Craft Quantities
Plan & Takeoffs

Quote check

Check an external door replacement quote

Paste the quote you were given and enter your measurements. Every line is read against the job: what the quote leaves out, what it adds, which quantities sit outside the computed range, and what to ask. Quantities only — never prices.
  • 54Lines the job needs
  • 3Measurements
  • QuestionsNever a verdict

How the quote is read

Each line of an external door replacement quote is matched to the line of the job it names, or marked as something the External door replacement, with its frame takeoff does not measure — labour, removal, hire, fees, or anything else. Work the takeoff lists as part of the job but gives no quantity for is read as that work, not as something the quote adds.

The job’s own figures come from 3 measurements — frame width, outside edges, frame height, threshold to head, floor sheeted, inside and out — run through the same calculators as the takeoff, so the two give the same figure for the same job.

Reading an external door replacement quote

A price for a new outside door can mean the door alone, the door fitted, or the door fitted with the opening finished round it, and the three read very differently against the lines here. Worth asking which one the figure is, whether a new frame comes with the leaf or the leaf is hung in the old one, whether the door is made to measure for this opening or a stock size packed out to fit it, and what the lock is by make and model: a multipoint lock or a lockset, the grade of its cylinder, and whether it meets any standard your insurer names.

The threshold is the line worth seeing written down, by what it is made of and how it drains: whether the old sill or sub-sill beneath is kept or replaced, whether a weatherbar comes with it, and what happens to the floor covering inside if the new threshold sits at another height. Worth settling as well whether patching the plaster and render round the frame, the new architrave, the painting, carting away the old door with its frame, and the notification or certificate for the work are in the figure or left to someone else.

Three steps

  1. Give your measurements. The page opens on a typical job so it has something to show.
  2. Paste the quote's lines as they came, or add them one at a time. Leave the prices in — they are taken out, never read.
  3. Read the report: what is left out, what is added, what sits outside the range, and one list of questions to send.

Your quote

The external door replacement quote you were given

Paste from an email, or open or drop a PDF, Excel, CSV or text file, or a photo of the quote. Amounts of money are taken out before anything is read — this page compares quantities, never prices.

Nothing you paste or open leaves this device.

or one the job needs:

The reading

What the quote says, against the job

External door replacement · Frame width, outside edges 3 ft · Frame height, threshold to head 7 ft · Floor sheeted, inside and out 65 sq ftFrame width, outside edges 0.92 m · Frame height, threshold to head 2.1 m · Floor sheeted, inside and out 6 m²

  • What it leaves out

    Every line the job needs that nothing on the quote reads as, with the quantity your measurements produce.

  • What it adds

    Lines this job's takeoff does not measure — labour, removal, hire, fees, anything else — each named for what it is.

  • What sits outside the range

    Quantities above or below the computed range, by how much, in the quote's unit or converted and shown.

  • What to ask

    One list of questions, in the quote's order, ready to copy and send. Questions, never a verdict.

Paste the quote above, or add its lines one at a time. The reading appears here as each line is read.

Outside what this takeoff measures

7

Nothing in the reading measures these. Whether the quote covers each is worth asking in its own right: a scope missing from a quote tends to become a cost after work has started. Why each is left out is on the takeoff.

  • Widening, lowering or moving the hole in the wall
  • The drainage channel a level, step-free threshold needs and how the approach to the door is laid out for it, and how high a threshold may stand above the floor inside or the ground outside; the rules where the house stands and the door maker's details set those, and the threshold here is counted as one piece of work
  • The ratings
  • A sub-sill, step or bearer under the threshold found rotten or loose once the old one is out, beyond bedding the new threshold on sound material
  • Moving a doorbell, an alarm contact, an entry-phone cable or a light switch set in the old frame or its reveal
  • The door or doorset as a row of its own
  • Consent to change a door on a listed building or in a conservation area, where the new door's look is controlled

The reference

Every line the reading looks for

For Frame width, outside edges 3 ft · Frame height, threshold to head 7 ft · Floor sheeted, inside and out 65 sq ftFrame width, outside edges 0.92 m · Frame height, threshold to head 2.1 m · Floor sheeted, inside and out 6 m². Each is the calculator linked under it, run with those measurements; a range is that calculator at both ends of one choice, not a margin for error.

  • Architrave (casing) inside, two legs and a head

    5.38–5.89 m

    5.38 at 5% mitre waste, 5.89 at 15%.

    Open the Door & Window Casing Calculator

  • Mastic (caulk) round the frame, outside and inside

    2 tubes

    The same at 5% waste allowance and at 15%, once rounded to what is bought.

    Open the Caulk & Sealant Calculator

  • Paint for the door and frame, both faces: undercoat and gloss

    0.96–1.11 L

    Trim paint is bought by the tin, and brushing edges, mouldings and sashes loses more to the brush and the kettle than rolling a wall does. 0.96 net, 1.11 with 15% added.

