Obra for Garage door installers

Garage door job costing, from the factory order to the first open

Track each garage door install as its own job: doors, openers, springs, hardware, haul-away and labor. Know the margin per install and per builder contract.

A garage door install is a factory order, a morning on site and a lot of small parts. The doors are most of the cost and they're ordered weeks ahead. The margin is decided by what's found on install day: the header that isn't there, the outlet that's missing, and the opener the client upgraded after the quote.

Obra keeps each install as its own job, with the factory invoice on the job the day it lands and the surprises recorded as change orders, so you know what each door made you.

The factory order counts when it lands

Log the manufacturer's invoice when it arrives, not when the job closes. It shows in the job's recorded cost right away. Then review what's still left to spend, and Obra keeps the expected final cost current as the rest of the receipts come in. The committed costs guide explains why this matters when most of the cost is spent before the crew shows up.

Parts from the truck

Springs, rollers, weatherstrip, a box of screws from the hardware store on the way. Your installer photographs each receipt and sends it by WhatsApp. Obra reads it, drafts the expense, and you confirm which job it belongs to. The receipt tracking guide shows the habit.

The header, the opener, the outlet

The three change orders below show up on most residential installs. Price each one the day it comes up, get the client's okay, then record it so the contract value moves with the work. The change order guide keeps the wording short.

Margin per install and per builder

When the job is paid, its page shows the contract, total cost and margin. Compare your retail replacements against your builder packages and your commercial doors. The cost code guide shows how to set up the codes so the comparison works.

What Obra isn't for a garage door installer

Not dispatch, not a price book, not a repair-call scheduler. Obra is the money on each install, in English and Spanish, from receipts your crew already sends, exported clean to the accountant.

Sample budget

Three-car garage: two 16 by 8 insulated steel doors, one 9 by 8, three openers, Westlake Remodel

Line item Budget
Doors, insulated steel, three $5,600
Openers and controls, three $1,100
Springs, tracks, hardware $700
Trim, weatherstrip, jamb repairs $350
Haul-away of old doors $150
Crew labor, removal, install and programming $2,100
Direct cost budget $10,000
Contract value $13,200
Gross margin budgeted $3,200

Illustrative figures in US dollars for a fictional project; use them to see the shape of the budget, not to price a job.

The cost codes this trade actually uses

  • 01 Doors and panels
  • 02 Openers and controls
  • 03 Springs, tracks and hardware
  • 04 Trim, jambs and weatherstrip
  • 05 Electrical (outlets, photo eyes)
  • 06 Haul-away and disposal
  • 07 Permits (when needed)
  • 08 Crew labor, removal
  • 09 Crew labor, install and programming
  • 10 Vehicle and fuel

The change orders that eat the margin

The header that isn't there
The client wants one 16-foot door where two 8-foot doors were. The wall has no header for that span. Framing it is a carpenter's day before you can hang anything, approved and recorded before the door is ordered.
The opener upgrade after the quote
The quote had a chain-drive opener. The client sees the quiet jackshaft with battery backup and camera and wants three of them. The difference is a change order, agreed before the order goes to the factory.
The outlet the electrician has to add
There's no outlet in the ceiling for the opener and the client didn't know one was needed. An electrician's visit is a change order, priced and approved before you schedule the install day.

Questions people ask

Most of my work is spring replacements and repairs. Is Obra for that?
No. Obra is for jobs with a contract and a budget: new installs, replacements, builder packages, commercial doors. A repair route needs a dispatch and invoicing tool with a price book.
I install for a builder across twenty houses. One job each?
Your call. One job per house shows the margin on each. One job per builder contract shows the margin on the whole package. Many installers do both: the package as the job, each house as a cost code.
Doors are ordered weeks ahead. Where does the factory invoice show?
Log it when it arrives. It shows in the job's recorded cost right away. Then review what's still left to spend, and the job's expected final cost follows, before the install day.
Can my installer send receipts from the truck?
Yes. A photo by WhatsApp, email or the app, in English or Spanish. They never see the job's finances. You confirm it to the right job in a few seconds.
Free download

Not ready for an app? Start with our free Excel template.

A ready-made spreadsheet to track costs and income per project — with categories and the totals already set up.

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