How Much Does an Industrial Door Cost?

This is an exceptionally well-maintained 1977 Toyota Land Cruiser. 

The asking price is 60,000 SEK, which might sound affordable.

What you won’t find in the listing is that it guzzles 25 liters per 100 km, and that the engine, body, and chassis will likely need replacing soon due to heavy wear.

In summary, it’s fairly cheap to buy. But expensive to use.

The same goes for industrial doors. Purchase prices are easy to compare.

But the real cost lies in what happens after installation.

How well is the door built? How insulated, sealed, and reliable is it over time?

Some doors last 30 years. Others need replacing after five.

If you’re unlucky, you’ll end up buying six cheap doors to match the lifespan of one quality door.

That’s why your purchase price and capital cost are directly linked to the door’s longevity.

Buying the right door isn’t just an expense—it’s an investment with long-term returns.

Heat Loss Is the Biggest Expense

How well a door is insulated affects your total cost more than you might think. 

Cut energy use by EUR 9000 per year 

In 2019, we helped a truck workshop replace seven old doors with new Torverk folding doors. We did the job and moved on.

Years passed, and the workshop carried on as usual. But in December 2023, the facility manager reviewed the company’s district heating consumption.

Before the door replacement, energy use was around 640,000 kWh per year. After the upgrade, it dropped to 550,000 kWh.

The seven Torverk doors cut the workshop’s heating bill by approximately EUR 9000 per year. And since the total cost for the doors, including installation, was EUR 31820, the investment paid for itself in just three years.

Passage cost

One of the biggest hidden costs of your door is the time lost while waiting for it to open and close. 

If a forklift has to wait 10 seconds, 10 times a day, 7 days a week, for 47 weeks a year, that adds up to nearly 10 hours of lost work time.

The equation for calculating passage cost is simple:

Passage cost = number of passages × time per passage × labour cost 

By automating door opening and closing with sensors and motors, you can reduce that wait time every time someone enters or exits your facility.

“A door’s job is not to get in the way”

That’s how Bruno Bergmar from Bjälbo Trädgård in Skänninge puts it.

He prefers folding doors over overhead doors, and explains why:

“When you’re driving a loader, the problem with overhead doors is that they often start closing before you’ve exited. They’re also slower to open and close—and more expensive to buy and maintain.”

“With folding doors, you always see what’s happening. And since they open in both directions at once, they’re simply faster.”

Maintenance and service costs

Maintaining and servicing a door can be costly. 

The materials need to withstand extreme temperature shifts and harsh wear on moving parts and rubber seals. If not, you’ll face frequent repairs and a steady stream of replacement parts.

In 2000, we delivered two folding doors to a research station on the remote island of South Georgia in Antarctica.

During the long, icy winters, ocean winds reach 120 km/h and shower the coastline with salt spray. It’s an extreme environment for anything susceptible to rust.

In their original order, the British Antarctic Survey specified that the doors must withstand wind loads of 153 kg per square meter.

Then, in 2022, the station’s facilities engineer reached out to order new floor seals. After 22 years in service, they had finally worn down enough to let in water. Otherwise, the doors were still working just as they should.

Common maintenance issues

In Swedish industrial settings, the most common issue isn’t the weather, but forklift accidents. If someone hits the door, you may have to replace an entire panel, which is often the most expensive repair. After that comes the replacement of worn seals and springs.

Rust is especially common in frame-built steel doors. Doors built using a sandwich construction generally perform better over time.

Reduce your service costs with a door that opens sideways.

Mattias Reinhard at Nybetong in Kumla was just heading into the factory for a quick turnaround, when someone hit the button to close the overhead door.

“I didn’t see the door coming down and ended up hitting the bottom panel with the forklift. The factory was left open for three or four days while the door was being repaired.”

A mishap like that can cost around EUR 1000 to fix.

And honestly, it’s not that surprising. Humans are worse at judging distances vertically than horizontally. As early as 1855, Johan Joseph Oppel demonstrated this in an experiment where participants were asked which of two lines appeared longer, the vertical or the horizontal (se image left).