Garage Door Replacement Cost Guide

The short answer

A standard single up-and-over or sectional garage door typically costs £400–£900 supplied and fitted in a basic manual specification, rising to £900–£2,000+ for a good-quality insulated sectional door, and £1,500–£3,000+ for an automated (electric) roller or sectional door with remote control.

Door types and what they cost

Up-and-over doors are the traditional, budget-friendly option — a single rigid panel that tilts up and back into the garage. They're the cheapest to buy and install but need clear ceiling space inside the garage to operate and can be less convenient if you park close to the door. Sectional doors are made of horizontal panels that slide up and back along tracks close to the ceiling, taking up less headroom inside and generally offering better insulation and a more contemporary look — reflected in a higher price. Roller doors coil up into a box above the opening and are popular where headroom is limited or where automation is a priority, typically sitting in a similar price bracket to sectional doors.

Material options

Steel is the most common and most affordable material, available in a wide range of colours and finishes including woodgrain-effect. Timber gives a more traditional appearance but costs more and needs periodic repainting or staining, similar to timber windows and doors. GRP (fibreglass) and aluminium sit at the premium end, offering low maintenance with a more design-led finish, at a corresponding price premium.

Manual vs automated

Manual doors are cheaper to buy and have nothing to go wrong electrically, but require physically lifting or pulling the door each time. Automated doors add convenience — particularly valued if the garage is used daily for parking — but add cost both for the motor mechanism itself and, often, for the door design needed to accommodate it (sectional and roller doors automate more straightforwardly than up-and-over doors, which need a specific "retractable" mechanism to automate safely).

Insulation

If the garage is integral to the house (shares a wall with living space) or used as a workshop/utility space rather than pure storage, an insulated door makes a meaningful difference to heat loss and noise transfer. Insulated sectional doors are widely available and worth the modest price premium over a single-skin door in this situation; for a fully detached garage used only for parking, insulation matters much less.

Installation considerations

Get quotes that clearly state whether removal and disposal of the old door is included, whether any structural work to the opening is needed (rare for a like-for-like replacement, more likely if you're changing door type or widening the opening), and what warranty covers both the door itself and the installation workmanship separately. As with windows and other external doors, a replacement garage door on an integral garage that forms part of the thermal envelope of the house may fall under Building Regulations thermal performance requirements — worth checking with your installer, particularly for an insulated replacement.

Common mistakes

• Choosing the cheapest manual door for a daily-use integral garage. The convenience of automation and the benefit of insulation are usually worth the extra cost if the garage is used regularly or shares a wall with living space.
• Not measuring the opening accurately, or not checking headroom for a sectional door's track. Sectional doors need a specific amount of clear ceiling space above the opening — check this before ordering, especially in an older garage with a lower ceiling.
• Overlooking ongoing maintenance for automated doors. Motors, tracks and rollers need occasional servicing — factor this into the long-term cost, not just the upfront price.

Getting the best value

Get at least three quotes specifying the same door type, material and automation level so you're comparing like-for-like, and ask specifically about insulation values if the garage is integral to the house. If you're weighing up your front door or windows in the same renovation, see our guides to composite vs uPVC front doors and window materials for related cost comparisons.