Door work is a huge slice of what an LA handyman actually does day to day, because doors take constant abuse — humidity, slamming, settling foundations, kicked-in entries, and the weather warping every six months. Red Stag handles the full spectrum of door repair short of full exterior door replacement: interior swaps, screen doors, pocket doors, bifolds, hardware, frames, weatherstripping, thresholds, security screens and pet doors. If your door isn't operating the way it should, we can almost certainly fix it without replacing it.
The single most common door call we get in Los Angeles is the sticking door. The fix is usually not what people expect — it's rarely the door itself. It's almost always (1) the hinges have shifted because the screws backed out into the soft pine of the jamb, (2) the home has settled on its foundation and the strike plate no longer aligns, or (3) the door is rubbing the floor because the floor was raised when new flooring went in. We diagnose the actual cause in the first ten minutes, then fix it with longer hinge screws, a hinge shim, a strike-plate move, or a precise plane-and-paint of the binding edge. The whole repair is usually a flat $150–$275 and the door swings perfectly afterwards.
Pocket doors are an LA specialty because so much of our housing stock — Spanish revivals, Craftsman bungalows, mid-century apartments — uses pocket doors that are now 60–100 years old. The hardware inside the wall cavity wears out: ball bearings fail, the track sags, the soft-close mechanism gives up. Most handyman companies refuse pocket door work because it requires opening the wall. Red Stag does it routinely. We cut a small access panel in the drywall above or beside the door, replace the hardware, drywall the access shut, texture-match and paint. The whole repair is one visit.
Bifold closet doors are the opposite problem — they're cheap, the pivots wear out, and homeowners assume the whole door system is dead. It almost never is. The fix is usually a $5 nylon pivot pin and a track adjustment. If the door is genuinely shot we replace the slabs and reuse the existing track; if the track is bent we replace the whole assembly. Either way, a bifold repair runs $150–$300, not the $800 a closet company will quote.
Hardware swaps are the easiest call we take. A new doorknob, lever, or smart lock installs in 20 minutes if the hole bore is the same diameter (2-1/8 inches is the modern standard, and most LA doors built post-1970 match it). Older doors with smaller bores sometimes need to be drilled out — that's a 60-minute job and we carry the bore template. Smart locks (August, Schlage Encode, Yale Assure, Level Bolt, Kwikset Halo) all install with the same labor; the only difference is whether you want us to pair the lock to your phone before we leave, which we do at no extra charge.
Red Stag specifically does NOT handle full exterior door replacement, sliding glass door system replacement, or French door replacement — that's our sister company, Red Stag Windows & Doors. If you call us for a job that should go to them, we'll tell you and refer you over. If you call us for a screen door, a pocket door, a knob, a frame split, weatherstripping, or any door repair short of full slab-and-frame replacement, you're in the right place.
Flat-rate pricing across all 29 of our LA County service cities. Final price is locked in before any work begins.
| Service Type | Flat-Rate Price (USD) |
|---|---|
| Knob or deadbolt swap (per opening) | $95–$165 |
| Sticking-door tune-up + plane and paint | $150–$275 |
| Interior door slab swap (existing frame) | $200–$425 |
| Prehung interior door installation | $350–$650 |
| Screen door install (standard) | $185–$325 |
| Bifold or sliding closet door realignment | $150–$300 |
| Pocket door re-track repair | $275–$650 |
| Pet door installation in solid door | $225–$450 |
| Door frame repair (split jamb) | $250–$700 |
Click your city for local pricing, response time, and the housing-stock context that makes door repair different in your neighborhood.
A standard sticking-door tune-up in LA runs $150–$275 flat-rate, including the diagnosis, hinge or strike-plate adjustment, plane-and-paint of any binding edges, and a final swing-test walkthrough. Most sticking doors are not a door problem — they're a hinge or alignment problem, and the fix is one visit, no replacement.
Yes. A like-for-like knob or deadbolt swap is a 20-minute job and runs $95–$165 per opening. Smart-lock installs (August, Schlage Encode, Yale, Level, Kwikset Halo) take a bit longer because we pair the lock to your phone and walk you through the app. We do not run new wiring or install hardwired electronic strikes — those need a low-voltage electrician.
Yes — pocket doors are a specialty for older LA homes (Spanish revival, Craftsman, mid-century apartments). We cut a small drywall access panel above or beside the door, replace or re-rail the hardware inside the wall cavity, drywall the access closed, texture-match and paint. Whole repair is one visit, $275–$650 depending on hardware needed.
No — full exterior door, sliding glass door, French door, and patio door system replacements are handled by our sister company, Red Stag Windows & Doors (redstagwindows.com). Red Stag Handyman handles repairs and basic installs: interior swaps, screen doors, pocket doors, bifolds, frame repair, hardware, weatherstripping, thresholds, security screens, and pet doors.
Yes. Pet door installation in a solid wood or composite door runs $225–$450 depending on the pet door size and door material. We template the cut, drill the corners, jigsaw the opening square, install the pet door frame with sealant, and trim the inside flap. We also install pet doors in patio sliders using insert panels (no glass cutting required).