Door Installation in Dallas-Fort Worth: Front, Patio and Garage Door Prices, Dallas Lock Rules and City Permits

What door installation costs in Dallas-Fort Worth

Door prices here start from national installed costs and apply the Area Cost Factor the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sets for Fort Worth, 0.84. A door that costs $2,000 installed in an average U.S. city comes to about $1,680 in North Texas.

Estimates for 2026, including labor and standard parts. Dallas–Fort Worth prices use a construction cost factor of 0.84 (US average = 1.00) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Area Cost Factors, based on Fort Worth. Your quote depends on access, materials and the condition of the home.

The entry door line is a pre-hung door going into an existing opening, and material moves it most. From the typical DFW figure of $1,350, steel drops it to about $1,150, fiberglass stays near $1,350 and solid wood raises it to about $1,800. Glass adds cost: a door with up to half glass comes to about $1,500, and a full-glass door about $1,600.

Other things that change a door quote here:

• Wider openings. Turning a single door into a double or French door means new framing. Our cost estimator's wide-opening factor takes the typical entry door to about $2,150, and in Dallas the framing change also ends the permit exemption.
• Custom sizes. A made-to-order door costs about 1.8 times a standard one, roughly $2,400 at the typical price.
• Hardware. Premium hardware adds about 8% ($1,450), and a smart lock about 15% ($1,550).
• The frame. A rotted jamb or sill means a new frame, $110 to $505 here.

Price your own door below or in the full door cost estimator. Both use the rate for your ZIP code. Our door installation cost guide compares door types at national prices.

Door projects that pay back in Dallas

Two door projects returned more than they cost in the 2025 Cost vs. Value data for Dallas. A steel entry door replacement cost $2,268 and added $5,713 in resale value, or 251.9% of the cost, against 216.4% nationally. A garage door replacement cost $4,246 and added $11,178, or 263.3%. A fiberglass grand entrance with sidelights cost $11,187 and recouped 80.8% (Cost vs. Value 2025, Dallas).

The report's entry door is a 20-gauge steel unit with a half-glass dual-pane panel, new jambs, an aluminum threshold and a new lockset. Its garage door is a 16-by-7-foot, four-section steel door insulated to at least R-12, hung on new tracks with the old opener kept (steel entry door scope, garage door scope).

Door types and what to check in DFW

Our guides go further on entry doors, patio doors, French doors, multi-slide doors and garage doors.

Dallas's building security code for doors

Dallas added Chapter 45, "Building Security," to its version of the 2021 International Residential Code to set minimum standards that make homes resistant to unlawful entry. Section R301.1.8 of the Dallas code says openings into dwellings must comply with it. The chapter covers doors into the house, doors between an attached garage and the house, and doors into an attached garage (Dallas residential code amendments). Its main door rules:

• Dead bolt. A single swinging door, and the active leaf of a pair, needs a key-operated exterior dead bolt with a bolt throw of at least 1 inch into a metal strike plate. On an exit door or escape door, it must open from inside without a key or special knowledge.
• Strike plate. In a wood frame, the gap between the jamb and the framing is shimmed solid with one piece that reaches at least 6 inches above and below the strike, and the strike goes on with at least two No. 8 screws 2 inches long.
• Hinges. Hinges exposed outside need nonremovable pins or an interlock, so nobody can take the door off by pulling the pins.
• Viewer. The front entry door has to let you see who is outside without opening it, through a door viewer with at least a 180-degree field of view, a window or a view port.
• Glass near the lock. Breakable glass should not sit within 40 inches of a lock. On a required exit door, glass that close is allowed if it is laminated, patterned, wired, obscured or behind approved bars; on other doors, the lock must take a key on both sides.
• Door build. Wood doors must be solid core and at least 1 3/8 inches thick. The inactive leaf of a double door is held by header and threshold bolts into metal strike plates, and Dutch doors need concealed flush bolts that lock the halves together.
• Sliding doors. A sliding glass door needs a primary lock plus a secondary lock that keeps it from being lifted or pried, or approved bars or grilles.
• Garage doors. Vehicle doors in an enclosed attached garage need a locking device.

Bars or screens at the main exit door are allowed only if they release from inside without a key, a tool or extra force. Ask for these specs in writing with every quote, including a swap that needs no permit.

Renting out a DFW house? Texas lock law

Only 42.2% of homes in the City of Dallas are owner-occupied, according to the Census Bureau's 2024 survey (Census Reporter, ACS 2024). If you own one of the rentals, chapter 92 of the Texas Property Code lists security devices a landlord must provide without being asked (Texas Property Code ch. 92):

• Every exterior door needs a keyless bolting device and a door viewer, plus a doorknob lock or keyed dead bolt.
• Every exterior sliding glass door needs a pin lock and either a handle latch or a security bar.
• Every exterior window needs a latch.
• With French doors, one leaf meets the rules above. The other is bolted into the head jamb and into the floor or threshold, with a 1-inch throw for a dead bolt or keyless device, or 3/4 inch for flush bolts set in the door edge.
• Dead bolts and keyless bolting devices go between 36 and 48 inches above the floor, with the strike plate screwed into the jamb.
• Locks that use a key, card or code must be rekeyed at the landlord's expense within 7 days after a new tenant moves in.

