the frame after the walls are done, cutting carefully against the new finish. A knock down frame installed after the drywall may arrive later in the sequence, sometimes after the walls are painted.

Sequence matters to the price because it decides how many visits a frame needs. A frame painted with the walls is part of the flow of the room. A frame that arrives after the room is finished is a return trip, often with its own masking and protection. The general contractor schedule usually shows when frames and doors go in, and the painter should price the openings to match. Scheduling commercial work around other trades is covered in how to schedule painting jobs.

Doors themselves are often hung late, after the painting of frames, and are sometimes painted off the hinges in a staging area. Painting doors flat on racks is faster and cleaner than painting them hung, but it needs a space to lay them out, time for them to cure before they are rehung, and a clear agreement about who hangs them. If the hardware installer will not be back until the doors are dry, that timing belongs in the schedule and in the price.

Fire rated openings and the labels that stay clean

Many commercial openings are fire rated. A rated door and frame carry labels, usually on the hinge edge of the door and in the frame rabbet, that identify the assembly and its rating. Inspectors look for those labels. A label painted over can mean a failed inspection, a replaced label at the owner expense, or a replaced door. The painter should mask the labels on every rated opening and leave them legible.

Rated doors also have rules about what can be done to them in the field. Painting is generally allowed, but modifications, added hardware and some repairs are not, and the details belong to the fire door standard, the manufacturer and the local authority rather than to the painter. Owners and managers who need the rules can begin with the NFPA fire door standard page. For the painter, the practical point is to mask labels, leave gaskets and seals unpainted, avoid painting over the smoke seals or intumescent strips some frames carry, and ask before doing anything beyond paint.

All of this takes time. A rated opening with labels, seals and a closer takes longer than a plain one, which is why a rated opening often sits in a higher band than an unrated one of the same size. This post is general information about pricing, not legal or safety advice, and the fire door requirements on a specific building belong to the owner, the architect and the authority having jurisdiction.

Hardware, closers and what comes off

Commercial doors carry more hardware than house doors. Closers, exit devices, pulls, push plates, kick plates, hinges, stops, coordinators and electric strikes all sit on the opening. Some of it is designed to come off easily. Some of it is wired, keyed or adjusted and should only be touched by the hardware installer or the locksmith.

The estimate should say which hardware the painter removes, which is masked, and which is left for others. On new construction, the cleanest answer is often that the doors are finished before the hardware goes on. On a repaint in an occupied building, removing and resetting closers and exit devices on every opening can take more time than the painting itself, and it carries the risk of a door that no longer latches. Many painters mask hardware on a repaint and exclude removal, which should be written as a clarification. The wording for that kind of limit is covered in painting bid exclusions and clarifications.

Where the painter does remove hardware, count it by type and allow for the time to label, store and reinstall it, and for the check that every door closes and latches afterward.

Vision lites, louvers and kick plates

Features on the door change the band. A flush door with no openings is the simplest. A door with a vision lite needs cutting against the glass stop or masking of the glass. A door with a louver has slats that need the same attention as a louvered shutter, which is slow. A door with a kick plate or armor plate needs masking or removal of the plate. Each of these adds time to the opening, and a door schedule usually shows which doors carry them.

A practical banding for doors might be plain flush, flush with vision lite, and louvered or heavily detailed. For frames, the bands might be single, pair, and frames with transoms or sidelites. The bands come from the painter own records, not from a published table, and each band carries its own rate. Louvered items in homes are banded in the same spirit in how to price painting plantation shutters and louvered doors.

Spray, roll or brush on steel doors

Steel doors can be sprayed, rolled with a fine foam or microfiber roller and tipped, or brushed. On new construction with doors off the hinges, spraying in a staging area gives the best finish and is usually the fastest per door once the setup is done. On frames in finished corridors, spraying needs heavy masking of walls and floors, so many painters roll and brush frames even when they spray doors.

The method is a pricing decision as much as a finish decision. Spraying has a setup and cleanup cost that is repaid over a large count of doors, but not over a handful. Rolling and brushing has little setup but more labor per piece. The rules for spray work indoors, including ventilation and respiratory protection, are set out by OSHA on its spray operations page, and those controls also belong in the price when doors are sprayed inside a building.

