Who to hire for a door that won't close

Short answer

A carpenter or handyman for a hinge, a latch or a swollen door — a genuinely small job. A builder if several doors have started sticking at once, or if the gap around the door is visibly tapered, because that is the building moving and planing the door only hides it.

Plan itThere is time to get more than one quote, which is where the money is.

When it is someone else

Calling the wrong trade costs an attendance fee to be told so. These are the cases where this problem belongs to someone other than a Builder.

  • a structural engineer

    doors and windows across one part of the house have all changed at once, and there are cracks to match.

  • a locksmith

    the door closes but will not latch or lock. That is the strike plate or the lock body, not the door.

What to do before anyone arrives

  1. Check whether it is seasonal. Doors swell in a wet season and shrink in a dry one, and a door that only sticks in winter is telling you not to plane it.
  2. Look at the gap around the door. An even gap that has become tight all round is moisture; a wedge-shaped gap is movement.
  3. Check the hinge screws. A top hinge that has pulled out of the jamb is the single most common cause and it is a ten-minute fix with longer screws.
  4. Count how many doors are affected. One is a door. Four on the same side of the house is a building.

What to ask when you book

  • Is this the door, the frame, or the building?
  • If you plane it, what happens when the season changes?

What changes the price

No dollar figures here: this directory holds no price data and an invented range is worse than none. What follows is what makes one of these jobs cost more than the same job next door, which is the part you can actually use when comparing quotes.

  • Hinge or latch adjustment versus reframing.
  • Whether the door is solid, hollow or fire-rated — a fire door cannot simply be planed.
  • Painting after any planing.

What you can do yourself

Is this licensed work?

Minor repairs generally fall under any licensing threshold. Structural work does not.

There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state the work is happening in.

Licensing thresholds and certificate requirements differ by state and change with amending regulation, so this page describes the mechanism rather than quoting a figure. The regulator’s own page is the current answer.

Common questions

Who should I hire for a door that won't close
A carpenter or handyman for a hinge, a latch or a swollen door — a genuinely small job. A builder if several doors have started sticking at once, or if the gap around the door is visibly tapered, because that is the building moving and planing the door only hides it.
Why do all my doors stick in winter?
Timber takes up moisture from humid air and expands across the grain. It is normal, it reverses, and planing a door to fit in the wet season leaves you with a gap for the rest of the year. If it is seasonal and tolerable, tolerating it is a legitimate answer.

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Who to hire for

General information about who does what, not advice about your specific job. Licensing, consumer law and council rules differ by state and change; the regulator for your state is the current source. More guides to hiring a tradesperson.