Garage Door profit margin benchmarks
The IRS reports what one-owner businesses filing Schedule C earn, by sector. Garage Door falls under Specialty trade contractors. For tax year 2023, 2,521,516 returns reported $257.8 billion in receipts, $80.4 billion in cost of sales and $40.5 billion in net income less deficit (the table gives thousands of dollars):
| Benchmark | Value |
|---|---|
| Gross margin | 68.8% |
| Net margin, owner pay included | 15.7% |
| Average receipts per return | $102,220 |
| Average net income per return | $16,054 |
The owner's own draw is not an expense on a Schedule C, so that net margin is mostly the owner's wage, not profit on top of it.
Where the money goes in garage door
Garage door work is parts and labor, with springs and openers as the main parts. Service calls without a repair lose money without a fee.
Where garage door margin leaks, and how to win it back
- No service call fee
- Springs sold at cost
- Second trips for parts
- Warranty work
- Installs that run long
Ways garage door companies raise margin: charge a service call fee; stock common springs to finish on the first visit; sell tune-ups as a yearly plan; mark up springs and openers.
Check your garage door prices against the costs
We do not have sourced price ranges for garage door services yet, so start from your own costs with the labor rate calculator and list your prices on the services list.
Work out the margin on each line of your menu, not just the big jobs. The usual garage door menu: torsion spring replacement; cable and drum replacement; off-track door repair; roller and hinge replacement; opener replacement; safety sensor repair; keypad and remote programming; single door replacement; double door replacement; annual tune-up.
Overhead comes out of the margin before profit. In garage door it includes general liability insurance, which Insureon's customers who are door and window installers pay an average of $96 a month for; commercial auto at $298 a month on the same figures.
Work out your own margin
Put one recent garage door job into the calculator above, or switch it to "My margin for the year" to set your year next to the IRS benchmark. A 50% markup is a 33% margin; the markup calculator shows the rest.
Sources
- IRS Statistics of Income: Nonfarm sole proprietorships, Table 2, income statements by industrial sector, tax year 2023, checked October 9, 2026
- IRS: SOI tax stats, nonfarm sole proprietorship statistics, checked October 9, 2026
- Insureon: Insurance cost for door and window installers, checked October 9, 2026
Last checked October 9, 2026. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change and differ by state and city, so confirm with the agency named before you act.