If your garage door is not closing properly, is having issues locking, is getting stuck, or is just damaged, repairing it is usually the first and best option. Often, garage door repair is more affordable than replacement. In addition, you can typically have a garage door repaired in an afternoon – no matter how bad the problem is.
The average cost of garage door repair in the UK is £125. That works out to about £20-£50 in parts and up to £100 in labour. However, depending on the job, the repair could be over £200. However, that’s still significantly cheaper than replacing the garage door, which will normally set you back around £400-£5,000.
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Garage Door Repair Prices*
The cost of repairing a garage door will normally depend on the brand, the cost of labour and the cost of parts. For example, the table below details the average garage door repair costs per issue.
| Repairs | Parts | Labour |
| Lock | £15-£35 | £85-£115 |
| Roller Straps | £9-£35 | £50-£100 |
| Cables/Cones | £4-£20 | £45-£85 |
| Door Rollers | £30-£75 | £60-£120 |
| Door Springs | £20-£65 | £80-£150 |
| Handles | £12-£35 | £45-£60 |
| Control Box | £95-£325 | £45-£75 |
| Operator Motor | £176-£395 | £60-£150 |
| Remote Fob | £35-£95 | £45-£120 |
| New Door | £300-£5,000 | £250-£350 |
*Please note, these cost estimates are based on quotes at the time of writing in May 2023. Actual rates are subject to change and may be different depending on the time of reading.
What Influences The Cost Of Repairing Garage Doors?
In most cases, the largest cost factor in repairing a garage door is the part that’s damaged. The second largest cost factor will be the cost of labour.
Cost of Labour
Garage door repair is specialist work, meaning most technicians will charge a higher rate than you might expect. In fact, the national average rate is £75 per hour.
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In addition, you can expect those rates to more than double in some parts of the country. For example, you can expect rates to start from £125 per hour in most of London and Wales.
However, most repair jobs won’t take more than 1 or 2 hours. In addition, many will take less than an hour. On the other hand, your technician may bill you for a full hour whether or not they stay for the full hour – to cover the cost of travel, inspection and consultation.
For example, if you call the technician out, they might have to inspect the door, diagnose the issue, and then come back on another day with the part.
That means they might spend an hour driving and over an hour at your home – and still bill you for the £75. However, on average, you can expect costs for labour to be around £100.
For small repairs and jobs, you might get away with paying half that. However, garage door repair is very specialised and may require custom toolsets and expertise per brand. This means you’ll always pay a premium for labour.
However, many jobs actually require that you have two people. For example, if you have to take the door out of the rollers, you’re going to need two people. That means paying labour rates (usually for a technician and an apprentice) for two people.
Part Being Replaced
The easier it is to replace the part, the less the job will cost. However, the cost of the part can also be considerable.
For example, replacing a control box is usually a matter of unbolting the box from the motor, replacing it, replacing the belts, and then resetting the fobs to work with the new control box. Your contractor may be finished in less than half an hour.
On the other hand, the part itself can cost up to £300. It’s often one of the most expensive parts of the door.
Handles, springs, cones and straps, on the other hand, can be purchased for as little as £15. You’ll then pay for labour, which typically means lifting or moving the door and refitting the parts. That can take anywhere from 20 minutes to over 2 hours depending on the door, its height, and the brand.
Rollers and springs will typically take the most labour to replace, because you might have to slide the door out of the brackets to replace them.
Extent of Damage
The more damaged your door, the harder it will be to repair. For example, if you bumped the door while parking and have to hammer it back into shape, repair the bracket and replace the rollers.
You might also have to consider repainting or re-enamelling it to cover signs of the damage. In this case, you can expect costs to go up much higher than for simply replacing rollers.
In most cases, you should discuss the extent of damage with the technician before paying for repairs. For example, if your door is very damaged, it might be a better call to simply replace it instead.
For instance, if your technician will spend 8 hours hammering the door out and then another £60 on parts, you’re almost certainly better off getting a new door without damage – unless you’re also concerned about the environment and want to avoid waste.
Size of Door
The larger your garage door, the more it will cost to fix. That’s both because parts typically have to be rated for more weight and because you need more people on the job.
For example, a standard garage door in the UK is 7’ x 6’6” and a double garage door is 14’ x 7’. The wider width means the belts, motor, and rollers have to be rated for higher weight. That means the parts will cost more to buy.
In addition, you might need up to three people or special equipment to properly work with a larger door. If you’re not sure, consult with local technicians first to see how much the size of your door will impact your quote.
Type of Door
Some garage doors use simple mechanisms. That means they’re easy to repair and replace.
For example, an old-fashioned hinged garage door is very easy to repair because the only real mechanism is the hinge. Roll-up and tilt-up garage doors are the most common and also some of the cheapest to repair.
On the other hand, side-opening garage doors can have issues with the sliding mechanism, which can be costly to repair because you might have to remove the full door.
Round-the-corner doors can also be more complicated, because there are more moving parts and therefore more things that can go wrong.
Materials
A low-end aluminium frame garage door with uPVC panels will cost less to replace than one made entirely of aluminium, steel, or even wood. The more expensive the materials, the more it will cost to repair.
In addition, materials affect weight. A uPVC or aluminium door is relatively lightweight. A wood garage door can weigh over four times as much – meaning you’ll need a stronger motor and better rollers.
