Thanks for the share! Swapping out 4 doors this week so your timing was great. Watching a refresher video before a project increases confidence and speed - Sun Tzu 😅
I still end up learning new stuff every time I just click on a random video by somebody who looks like they know what they're talking about. Have fun with the doors!
I'm planning on making them the bulk of the channel this year after I finish the Master Class. Also interviews with handymen, tradesmen, accounts, insurance agents, and anyone else that could provide valuable information to those in the industry.
Impressive how you cut it all by hand. I have done quite a few door replacements before. Cut them to size with my Festool track saw and then route mortises for hinges with special templates. I have a hole saw set to cut holes for door lock and latch as well. After cutting the holes and routing the mortises for everything, I would spray paint those slab doors, because they only come primed.
There is at least one company here in Tucson where you can take a door and give it to them and they will carbon copy that door for you on a machine but it takes me longer to make the drive there than it does to just do it on site.
@@bulletproofhandyman what company in Tucson? I had to have a custom door slab cut down for a 1940s house. The place I went did a terrible job (they always mess something up) and im going to need another one for the next door unit. I wont mention the name of the supplier, but its a big yellow building.
No cowboy hat and no PPE? For shame! 😂 Love your videos brother. I'm a handyman/carpenter here in New York and your business content is helping big time. Thank you and keep it going. 🤙🏾👍🏾
Wow, great job. I can't free hand as you did. I use straight edge for cutting. I use a jig for router and jig for the hole for the knob. It's an extra expense. I also charge $200.a door. It takes me an hour and a half. When there is a medsing door all together two hours, it takes.
I use a tracksaw to cut down the door. It’s much faster and cleaner than freehanding it… don’t generally do a single door, with multiple doors, I probably average around 30 mins/doors
I can see where a track saw might be faster if you're doing four or more doors. Maybe even three. I try to operate fast and light and I'm almost never doing more than one of anything at any particular address.
Thanks for the great videos! I think too many of us are afraid to charge enough for our skills. Especially on short jobs. Too many of us forget to factor in time on the phone with the client, drive time, invoicing time or service, time/ cost of maintaining your work vehicle. It all adds up. Not to mention that it's logistically difficult to stack small jobs to fill a day to be exactly 8 hours or however long you want to work. $200/hour may sound like a lot. But it's not apples to apples with someone working a steady 8 hour shift, even if they have a comparable amount of skills.
Interesting that your slabs come with the lockset holes done. Here we have to drill and prep it out. Doesn't take long though. Just have to watch if the door has a bevel or not.
I don't enjoy mortising for the doorknob and latch. Oftentimes I have to do that for new deadbolts, which is the exact same mortising to add deadbolts to existing doors that don't currently have them. Where are you that they don't have doors already Mortised?
@@bulletproofhandyman yep, exact same process. I like using those cheap plastic jigs. I'm in Vancouver Canada. I like these how do vids along with your regular business stuff. I've been doing the work for a long time, but like seeing how others approach the same jobs- i like always challenging myself to be more efficient without dropping quality. Everyone has their own little methods and tricks.
Yes, I'm going to be remaking a lot of my older videos with the higher quality video and audio equipment but other than that I'm starting to transition into the how-to videos with the goal of having a video library to go to if anyone wants to see my specific tips and tricks and processes. I also plan on starting up some interviewing/podcasting with other tradesmen and Handymen
Have you ever used one of those Ryobi mortise template kits? Seem like they would help speed up that part and take out any room for error on the free handing. Also thank you for all your video's im just starting my business and they have helped me greatly.
I've tried a few different kits but I don't think any of them speed the process up for me. However, for someone who hasn't done a few dozen of these, they would probably be faster using one of those kits before they gained a little more skill doing things by hand.
Stay away from the Ryobi kits. They're cheap plastic and don't stand up to the abuse. They're really meant for homeowners doing it once. If you need one, get a Milescraft 1213 Hinge Mate 300. They're about $24.00 You'll only use a couple of the templates. They're flattish, light and store well.
Great! In the UK we only seem to use hinges with square corners which means you can't just router the whole thing - you have to also use a chisel for the corners! So annoying. I've got a 4 door job coming up, so will use your method for sure - thanks!
Grab yourself a corner chisel. It knocks the corners out after routing the rest, or if you give the corners a wack with it first, sometimes the router flicks them out for you 😉
Nice work and video. I normally use a planer but a circular saw does the same thing. I like that you include price in your videos. You mention $200 for an add on but what if that was the only job at that house for the same exact work?
