Garage Doors – The Truckee Workshop Part 19
We have garage doors! It was a long process to get them. Way back in September we started looking at options. I originally wanted some faux-wood doors, as I’m not too into the steel modern look. We didn’t want real wood; it deteriorates rather quickly — or requires a lot of maintenance to prevent decay — and isn’t as fire-proof as the faux wood products. However, a lot of the fake wood products just look bad. There are a few that looked good, but their lead time was crazy long, and we weren’t sure if we would like the finish they had. So, we decided to go with a modern flat black steel that has windows on top. We got quotes from several places — a few stores in Reno and the one place in Truckee — “Truckee Overhead Door“.
We initially started discussions with Truckee Overhead door back in June or July; way before the building even started construction. I wanted a 9′ garage door with a 9′ ceiling. They told me that just pain wouldn’t work…and it was good that I learned this early on and made sense after I thought about it. It allowed me to change the pre-fab building walls before they were delivered. I settled on an 8′ door and 9′ ceiling, as I was told 12″ of garage door “headroom” would be adequate. They said 16″ was standard, but 12″ would work. Truckee Overhead door didn’t want to pre-order the doors until the rough framing was done, and they wanted to measure the framing to ensure everything would fit.
A few months later the rough opening for the garage doors was ready to be measured. I had not blocked out the 8′ opening until Truckee Overhead Door visited. However, parts of ceiling were installed at this time at 9′, but only a few of the floor beams on the side. They told me the required locations where I needed to block stuff out at, and I made notes on the side of the wall to these details.
At this point, my wife and I talked with a few other garage door companies and had them measure and get quotes. We specifically were only looking at doors that would work with 12″ of headroom.
We settled on Truckee Overhead Door, at a bit over $14,500 for the doors with installation. They were more expensive, but had a shorter lead time than other companies and were local. I also liked working with them, even though the sales woman was a little bit spacey. I say this, because we didn’t really get a good impression that they really wanted our business – she seemed pre-occupied and not attentive at responding to emails. It was also sometimes difficult to get a response via phone calls. Even so…we decided to go with them.
We pre-ordered the doors…gave a 50% deposit…and the next day I realized the contract said 16″ of headroom. I emailed the gal helping us and asked if 12″ was okay, because that was what we had. She said the headroom was okay.
The doors should have arrived in February, but they were late. That was kind of okay, as other things were taking longer than I expected, but I started to get on top of the delivery and install date. They couldn’t do it for a few weeks….so my project had to sit idle as I waited for them until mid-March. I was a bit unhappy with this…but it was out of my control….even though it was later than the lead time they told me when I pre-ordered. Eventually, they came and installed the doors, and they looked great! I was pretty happy with it at that time.
Then I got the bill and they added an additional $500 for a “low overhead track” door (12″ vs 16″). I was surprised at this, because I had verified we only had 12″ of room months ago after I signed the contract. I went back and forth with them a bit; I didn’t want to pay the additional $500 as it wasn’t in our contract. Finally, the guy who measured called me and said that we had discussed the height and he had noted 16″ of headroom because the ceiling wasn’t installed. He was right; the ceiling wasn’t completely installed at the date he visited, but parts of it were started — I have pictures to verify this on that date. We knew the exact ceiling height at the time he was there, and he had made an error. I had noted they made an error when I signed a contract and emailed the lady I was dealing with, and she said it was okay. Yet, they wanted more money, and I wasn’t happy about that.
I feel like they should have honored their original contract because they made an error, but would not admit to it. We knew the height at the time of my rough framing. I also noted the height after I signed the contract, and they didn’t say anything about the additional cost at that time. They even did a measurement the day before the install and said everything was fine! In the end, we came to agreement where I paid them for half the difference – $250 out of the $500. I’m sure this was still more than their cost, as I can buy a low-overhead door track for less than $100 retail, and it probably didn’t take them more than additional hour of installation time.
I would still recommend Truckee Overhead Door to others, but I think they need to update their contract for new-construction doors to make sure it is clear that the 12″ tracks cost more.