On the other hand, repairing a wooden garage door can be a simple matter of replacing a broken board and repainting it.
Repairing damage to a uPVC door might involve using a time-consuming resin patch, sanding it and then re-enamelling the whole thing.
Types Of Garage Doors And Issues
The repair costs for a garage door will heavily depend on what kind of door you have.
The following goes over some of the most common garage door types in the UK.
Up and Over/Tilting
Up-and-over or tilting garage doors are one of the oldest and most popular garage door options. These doors feature a large hinging mechanism similar to what you get in an upward-facing cabinet door over the stove.
Here, problems depend on whether you have a manual or an electronic door. If you have a manual door, issues include locks, handles and hinges breaking.
If the hinges fail, you’ll have to take the whole door off and replace the hinges, which should cost around £150- £200.
Sectional
Sectional garage doors feature panels that fold up, allowing them to sit neatly against the ceiling. That’s ideal if you don’t have the space to install a rack to the back of the door.
However, these mechanisms can be more complicated, meaning there’s more that can go wrong. For example, every hinge on the door can be a point of failure. That may mean simply replacing the hinges. It may also mean replacing the folding mechanism.
Roller
Roller doors are one of the most popular garage door styles in the UK. These doors roll up over the ceiling of the garage, neatly tucking them out of the way.
The simple mechanism also makes them easy to automate – because you can pull them up and down with a simple tensioned pulley. However, they can be difficult to use if not fitted with electronics, because you’ll often have to roll them up all the way over your head – which can require more upper body strength.
Here, problems happen typically with the rollers, the electrical controller, the motor, the belts, or the springs which function as tensioners.
Replacing any of these should be between £50 and £120 – although replacing rollers may involve taking the full door off the tracks and refitting rollers – which can cost more.
Side-Hinge
Side hinging garage doors are old-fashioned and ideal for anyone who likes the aesthetics. They also function as very large doors and have simple hinges.
You may choose to mechanise them, which means you’ll attach a hydraulic bar to each door and a controller with a motor on each side. With the manual version, the only thing that can go wrong is surface damage, the handles and the hinges. These are very cheap to fix.
If you have a hydraulic arm, you might have to refill the hydraulics, replace the controller, or replace the fob, which will typically be £100- £150.
Sliding/Folding
Sliding and folding garage doors typically slide and collapse into a side panel, where they are tucked completely out of the way. That makes them ideal for garages where roller doors don’t fit.
However, these mechanisms are prone to jamming especially if they are electric. Here, you might have to take the entire mechanism apart only to find that debris clogged some of the tracks or rollers. You might also have to replace the pulley mechanism that closes them or the hinges between the folding mechanism.
Round-the-corner garage doors are a type of sliding door that roll around the corner rather than folding. However, they have similar issues to overhead rolling doors – and will simply slide open on a track without collapsing. That means they’ll only have similar issues to a roller door.
Should You Replace The Entire Door?
In most cases, it’s a good idea to discuss replacement versus repair with your technician before making a choice. Here, a new door may cost £350-£5,000.
If your garage door is old and in bad shape, it may be a better idea to simply replace it. On the other hand, you might be able to repair your door to a like-new state for close to the cost of replacing it – and without throwing the old door away.
In addition, if your garage door needs more than one part, you’re actually paying less to repair it than you would to replace one part. For example, if you need a new controller, motor and rollers, it’s probably going to cost you between £250 and £300.
This usually means that the only reason you’d really have to replace the door is if the actual door is damaged or rusting. Otherwise, you can always repair, repaint and re-enamel without wasting the materials.
How Can I Save Money On Repairing My Garage Door?
Repairing your garage door will normally be set at a roughly fixed rate. However, you can try to save money in several ways:
- Get at least three quotes and compare them to make sure you’re paying the right price.
- Consider second-hand or used parts if you have an old garage door.
- Check if your door is still under warranty or if you have a replacement guarantee on the parts.
- Consider your liability insurance if you’ve damaged the door.
- Clear access to the door before the technicians show up.
Otherwise, your rates will almost entirely depend on the cost of labour and the cost of parts.
How To Find Pros
Finding garage door technicians can be difficult as it’s an extremely specialised job. However, most areas have at least a few technicians specialising in garage door repair.
In some cases, locksmiths also offer garage door repair services. You can use the form at the top of the page to get in touch with professional garage door repair services in your postcode.
Hiring Checklist
In most cases, the most important facet of hiring a garage door service company is its reputation and reviews. However, you’ll also want to look for:
- Certifications. The AIDA Certification is the most common. However, DHF Level 1 –4 are also common.
- Many garage door brands offer certifications and courses on repairing their doors. Your technician might have a brand-specific certification.
- Hiring directly from garage door dealers is always a good idea although you may pay more.
- Workmanship guarantee
- Liability insurance
- Worker’s compensation insurance
- Offers detailed quotes with transparent rates
- Good reviews and references
What’s Next?
Garage door repair typically costs between £50 and £170 but can be up to £300. That’s still cheaper than replacing a garage door, which averages over £500. In many cases, you can also replace small parts like springs, handles and locks for under £100 – which is important because these are the most common points of failure in a garage door.
No matter what the issue is, you’ll need a quote to get started. Use the form at the top of the page to request quotes from local garage door technicians.