Ballpark $250-$300 Labor. However my property managers can approve $350 total without calling the homeowner so I'll usually do that job for a flat $350 without paint to make their lives easier.
I have trash pickup service with for extremely large bins at my house. Most people have one trash bin and one recycle bin, I just have four giant trash bins. Usually this is enough. If it gets extremely busy to wear the materials pile up then I just take a trip to the dump.
Nice one Ray! The devil is in the details with doors. You had to go and pick that door up and dispose of the old one im thinking? I’ve stole plenty of advise from you so I’m going to give some back. If u don’t already own one ad a track saw to your arsenal. It has so many applications with breaking down sheet goods and resizing doors you will wonder how You survived without one. Awesome content, keep up the grind man.
I've had a track saw and they can be handy. However, I have gotten accurate enough freehanding that better than 90% of the time I can cut to near perfection without it. I still use the track saw for countertops or anything that must be truly perfect.
I sucked at skil saw cuts 4 years ago. It's just practice. I didn't allow myself to use track saws etc so I forced myself to get better at it. You should have seen me with a jigsaw when I was young. It was my first power tool in the 4th grade, which is why I took forever to start using a skil saw.
When I get asked what's the difference between a good handyman and a General Contractor I say nothing but the business expense, if the same question is asked here in Ca about a Carpenter and a Handyman the sad answer is todays Carpenter specializes in something like Stacking, Sheeting, Rough Framing, trying to find a Carpenter that can do finish, set a door, good luck. For the haters I am talking about New Construction framers, not those that have spent the time in the trenches and are now a carpenter that can "frame" not joist a roof, install cove molding, hang a door, build stairs and the like.
I find moral repugnance to the Labour charged versus the scope of work. If one were to take your scope-of-job prices & extrapolate it out in regards to a normal home build & finish out? Or even a soft remodel? You would take a $300,000 build & magically turn it into $1 million build billing-wise.
Every contractor building every home in the USA is billing far more than my rates for the same labor. That's what you're not getting. What you see as expensive is actually a steep discount compared to what the licensed guys are charging.
$200 for a one off door replacement seems cheap to me. I bet you could charge up to $300 and still get the job. If you had to do multiple doors, then $200 is good for each door you replace.
I think you are right, I ended up invoicing 245 for this one, but keep in mind that's just the labor that I charge to add the task to a larger list of items at a property that I'm already working on. So I do maintain the efficiency of only making one trip.
@@bulletproofhandyman A lot of "handymen" would screw up a door replacement job like this. The skill in cutting the door to the right size and routing out the material just right for mounting the hinges and making the door hang and operate properly and smoothly takes a true professional like yourself. Like a surgeon, you're getting paid for your knowledge, expertise and experience to do the job right the first time, not just the time spent. Trust me, you deserve to be highly paid for a job like this.
Yeah that's not hard at all, none of this is. If you find the actual putting of the door on the hinges hard, or if any of the steps involved are hard for you, consider hiring an old woman to do it for you.
Love this style of video for a mini project like this. Wouldn't mind more of them. Keep it up. Thanks Ray!
Thats the plan! I want to make a video just like this for every common professional handyman job with my process.
Sounds Fantastic @@bulletproofhandyman
@@bulletproofhandymanSeems like a great idea, Sir!
Thanks for the share! Swapping out 4 doors this week so your timing was great.
Watching a refresher video before a project increases confidence and speed - Sun Tzu 😅
I still end up learning new stuff every time I just click on a random video by somebody who looks like they know what they're talking about. Have fun with the doors!
Hands down the best handyman channel on UA-cam!
Thanks!
Excellent video and audio quality Ray! Keep up the good work!
Thanks!
Great video! I appreciate your efficient and no bs methods
Thanks!
Thanks!
Great video, thank you! Big fan of the “on the job” style videos 👍
I'm planning on making them the bulk of the channel this year after I finish the Master Class. Also interviews with handymen, tradesmen, accounts, insurance agents, and anyone else that could provide valuable information to those in the industry.
Impressive how you cut it all by hand. I have done quite a few door replacements before. Cut them to size with my Festool track saw and then route mortises for hinges with special templates. I have a hole saw set to cut holes for door lock and latch as well. After cutting the holes and routing the mortises for everything, I would spray paint those slab doors, because they only come primed.
There is at least one company here in Tucson where you can take a door and give it to them and they will carbon copy that door for you on a machine but it takes me longer to make the drive there than it does to just do it on site.
