Prices vary, depending on several factors, including:

• Door size (height, width, thickness) and number of plies.
• Door type (single flat panel, or rail-and-stile).
• Solid wood door, or with a steel and foam core (to enhance dimensional stability, and to increase the R-value).
• Window size and shape.
• Window type.
• Carving size and shape.
• Wood type and finish (bare or coated with multiple coats of preservative).
• Door finished on both the front and back (for homes), or just the front (for sheds).
• Custom door hardware, if any.
• Shipping costs depend on the door size, weight, and destination.

I've received many requests from people who evidently want to buy a custom hand-carved door for less than they'd pay for a mass-produced fiberglass door at Home Depot. These doors take a lot of time to make, and if you want one of these one-of-a-kind works of art, you must be willing to pay for it. I am NOT the person to contact if you want an economy door!

I cannot give exact prices without knowing all specifications for your door, but the following ballpark figures will give you an idea of my prices:

Door alone: approximately $2000 to $3000.

Door with:

• sidelights on each side of the door and
• a round-top arch (with carvings on its lower perimeter to complement the door carvings) spanning the door and sidelights and
• a laminated frame for the entire unit.

Approximate price for the door, sidelights, round-top arch, laminated frame, and hinges: $7000 to $8000.

If I were building a million-dollar log home, I wouldn't scrimp on the entry door area, since that is one of the focal points of the home that dramatically affects its visual appeal. My prices may seem exorbitant, but it is not possible to sell a highly customized hand-carved door (that takes a few weeks to a month to make) for the price of a mass-produced door that anyone could pick up at Home Depot. Considering that plastic (fiberglass) doors can sell for $1000, and considering that other door carver's prices begin at $10,000, I think my doors are very reasonably priced.

Frequently Asked Questions about hand-carved doors

Q: Can you carve a moose or a bear?

A: Yes, but carving a moose or bear is significantly more difficult than carving trees. The morphology of trees in a given species is sufficiently variable so that when people see a carving of a tree, they can immediately recognize it as such even if its shape is substantially different than something which perfectly epitomizes "a tree." The same cannot be said for animals. If I botch the area around the eye, for example, I can't just move it to another area (as I could a tree branch) and have it look OK . . . it'd be an anatomical disaster. There isn't any market for carvings that depict animals which look like their ancestors hailed from Hiroshima! :-)

This problem is compounded because wood sometimes bears hidden defects that are not apparent until I carve into a certain area. What if I carve into the periorbital area, and the wood is friable, as it sometimes is in the areas around knots? I've just lost a month of time and a few hundred dollars of materials. Hence, I'm less than eager to tackle such a project. I'd do it if you are willing to pay enough to make it worthwhile, but otherwise I won't.

Q: Can you make a door 8 feet tall and 36 to 42 inches wide?

A: I can make a door any size. However, for the sake of proportionality, a door of that height should be more than 42 inches wide. Typically, the minimum door width for an entry door is 36 inches, but such doors are usually 80 inches tall. With a width to height proportionality constant of .45, an 8' door would be 43.2" wide. If your home and entry are fairly massive, I recommend a larger entry door so it will not appear to be relatively lilliputian.

Q: There are knots in the wood in your doors. Isn't it better to have a door with no knots?

A: If you want that, I can make it. Most people think (and I agree) that knotty pine doors complement the aesthetics of log homes much better than clear wood.

Q: Do you also make hand-carved doors without windows?

A: Yes. Omitting the window naturally gives more room for a larger carving, should you desire it.

Here are some more points to keep in mind as you dream up your ideal door:

1. I like to make my doors in a single slab because I think that makes for a more striking door. However, wood is subject to dimensional changes and shape changes as its moisture content varies. The standard method for minimizing the effects of changing size and shape is to make doors using the rail-and-stile technique in which there are separate horizontal and vertical boards along the door's perimeter and one or more panels inset into them. This helps because the length of a piece of wood varies less than its width as its moisture content changes — which it inevitably will, no matter how well sealed the door is.

2. If you do not want a rail-and-stile door, I can increase the number of plies in the door to keep it as flat as possible. The standard number of plies is two, but I'd recommend at least a three-ply door. Keep in mind that this makes the door flatter and stronger, but it will not minimize door width change from summer to the winter heating season. Even when wood is always inside (e.g., a door on a dresser) and kept in a relatively controlled environment, it will still experience seasonal variation in width. Exterior doors are subject to more extreme climatic variation, and hence expand and shrink more in width. Besides the ambient temperature and humidity, other factors affect wood expansion/contraction, such as sunlight and wind. A good door seal can minimize the effects of this problem. Another thing to consider is that wood exterior doors are selected for one reason: their beauty. If dimensional stability and low-maintenance are your foremost concerns, a steel or fiberglass door is a much better choice — they're just unattractive. I assume that you are not put off by the prospect of maintenance, because if minimizing that was more important than aesthetics, you'd now be building a stick-built home clad with vinyl siding. Logs inevitably require maintenance, and so do wood doors. At a minimum, you'll need to re-coat the door once per year to maintain the integrity of the finish.