We get asked all the time whether a project is worth DIYing or better left to a professional, so we wanted to walk through our decision-making using our new French doors as an example. They lead from our house out to the newly built deck, and they made the choice pretty clear once we weighed cost, time, and quality.
We’ll share more before-and-after photos soon, including why we chose French doors, how the screen situation works now, and how they look painted and open versus closed. For now, here’s the story of how we replaced the old, failing sliders that led to what used to be a “balcony to nowhere” and is now our functional deck.
The original sliding doors were stuck, had a non-functioning screen, and didn’t even lock. We used a floor security bar and an alarm sensor to keep them secure, but they were rotten and well past their prime.
When we made an offer on the house, we already budgeted for replacement doors in case of rot or non-standard sizes. Now that the deck is complete and we’re using that doorway regularly, replacing the doors became a priority.
We searched secondhand and architectural salvage stores, like Habitat for Humanity ReStore and a local shop, hoping to find a French door without mullions to match the clean look of our laundry room door. No luck—our opening and style preference were specific.
Next we collected quotes from several suppliers that included both the door and installation:
- $1,200 total (from a large window & door chain)
- $3,200 total (from a local door & window specialist)
- $730 total (from Home Depot)
- $830 total (from Lowe’s — but they didn’t have the exact style we wanted)
Aside from the pricier “Cadillac” option, the doors were comparable in ratings, low-e glass options, manufacturing standards, hardware choices, and customer feedback. That made the comparison straightforward.
We also checked how much we could save by installing the door ourselves:
- The first vendor required professional installation for the warranty.
- The second vendor also required professional installation for the warranty.
- Home Depot offered the door without installation for roughly $350, saving about $380 compared to full service.
- Lowe’s offered the door without installation for about $450, but it wasn’t the style we wanted.
Gradually, Home Depot emerged as the best fit because the total cost with delivery and installation was the most affordable for a nearly identical product — and the door matched the exact style and manufacturer of the one we already like in our laundry room. After living with that door for almost two years, we were confident in its performance.
Then came the classic DIY vs. hire question: save $380 and install it ourselves, or spend the money to have a pro do it while we worked on the long list of other projects (basement, bathrooms, sunroom, playroom, carport, etc.). With book promotion, travel planning, and everyday life (including parenting chaos), DIYing would have stretched the install across several late evenings and left the doorway insecure for days.
We tend to DIY about 90% of our projects, but we always balance three things when deciding to hire help:
- Is the expense already planned and budgeted?
- Do we have no interest or excitement in doing the work ourselves?
- Is life simply too busy to do it right now?
…you just know in your gut which projects to tackle and which are worth hiring out.
Sometimes we happily take on big jobs—a deck, a kitchen renovation, rebuilding a bathroom from the studs—but other times a sensible hire preserves time and reduces stress. For example, we were glad to have pros reroof our first house after hearing horror stories from friends.
In our case, the installer initially estimated “two hours tops,” but unforeseen issues inside the framing stretched the job to five hours and required an extra trip to the hardware store. That’s when the flat installation fee felt especially reasonable.
We’d rather not have been the ones wrestling with those surprises. If someone who installs dozens of doors a week can hit hiccups, the risk of stretching the project out even longer for us was real. In short: hiring saved time, hassle, and likely a few gray hairs.
In the end the new French doors are worth every penny — they look great and function properly, and we’re thrilled to have a secure, beautiful entry to the deck.
Update: A few readers asked about the Home Depot ordering process. Here’s how it worked for us: bring a rough measurement to the store and review the options, pay $35 for them to come measure accurately (that $35 is credited toward the installation fee), and then the installer calls a few days after measuring to schedule the install. It was a simple, straightforward process.
How do you decide which projects to DIY? Is there anything you always hire out? We know contractors who avoid certain tasks—one hates mudding and sanding drywall, another avoids electrical work—so it’s interesting how preferences vary. Share what you love and what you’d never do yourself.