@@bulletproofhandyman what company in Tucson? I had to have a custom door slab cut down for a 1940s house. The place I went did a terrible job (they always mess something up) and im going to need another one for the next door unit. I wont mention the name of the supplier, but its a big yellow building.
No cowboy hat and no PPE? For shame! 😂 Love your videos brother. I'm a handyman/carpenter here in New York and your business content is helping big time. Thank you and keep it going. 🤙🏾👍🏾
I left the hat at home! Felt naked all day!
Wow, great job. I can't free hand as you did. I use straight edge for cutting. I use a jig for router and jig for the hole for the knob. It's an extra expense. I also charge $200.a door. It takes me an hour and a half. When there is a medsing door all together two hours, it takes.
Thanks Tony. I'm sure you can pull it off if you had to, but there's nothing wrong with using a jig either.
I use a tracksaw to cut down the door. It’s much faster and cleaner than freehanding it… don’t generally do a single door, with multiple doors, I probably average around 30 mins/doors
I can see where a track saw might be faster if you're doing four or more doors. Maybe even three. I try to operate fast and light and I'm almost never doing more than one of anything at any particular address.
Thanks for the great videos!
I think too many of us are afraid to charge enough for our skills. Especially on short jobs. Too many of us forget to factor in time on the phone with the client, drive time, invoicing time or service, time/ cost of maintaining your work vehicle. It all adds up. Not to mention that it's logistically difficult to stack small jobs to fill a day to be exactly 8 hours or however long you want to work.
$200/hour may sound like a lot. But it's not apples to apples with someone working a steady 8 hour shift, even if they have a comparable amount of skills.
I agree 💯. All of that matters immensely. Thank you!
Interesting that your slabs come with the lockset holes done. Here we have to drill and prep it out. Doesn't take long though. Just have to watch if the door has a bevel or not.
I don't enjoy mortising for the doorknob and latch. Oftentimes I have to do that for new deadbolts, which is the exact same mortising to add deadbolts to existing doors that don't currently have them. Where are you that they don't have doors already Mortised?
@@bulletproofhandyman yep, exact same process. I like using those cheap plastic jigs.
I'm in Vancouver Canada.
I like these how do vids along with your regular business stuff. I've been doing the work for a long time, but like seeing how others approach the same jobs- i like always challenging myself to be more efficient without dropping quality. Everyone has their own little methods and tricks.
Yes, I'm going to be remaking a lot of my older videos with the higher quality video and audio equipment but other than that I'm starting to transition into the how-to videos with the goal of having a video library to go to if anyone wants to see my specific tips and tricks and processes. I also plan on starting up some interviewing/podcasting with other tradesmen and Handymen
@@bulletproofhandyman awesome, I look forward to it. Keep up the good work!
They dont wanna pay for someone to "just paint" 😂😂😂 yer the man bro thanks for all yer help!
You're welcome!
Have you ever used one of those Ryobi mortise template kits? Seem like they would help speed up that part and take out any room for error on the free handing. Also thank you for all your video's im just starting my business and they have helped me greatly.
I've tried a few different kits but I don't think any of them speed the process up for me. However, for someone who hasn't done a few dozen of these, they would probably be faster using one of those kits before they gained a little more skill doing things by hand.
Stay away from the Ryobi kits. They're cheap plastic and don't stand up to the abuse. They're really meant for homeowners doing it once.
If you need one, get a Milescraft 1213 Hinge Mate 300. They're about $24.00 You'll only use a couple of the templates. They're flattish, light and store well.
@@dottedTME Thanks for the information.
@@dottedTMEI’ve not seen a door jig that wasn’t ‘plastic’.
Ryobi hinge & mortise jigs are great… no nailing the jig to the door… just a thumbscrew…. I’ve done a couple hundred doors with no issues
Can you use a framing saw blade or will it chip the door?
It will chip. Fine tooth is best.
Man... if you ever move to Phoenix, Let me know.
I'll do that lol
If I purchase a white door but need to paint it a darker color. Should I paint it before hanging it?
Yes I would paint first.
Great! In the UK we only seem to use hinges with square corners which means you can't just router the whole thing - you have to also use a chisel for the corners! So annoying. I've got a 4 door job coming up, so will use your method for sure - thanks!
Grab yourself a corner chisel. It knocks the corners out after routing the rest, or if you give the corners a wack with it first, sometimes the router flicks them out for you 😉
I do see square corner hinges on nicer houses and on older houses. I'm a pinch a few times I've used a chisel for the whole thing.