    Open the Woodwork Paint Calculator

  • Skip (dumpster) or van load for the old door and frame

    at least 0.48 m³

    The loose volume the waste takes up; the container quoted is at least this big, and a bigger one is a choice.

    Open the Skip & Dumpster Size Calculator

  • Dust sheets (drop cloths) inside and out, with tape at the doorway

    2 items

    Worked out, not compared with a quote

    Dust sheets and tape together, which a quote prices as preparation rather than listing.

    Open the Masking and Protection Materials Calculator

  • Flashing tape round the opening, for a timber-framed wall

    8.62 m

    Worked out, not compared with a quote

    In a masonry wall the frame is fixed back to the reveals and sealed with foam and mastic rather than taped, so this figure is shown for a timber-framed wall and not held against a quote.

    Open the Window Opening Flashing Membrane Calculator

How the ranges are taken

Where the choice is cutting waste, the ends are the site’s own allowances: 5%, the tight buffer of a crew with a planned set-out, and 15%, the wider one a first-timer orders. Where the calculator decides between patterns or materials, the ends are the options it offers. Where it adds nothing for loss, the range runs from the net quantity to 15% over it.

A minimum — the fewest hangers a spacing allows, the least airflow a room needs — has no upper end. A single figure carries an allowance the material itself needs, such as a lap, and names it.

What a reading like this cannot see

  • It does not know your prices, your market, or what the work ought to cost.
  • It does not know the building — the access, the condition of what is there, or what has to happen first.
  • It cannot check a lump sum, because there is no quantity in one.
  • A line it reads as missing may be priced under another name. A quantity outside the range is not evidence of anything. Each is a reason to ask a question.
  • Two quotes are not comparable until their scopes are.
  • It is not advice, and it is no substitute for a second quote.

The full takeoff

Every quantity for this job, with its working

The External door replacement, with its frame takeoff runs the same calculators on the same measurements and shows what sits under each line here.

Open the takeoffEvery quote check

  • Base, allowance, order

    Each line's quantity before and after its allowance, and what to buy.

  • Every allowance editable

    Change a waste figure and the order follows, with its source named.

  • Into a project

    Add the whole job to a workspace with your own prices.

Frequently asked questions

What quantities does an external door replacement job need?
It depends on the measurements, so this page asks for yours. At the size it opens on — Frame width, outside edges 0.92 m · Frame height, threshold to head 2.1 m · Floor sheeted, inside and out 6 m² — the lines come to: Architrave (casing) inside, two legs and a head, 5.38–5.89 m; Mastic (caulk) round the frame, outside and inside, 2 tubes; Paint for the door and frame, both faces: undercoat and gloss, 0.96–1.11 L; Skip (dumpster) or van load for the old door and frame, 0.48 m³. In imperial units — Frame width, outside edges 3 ft · Frame height, threshold to head 7 ft · Floor sheeted, inside and out 65 sq ft — they come to: Flashing tape round the opening, for a timber-framed wall, 27.3–29.9 ft; Architrave (casing) inside, two legs and a head, 17.8–19.5 linear ft; Mastic (caulk) round the frame, outside and inside, 2 tubes; Paint for the door and frame, both faces: undercoat and gloss, 0.26–0.3 gal; Skip (dumpster) or van load for the old door and frame, 0.64 yd³.
Which line on an external door replacement quote varies the most?
The Paint for the door and frame, both faces: undercoat and gloss: 0.96–1.11 L for a job measured Frame width, outside edges 0.92 m · Frame height, threshold to head 2.1 m · Floor sheeted, inside and out 6 m², depending on how much is allowed for loss over the net figure, up to 15%.
What does an external door replacement quote often leave out?
The reading names every line of the job that nothing on the quote reads as — any of the 5 lines the takeoff measures. The takeoff also lists 7 things it does not measure, shown under the reading, and each is worth asking about: a scope missing from a quote tends to become a cost after work has started.The reading names every line of the job that nothing on the quote reads as — any of the 4 lines the takeoff measures. The takeoff also lists 7 things it does not measure, shown under the reading, and each is worth asking about: a scope missing from a quote tends to become a cost after work has started.
Can I paste the quote exactly as it came?
Yes — from an email, a PDF or a spreadsheet, one item to a line. Amounts of money are taken out before anything is read, headings and totals are skipped, and each line is shown with what it was read as, so a misreading is one correction. Quantities in the other unit system are converted and the conversion is shown; a count of boxes is never compared with a count of tiles.
Does this check the price as well?
No. It reads quantities, never prices, and this site publishes none: an installed price moves with the market, the season, the access and the specification, so a figure for what the work ought to cost would give you confidence in a number nobody can defend. A quantity against your own measurements is checkable, and every figure here links to the calculator that produced it.