Doors are the cheapest big-impact upgrade in a house and the easiest one to under-budget. This guide covers what internal and entry door installation costs on the Gold Coast in 2026, the difference between hollow-core and solid-core, and why hardware deserves more of your budget than most people give it.
Hanging a door into an existing frame costs $180-$350 on the Gold Coast in 2026. Supplying and installing a new internal door with hardware typically costs $450-$900, and replacing every internal door in a four-bedroom home generally runs $4,500-$9,000. Entry doors are a separate exercise at $1,800-$6,000+ installed depending on size, timber and hardware.
Why door replacement is the best value job in a renovation
Doors are the item people touch every single day and notice the least until they are replaced. Swapping hollow-core 1980s doors for solid-core panel or flush doors with decent hardware changes the way a house feels and sounds - rooms get quieter, doors close with weight instead of a rattle, and the whole interior reads as more recent than it is.
Compared with a kitchen or a full renovation, it is also cheap. A whole-house door replacement usually costs less than a single benchtop, and it can be done in a few days with the family still living in the home.
2026 door installation costs - Gold Coast
| Job | Typical cost (AUD) |
|---|---|
| Rehang or adjust an existing door | $180 - $350 |
| Supply and hang hollow-core internal door | $300 - $550 |
| Supply and hang solid-core internal door | $450 - $900 |
| Solid timber panel door, prefinished | $700 - $1,500 |
| New door plus new frame in existing opening | $700 - $1,600 |
| New opening cut into a non-structural wall + door | $1,500 - $3,500 |
| Cavity slider, supplied and installed | $1,600 - $3,500 |
| Bi-fold or double doors | $1,200 - $3,000 |
| Entry door, solid timber with hardware | $1,800 - $6,000+ |
| Full internal door replacement, 4-bedroom home | $4,500 - $9,000 |
Painting is usually excluded from these figures unless the doors are prefinished. Budget $80-$180 per door leaf for painting on site, or buy prefinished doors and avoid the mess entirely.
Hollow-core vs solid-core: what the money buys
- Hollow-core - lightest and cheapest, fine for linen and low-traffic rooms, but sounds hollow and dents easily
- Solid-core (particleboard or MDF core) - the best value upgrade for most homes, noticeably quieter and more substantial for around $150-$300 more per door
- Solid timber - the premium option, best for entry doors and feature openings, needs proper sealing on all six faces in a coastal climate
- Fire-rated and acoustic - required in specific unit and commercial applications, must be installed with the correct frame, seals and hardware to keep the rating valid
If the budget only stretches so far, put solid-core doors on bedrooms, bathrooms and the study - the rooms where acoustic separation matters - and keep hollow-core on linen and storage cupboards. Nobody has ever complained about a hollow-sounding linen door.
Hardware is half the perceived quality
A $900 door with $18 hardware feels like a $200 door. Levers, hinges and latches are what your hand contacts, and the difference between builder-grade and quality hardware is roughly $60-$180 per opening - a fraction of the door cost for most of the perceived improvement.
Near the beach, hardware finish matters twice over. Standard chrome and cheap black finishes pit and stain within a couple of years in the salt air at Palm Beach, Currumbin or Mermaid Beach. Stainless, quality PVD finishes or genuinely coastal-rated hardware costs more up front and stays looking right.
What makes a door job cost more
- Out-of-square openings in older homes - common in original Gold Coast and Queenslander stock, and the main reason a door job takes longer than expected
- Frames that need replacing rather than reusing, particularly where there is water damage or termite history
- Non-standard sizes, which means custom doors instead of stock sizes and adds both cost and lead time
- Changes to the opening, which can mean patching, new jambs, new architraves and painting
- Cavity sliders, which involve opening the wall and are effectively a small carpentry project rather than a door swap
- Second-storey and unit access, where every door has to come up a stair or through a lift
Entry doors: different rules apply
Front doors on the Gold Coast take direct sun, wind-driven rain and salt. A solid timber entry door needs to be sealed on all six faces before it goes in, and the finish maintained - typically recoated every 2-3 years on a west-facing entry with no cover. Doors that fail early almost always failed because the top and bottom edges were never sealed.
Also check weather seals, threshold detail and the security hardware. An entry door is a security element as much as an aesthetic one, and it is worth spending on a decent lockset with a compliant strike.
Before you book a door replacement
- Count the openings and note any that are non-standard sizes
- Decide hollow-core vs solid-core room by room
- Choose hardware finish, and check it is rated for coastal use if you are near the water
- Decide prefinished vs painted on site
- Check whether frames and architraves are staying or going
- Confirm the quote includes removal and disposal of the old doors
How long does it take?
A single door is a couple of hours. A whole-house replacement of 12-16 doors is generally two to four days for a carpenter, plus painting if the doors are not prefinished. Cavity sliders and new openings add time because they involve wall work, patching and making good.
Get it quoted properly
Orange Projects supplies and installs internal and entry doors across the Gold Coast, from single rehangs to whole-house replacements. We are QBCC licensed (No. 15620733), we quote a fixed price after measuring, and we take the old doors away. Quotes are free.
Replacing one door or the whole house? We will measure up and quote a fixed price.
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