Columbia City (260) 691-3822

366 E 600 N  Columbia City, IN 46725

Servicing all of Whitley County!

Door Installation

Congratulations! Your new door finally came in and you have it at home….  Are you planning on installing it yourself? Or having somebody else do it for you? Here are a few things to consider…  Don’t expect this to be an easy undertaking.  Without the proper tools and knowledge it’s not going to go as easily as you may hope. 

What takes a professional 2 to 3 hours will probably take you days.  In 35 years we’ve literally seen hundreds if not thousands of homeowner installations. Out of all those attempts we’ve only seen a handful done properly. Every week we get calls from home owners wanting to schedule an appointment to have our company “Tweak “ or “adjust” a door they installed because it just doesn’t work quite right.  Normally we allow about 2 hours for this tweaking. More times than not, the doors have to be taken down and reinstalled.  Damage to the door is also pretty common. For the most part the customer has wasted their time, damaged their door, and ends up paying as much to “Adjust” their door as the cost of a professional installation in the first place.

 Well, you can always go the route of a sub-contractor. Some big box stores will even give you names of people willing to install your new door.

Let’s now explore this option and see if it makes sense.

Immediately you should be wondering why these guys are not employed by professional Garage Door Companies.

What happens if the product is damaged? Lets say there’s a dent in your new door. Whose problem is that? Probably yours is the answer. Do you really think a sub contractor installing your door will own up to any damage or do you think you’ll hear something like “ It came that way and probably got damaged in shipping.” What do you think the big box store will say when you want the panel exchanged? My money says you’ll hear something like “Hey you signed for it, you had the option to unwrap it and inspect it when you picked it up or when it got delivered.”

Let’ say you get lucky and they do cover it. Who pays the return trip to exchange or reinstall the damaged part? Guess again if you think the sub contractor will do this for no charge. Would you? It’s not his fault.

Then what happens if there is a warrantee issue?  Yes, the store may take back your faulty door but I can all but guarantee you they are not going to pay the labor.  Well, that’s if they decide it’s a manufactures defect and not a bad installation that caused the problem. Think the subcontractor will come back and replace it for free? 

Think again if you answered yes.

What happens if something goes wrong? Really wrong? By law most professional companies carry liability insurance. If they accidentally damage your property or worse yet somebody  on your property, they have insurance to cover the damages. What are the odds of a sub contractor having the proper insurances? What about workman’s compensation insurance? Health insurance doesn’t cover work related injuries. that’s what workmen’s compensation insurance does. If somebody gets hurt on your property guess who can be sued. At this time you’re probably thinking “not me” Well think again. Don’t believe this? Call your attorney and see what he has to say about it. If the sub contractor didn’t file the proper paperwork with the state, an injury could easily exceed your homeowners coverage.

A professional installation from a reputable company is the best choice for many.  Not only can you count on your new garage door being installed correctly, but damage and warranty issues rest directly on their shoulders.