@@The_Handyman_Can Ah! Thanks 👍
Was the door onsite when you arrived?
No, the new door was not on site.
Nice work and video. I normally use a planer but a circular saw does the same thing. I like that you include price in your videos. You mention $200 for an add on but what if that was the only job at that house for the same exact work?
Ballpark $250-$300 Labor. However my property managers can approve $350 total without calling the homeowner so I'll usually do that job for a flat $350 without paint to make their lives easier.
Love your videos! How do you get rid of your junk and trash from these projects? Door, toilets, oversized items? thanks for your info and help!
I have trash pickup service with for extremely large bins at my house. Most people have one trash bin and one recycle bin, I just have four giant trash bins. Usually this is enough. If it gets extremely busy to wear the materials pile up then I just take a trip to the dump.
Nice one Ray!
The devil is in the details with doors.
You had to go and pick that door up and dispose of the old one im thinking?
I’ve stole plenty of advise from you so I’m going to give some back.
If u don’t already own one ad a track saw to your arsenal.
It has so many applications with breaking down sheet goods and resizing doors you will wonder how You survived without one.
Awesome content, keep up the grind man.
I've had a track saw and they can be handy. However, I have gotten accurate enough freehanding that better than 90% of the time I can cut to near perfection without it. I still use the track saw for countertops or anything that must be truly perfect.
what if you dont have the old door?
Then you'll have to measure and mark everything, Focus measurements around the latch center.
Great video (as always. Is your price including the door and paint materials or is $275 just labour?
Minimum $200 labor for the door (I charged $245 for this one). $75 labor for paint. Then materials on top of that.
Great content (as usual)! How do you support the new door when you're mortising with the router?
It's just standing on end, and I'm resting my forearms on it to stabilize.
Does your $200 price include the actual door, or labor only?
Labor Only
👍👍
quality
Thank you!
A piece of tape along your cut line will help.
I used to do that. Don't need it any more but it was very useful when I did use it.
How the hell you made that long cut on the door edge is beyond me. Your hands must be steadier than mine for sure.
I sucked at skil saw cuts 4 years ago. It's just practice. I didn't allow myself to use track saws etc so I forced myself to get better at it. You should have seen me with a jigsaw when I was young. It was my first power tool in the 4th grade, which is why I took forever to start using a skil saw.
When I get asked what's the difference between a good handyman and a General Contractor I say nothing but the business expense, if the same question is asked here in Ca about a Carpenter and a Handyman the sad answer is todays Carpenter specializes in something like Stacking, Sheeting, Rough Framing, trying to find a Carpenter that can do finish, set a door, good luck. For the haters I am talking about New Construction framers, not those that have spent the time in the trenches and are now a carpenter that can "frame" not joist a roof, install cove molding, hang a door, build stairs and the like.
Thanks for that insight John!
I find moral repugnance to the Labour charged versus the scope of work.
If one were to take your scope-of-job prices & extrapolate it out in regards to a normal home build & finish out? Or even a soft remodel? You would take a $300,000 build & magically turn it into $1 million build billing-wise.
Every contractor building every home in the USA is billing far more than my rates for the same labor. That's what you're not getting. What you see as expensive is actually a steep discount compared to what the licensed guys are charging.
$200 for a one off door replacement seems cheap to me. I bet you could charge up to $300 and still get the job. If you had to do multiple doors, then $200 is good for each door you replace.
I think you are right, I ended up invoicing 245 for this one, but keep in mind that's just the labor that I charge to add the task to a larger list of items at a property that I'm already working on. So I do maintain the efficiency of only making one trip.
@@bulletproofhandyman A lot of "handymen" would screw up a door replacement job like this. The skill in cutting the door to the right size and routing out the material just right for mounting the hinges and making the door hang and operate properly and smoothly takes a true professional like yourself. Like a surgeon, you're getting paid for your knowledge, expertise and experience to do the job right the first time, not just the time spent. Trust me, you deserve to be highly paid for a job like this.
I have to say, I love getting interior door replacement requests now that I have a smooth process in place for it. Thank you for the kind words Bob.
WHAT?!?. you can replace a door with all new hardware in under an hour!
Bs video. The hardest thing is how you put it in and you skipped that
Yeah that's not hard at all, none of this is. If you find the actual putting of the door on the hinges hard, or if any of the steps involved are hard for you, consider hiring an old woman to do it for you.