How much does a front entry door cost in Australia? (2026 guide)

The front door is the first thing a visitor touches and a big part of a home's street appeal, but "how much does a front door cost?" almost never has a single answer. The honest version is a range: roughly $600 to $5,000+ supplied and installed, depending mostly on the slab material, whether you add sidelights or go to a pivot, the hardware, and whether the structural opening has to change.

This guide breaks down where in that range your door is likely to land, what actually drives the cost, and a worked example so you can sanity-check any quote you receive. Figures are 2026 estimates for residential work and include both supply and professional installation, GST inclusive, unless noted.

Entry door cost by type

The biggest lever on price is the slab itself, then how much of the surrounding opening you change. Here are realistic 2026 supplied-and-installed rates, drawn from current Australian cost guides.

| Door | Supplied + installed | Best for | | --- | --- | --- | | Solid-core hinged (paint-grade) | $600-$1,200 | Budget refresh, like-for-like swap | | Solid timber panel door | $1,500-$3,500 | Character homes, durability, kerb appeal | | Door with sidelights / highlight | $2,500-$4,500 | More light, wider entry statement | | Custom pivot door | $3,000-$6,000+ | Architectural frontages, grand entries |

For context, hollow-core internal doors are $80-$150 supply-only and solid-core $150-$350, while exterior solid timber slabs commonly run $400-$1,200+ before fitting, and external solid-core doors can reach $3,500 at the top (Sparky, ServiceTasker). Quality solid-timber pivot slabs alone start around $1,250-$2,150 before installation (Cedar West).

What actually drives the price

The slab is only part of the story. Five things move your quote up or down:

• Slab material and construction. A paint-grade solid-core door is the baseline. Solid timber (cedar, meranti, oak) costs more and lasts longer. Glazed and pivot doors sit at the top.
• Size and configuration. A standard single slab is cheapest. Add sidelights, a highlight window or go oversized and both the slab and the opening work climb. A pivot single can cost around 65% more than a standard hinged door (Timberware).
• Frame and hardware. A new jamb, weather seals, hinges or pivot set, plus the lock and handle. Hardware alone adds $50-$150 for basic sets, and far more for designer multi-point or smart locks.
• Painting and finishing. Timber doors need sealing, staining or painting on all six faces to stop them warping. This is labour and materials that a slab-only price ignores.
• Structural opening changes. Widening or heightening the opening, adding a lintel and patching back can add $1,000-$3,000+. A like-for-like swap avoids almost all of this.

A worked example

Say you're replacing a tired hollow door with a solid timber panel door, a new frame, quality hardware and a full paint finish, into the existing opening, in a Melbourne suburb.

| Line item | Estimate | | --- | --- | | Solid timber slab | $950 | | New frame / jamb + seals | $350 | | Lock, handle, hinges (mid-range set) | $220 | | Painting / finishing (6 faces, 2 coats) | $380 | | Hanging + fitting labour | $450 | | Total (inc GST) | ≈ $2,350 |

Drop back to a paint-grade solid-core slab reusing the existing frame and you'd save roughly $1,000. Step up to a pivot slab and widen the opening for sidelights and you could add $2,000-$3,500+ for the larger door and the framing work. The same "front door" line swings by thousands purely on the slab and how much of the wall you touch.

How prices vary across Australia

Where you live moves the number too. Sydney and Melbourne sit at the top for installation labour, Brisbane and Perth a touch lower, and Adelaide and many regional areas cheaper again, though regional jobs can swing back up if a quality timber door has to be freighted or a carpenter has to travel. Coastal builds also lean toward more durable, more expensive slabs and finishes because salt and UV are brutal on a sun-facing front door.

Don't read too much into a single figure you saw online for another city. A like-for-like solid-core swap and a pivot-door entry with widened framing carry the same "front door" label yet differ by thousands, which is exactly why a tailored quote beats an average.

How to keep the cost sensible

• Keep the opening if you can. The cheapest path is a new slab into a sound existing frame. Changing the opening size is where the money goes.
• Don't over-spec the lock. A solid mid-range deadlatch and handle set looks and performs well; designer hardware is a quiet several-hundred-dollar premium.
• Finish timber properly the first time. A door sealed on all faces won't warp or swell. Skimping here is the most common reason a new door starts sticking within a year.

Questions worth asking before you commit

• Is the quote fixed price or an estimate? A fixed price protects you from surprises; an hourly estimate can drift.
• Does it include the frame, hardware and painting, or just the slab? This is the most common reason two quotes look miles apart.
• Is the existing opening being reused, or modified? Any change to the opening brings framing and patching costs.
• What timber and finish is quoted, and is it sealed on all faces? This determines how the door ages.
• What's the warranty on the door and the install? Timber doors often carry a manufacturer warranty that depends on correct finishing.

A front door is a 15-to-30-year fixture that gets used every single day and shapes the first impression of the whole house. The cheapest quote that skips the frame, the seals or the finish is rarely the cheapest door once you count the draughts and the call-backs.

Get a tailored number

Every entry is different, and a single supplied-and-installed figure can't see your slab, your hardware or whether the opening changes. Rather than guessing, enter your spec into Karven's entry door calculator and get an itemised, fixed-price quote in minutes.