New construction versus repaint in an occupied building

A door line on new construction and a door line on a repaint are different jobs even when the count is the same. On new construction, the building is empty, the doors can be staged, and the painter works to the general contractor schedule. On a repaint in an occupied office, school or hospital, each door is in use, the corridor is full of people, and a wet door cannot be closed or used until it has dried enough.

Occupied repaints often need to be done at night, in phases, or with doors propped open and signed while they dry. Some doors, such as those on secure rooms or fire exits, cannot be left open at all and need a plan agreed with the facility. These constraints change the rate per opening and often the number of visits. The broader method for pricing work in stages is in how to price a painting job done in phases, and segment posts such as healthcare painting projects cover the extra rules in regulated buildings.

Rust, dents and old coatings on older openings

Older steel doors and frames bring their own prep. Frames at exterior doors and in wet areas often rust at the bottom, where mop water and salt sit against the steel. Doors in busy corridors are dented and chipped. Some older openings carry many layers of paint, and in older buildings that paint may contain lead. Where lead is possible, testing and lead safe methods come before any sanding, and OSHA sets out the worker protection rules on its lead page.

Rust at the base of a frame needs cleaning to sound metal, priming with a rust inhibiting primer and sometimes filling. Dents may need body filler if the owner wants them hidden, which is closer to metal repair than painting. Heavy paint build may need stripping at the hinges and latch. Each is a condition band, and a frame with heavy rust or build sits well above a clean one. The general method for pricing repairs as their own lines is in how to price repairs on a painting job.

Building the door and frame line

Once the openings are counted and banded, the line is straightforward. Each band has a rate per door and a rate per frame. Multiply by the count in each band and add them up. Then add any hardware removal, any heavy prep, any staging and racking for doors painted off the hinges, and any extra visits caused by sequence or occupancy.

Many commercial painters show the doors and frames as a separate line, or as a unit price the general contractor can use for added or deleted openings. A unit price per opening is useful on jobs where the door count changes during construction, and it protects the painter from absorbing extra doors into a lump sum. Unit prices and alternates are explained in painting bid alternates and unit prices.

The line should state what is included: which faces, how many coats, whether edges are painted, whether labels are masked, whether hardware is removed, and what condition the primer is assumed to be in. That clarity is what makes a door line defensible when the frames arrive with rust or the count grows by a dozen openings.

Timing openings on your own jobs

Door and frame rates are among the easiest to measure, because the unit is so clear. On the next few commercial jobs, record the count of doors and frames in each band, the method used, and the hours spent on prep, coats and hardware. After a handful of jobs the numbers settle into rates that can go straight onto a rate card. The structure for recording those numbers is in the painting estimate rate card, and the reason timed rates beat rules of thumb is set out in painting production rates.

Once the rates exist, a door schedule turns into a price quickly, and the painter can bid doors with confidence rather than burying them in the walls. That confidence is what separates a door line that makes money from one that quietly eats the margin on every commercial job.

Frequently asked questions

How do painters price hollow metal doors and frames?

Most count the openings from the door schedule, band each door and frame by type, features and condition, and price each band at a per piece rate from their own job records. Hardware removal, heavy prep and extra visits are added as separate items.

Do factory primed steel frames need another primer?

Often only a spot prime. Clean, sound shop primer is usually scuffed and wiped before the finish coats, with any bare or rusted areas primed. Frames that sat outside or arrived damaged may need a full prime, which is a larger prep allowance.

Can painters paint fire rated doors?

Painting is generally allowed, but the fire labels, seals and gaskets must stay clean and legible, and modifications are not for the painter to make. Which rules apply to a given opening is for the owner, architect or local authority to confirm.

Should doors be painted on or off the hinges?

Off the hinges is faster and gives a better finish, especially when doors are sprayed on racks. It needs staging space, cure time and a clear agreement about who rehangs them. Doors in occupied buildings are usually painted in place.

Is hardware removal included in a door price?

Only if the estimate says so. Many painters mask hardware on repaints and exclude removal, because closers and exit devices can take longer than the painting. On new construction, doors are often finished before hardware goes on.

Why price doors separately from the walls?

Door time follows the count and features of each opening, not wall area. A separate line lets the customer check the count against the schedule and lets the painter price added or deleted openings fairly.