A garage door spring holds enough tension to kill somebody, and it is the part that fails. Replacement runs $150 to $350 a spring, and a torsion spring lasts 10,000 to 20,000 cycles, meaning roughly seven to fourteen years. The other thing worth knowing is that the auto-reverse on your opener is not a manufacturer's courtesy. A 1990 federal law made it a consumer product safety rule.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Garage door spring replacementNational range | $150 to $350 per spring |
| Garage door opener, installedNational range | $300 to $900 per opener |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
The figures here are national. Where a source publishes figures state by state, the state pages carry that local figure instead of this one. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
A torsion spring stores the energy that makes a two hundred pound door feel light. It is under extreme tension, and improper handling can cause serious injury. This is the clearest line in residential home repair between a job a competent homeowner can do and one they should not.
Springs are rated in cycles, and one cycle is one open plus one close. A torsion spring runs 10,000 to 20,000 cycles, which is seven to fourteen years for most households. Extension springs run 5,000 to 15,000 cycles, or four to ten years. A high-cycle spring costs more up front and comes with a longer warranty, and the argument for it is that it is replaced less often rather than that it is stronger.
When one spring on a two-spring door fails, technicians generally advise replacing both. The reason is balance rather than salesmanship: a new spring and a worn one pull unevenly, and the opener carries the difference.
Section 203 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 1990 made the entrapment protection requirements of UL 325 a consumer product safety rule. The Consumer Product Safety Commission codified them at 16 CFR Part 1211 by final rule in June 1991, with a supplementary rule in December 1992.
What that requires is an external entrapment device: either a photoelectric sensor across the opening, which reverses the door when the beam breaks, or an edge sensor that reverses on contact. The statute automatically picks up later revisions of UL 325 unless the Commission objects within thirty days, and a 2024 rulemaking moved the reference to the seventh edition.
So a technician who suggests bypassing or disabling the photo eyes is proposing to defeat a federal safety standard. Misaligned sensors are a common and cheap fix; disconnected ones are not a fix.
Ask what cycle rating the replacement spring carries and what the warranty is. That is the number that decides when you do this again.
Ask whether both springs are being replaced, and if only one, why.
Ask what the total is with cables and rollers, because those wear on the same schedule and adding them later means paying for the visit twice.
On an opener, check that the photo eyes are aligned and working before the technician leaves, and test the reversal with an object rather than taking it on trust.
Know that a repair call you initiated is generally outside the FTC's three-day cancellation right, but anything the technician additionally sells you at the door is not. A new opener sold during a spring call is a separate sale.
About $150 to $350 a spring, averaging $250. Extension springs run $120 to $200 and torsion springs $150 to $350. Converting extension to torsion is $250 to $800.
A torsion spring runs 10,000 to 20,000 cycles, which is seven to fourteen years. An extension spring runs 5,000 to 15,000 cycles, or four to ten years. One cycle is one open plus one close.
Technicians generally advise it on a two-spring door. A new spring and a worn one pull unevenly, the door goes out of balance, and the opener carries the difference.
It is under extreme tension and improper handling can cause serious injury. This is the clearest line in home repair between a job to do yourself and one to hire out.
Yes. Section 203 of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 1990 made the UL 325 entrapment protection requirements a consumer product safety rule, codified at 16 CFR Part 1211.
An external device: either a photoelectric sensor across the opening that reverses the door when the beam breaks, or an edge sensor that reverses on contact.
About $300 to $900, averaging $600. The unit alone is $150 to $500 depending on drive type, with $150 to $400 of labor on top.
Generally not under the FTC's three-day rule, because a buyer-initiated repair call is excluded. Anything the technician additionally sells you on the spot is not excluded.