When you replace doors in a rental, hand the installer this list so the new hardware is right the first time.

Garage doors and the door into the house

Federal rules require automatic residential garage door openers to meet entrapment protection standards, so the door stops and reverses when it meets an obstruction (Federal Register, 16 CFR 1211). Have the installer test the reverse and the photo eyes before leaving.

The door between an attached garage and the house is a fire separation. The 2021 International Residential Code calls for a solid wood door at least 1 3/8 inches thick, a solid or honeycomb-core steel door of the same thickness, or a 20-minute fire-rated door, and it bans any door from a garage straight into a bedroom (2021 IRC R302.5.1). The model code also wants that door self-latching and self-closing. Dallas struck that sentence in its amendments, and the North Central Texas Council of Governments recommends the same change to area cities, citing an "absence of data linking self-closing devices to increased safety" (NCTCOG regional amendments). So in Dallas a closer is optional, while the rules on door type still apply. Other cities adopt their own amendments, so ask yours.

Dallas's security chapter also covers openings between an attached garage and the house, so that door falls under the dead bolt and strike plate rules above.

Size, landing and glass rules for exterior doors

These 2021 IRC sections apply in Dallas, and Fort Worth also works from the 2021 residential code (2021 IRC, Chapter 3):

• Egress door. Each home needs at least one side-hinged egress door with a clear width of at least 32 inches and a clear height of at least 78 inches, and it must open from inside without a key or special knowledge. If your front door is that required door, keep the new one at least that size.
• Landings. Each exterior door needs a landing or floor on both sides, at least as wide as the door and 36 inches deep. At the egress door, the landing can sit no more than 1 1/2 inches below the top of the threshold, or up to 7 3/4 inches on the outside if the door does not swing over it. Other exterior doors allow 7 3/4 inches. Storm and screen doors may swing over the steps and landing.
• Safety glass. Glass in swinging, sliding and bifold doors must be safety glass, except openings a 3-inch ball cannot pass through and decorative glass. Glass beside a door counts too when it is within 24 inches of the door and its bottom edge is less than 60 inches above the floor. Sidelights in that zone need it.

Energy ratings for doors in North Texas

ENERGY STAR rates swinging doors by how much glass they hold. A solid door needs a U-factor of 0.17 or lower. A door with up to half glass needs 0.23, with an SHGC of 0.23. A door with more than half glass needs 0.28 and an SHGC of 0.23 in the Southern and South-Central zones that cover DFW. Sliding glass doors follow the window criteria for the zone (ENERGY STAR Version 7.0). ENERGY STAR files Dallas and Tarrant county ZIP codes as Southern and Collin and Denton county ZIP codes as South-Central; our Dallas window replacement guide explains that split.

The energy code exempts one side-hinged opaque door of up to 24 square feet from its U-factor limit (2021 IECC R402.3.4). Arlington's permit rule draws the same line: replacing one opaque door of up to 24 square feet needs no city permit. The federal 25C credit for energy-efficient home improvements does not apply to property placed in service after December 31, 2025 (IRS).

Do you need a permit to replace a door?

Chapter 52 of the Dallas City Code lets you replace exterior or interior doors, hinges, hardware and decorative trim without a permit, as long as the new door is the same size and required type, the wall framing does not change, and the old door is not part of fire-rated construction (Dallas Chapter 52, Section 301.2.1). Widening an opening for double, French or multi-slide doors changes the framing, so it takes a permit. Dallas charges a $181 base fee for that kind of house alteration, plus $15 per document for technology (Dallas fee guide). In a Dallas historic district, a new front door is exterior work and needs a Certificate of Appropriateness first; conservation districts use a work review form (City of Dallas).

In Fort Worth, every exterior door replacement takes a building permit, and only a registered contractor or an owner who qualifies for a homestead permit can apply (City of Fort Worth). Arlington asks for a permit and its worksheet, except for one opaque door up to 24 square feet (City of Arlington). Frisco prices the permit at $75 and adds $25 per extra element to a $150 cap, under the fee schedule that took effect October 1, 2026 (City of Frisco). For door installation in Plano, Denton, Irving or McKinney, call the city's permit office before ordering.

Old paint on door frames

In the City of Dallas, 46.1% of homes were built before 1980 (Census Reporter, ACS 2024). In a home built before 1978, the EPA requires a certified firm and lead-safe practices for paid work that disturbs more than 6 square feet of paint inside or 20 square feet outside (EPA). Pulling an old frame and its casing can pass those limits, so ask for the firm's certification and check it in EPA's search tool.

Areas we cover

GOLDGCP door installers work across the Dallas-Fort Worth area:

• Dallas
• Fort Worth
• Plano
• Arlington
• Irving
• Frisco
• McKinney
• Denton

Enter a ZIP code below to see door prices where you live and get matched with installers who serve that area.