How Much Does It Cost to Add Doors to an Open Den or Cased Opening in Menifee in 2026?

Quick Answer

Holland & Sons Construction puts matched double doors in an existing cased opening in Menifee and the Inland Empire at $4,000 to $8,000+ in 2026, turn key, with design, paint, and cleanup included. The Sage Creek Office in Audie Murphy Ranch came in at $4,805 with a fixed-glass transom. Door core, glass, opening width, and how much of the house the new work has to match drive most of the difference.

Key Takeaways

• Matched double doors in a cased opening: $4,000 to $8,000+ in Menifee, Murrieta, and Temecula in 2026

• The biggest decision factor is whether the doors match the house (hollow-core, painted) or upgrade it (solid-core or stain-grade), a $1,000 to $3,000 swing

• In a tract home the opening usually already exists, so the investment is finish carpentry and paint rather than framing

• Brian Holland has built door openings since 1991; every line below comes from a real Holland & Sons job sheet

• See this in action: Sage Creek Office

You want a number before you call anyone. Here it is: a matched pair of doors in the open den most Menifee builders leave you runs $4,000 to $8,000+ with Holland & Sons in 2026. The one we just finished in Audie Murphy Ranch landed at $4,805 with a glass transom over the doors.

That is a different number than the one Google shows you first. The national guides cover a door hang and assume a jamb is already there and somebody else is painting. In a production home the opening was framed for drywall, not for two swinging doors, and the whole point is that nobody can tell it was done later. That takes design, carpentry, and two days of enamel. This post covers all three, straight off our own job sheet.

The Direct Answer: $4,000 to $8,000+ for Matched Double Doors in a Cased Opening

The low end is a matched hollow-core pair, new casing, new hardware, and paint, with no glass above. The high end is solid-core or stain-grade wood doors, a built-up transom sash, and matching stain or enamel throughout. In between sits the most common Inland Empire version: matched hollow-core doors with a fixed-glass transom, which is what the Sage Creek Office got for $4,805.

Three things move the number: the doors themselves, whether there is glass in them or above them, and how much the opening fights you. A true 61 inch opening with nothing to relocate is the easy case.

Room-by-Room Investment Table

The opening governs the number more than the room name does. A 61 inch cased opening into a den, a dining room, or a flex room runs about the same; a 72 inch opening into a primary suite runs higher because the doors, casing, and glass all get wider. Holland & Sons 2026 ranges for matched, painted, prehung pairs, turn key:

Ranges vary by linear footage of casing, material selection, ceiling height, and finish complexity. Widening an opening, replacing a header, or moving a switch or grille is extra and can bring a permit into play.

Cost Per Component: What Each Line Buys

Door work is not figured by the square foot. It is figured by the piece and by the day. These are the actual lines from the Sage Creek Office.

To apply this to your room: no transom nets out about $800 less. A wider opening adds to the door unit and casing stock. Solid-core doors add $1,000 to $1,500 to the door line.

What Drives the Investment

What adds to it:

• Solid-core doors (+$1,000 to $1,500) or stain-grade wood doors (+$2,000 to $3,000)

• Glass in the doors instead of above them: a 15-lite or 1-lite pair is a different product at a different number

• Widening the opening or replacing the header, which brings framing, drywall, and possibly a permit into the job

• Moving a switch, outlet, thermostat, or return grille inside the opening

• A profiled or operable transom sash instead of a flat trim band and fixed glass

What holds it down:

• A stock prehung pair that matches without special order

• Leaving every switch and vent exactly where the builder put it

• Skipping the transom (about $800 on the Sage Creek Office)

• A single door where the opening is about 36 inches or narrower

What you control: the door core, the glass, and the hardware. Match the house and the number stays mid-range. Upgrade the room and the number follows, which is fine as long as you choose it on purpose.

What Is Included vs. Not Included

Included in a Holland & Sons double door project:

• Hand-drawn design, approved before material is ordered

• Removal and haul-away of the existing casing

• Matched prehung pair, set plumb and square, with a nickel-thick reveal (the even gap between door and jamb) all the way around

• New casing and, where specified, a site-built transom with tempered glass

• Two days of prep and finish in Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel, matched to your existing trim color

• Floor protection, daily cleanup, and a 5-year workmanship warranty on doors and trim

Not included unless we scope it:

• Any change to the opening size, header, or framing

• Relocating electrical or HVAC devices inside the opening

• Painting walls or other doors in the house

• Solid-core, stain-grade, or glass-lite doors (scoped as upgrades)

• Permits, where a scope change requires one

How to Compare Contractor Quotes for Double Doors

Two quotes for "install double doors" can be $2,000 apart and both be honest. The difference is what is on the sheet. For the questions to ask in person, see who should install your interior doors in Menifee.

Pricing Tiers

These are Holland & Sons' 2026 project ranges for Riverside County, drawn from our own jobs, not independent Inland Empire market averages. Exact numbers depend on opening conditions, materials, finish, and any required alterations.

How to Choose the Right Tier

1. Does the rest of the house have hollow-core doors? If yes and you want the new pair to disappear into the home, stay at Entry or Mid-Range. Matching beats upgrading.

2. Is noise the reason you want doors? If the den sits off a living room with a TV, the solid-core bump is the cheapest quiet you will buy. Upgrade the core and stay plain on the sash.

3. Is there 10 inches or more between the top of the door casing and the ceiling? Most 9 foot first floors in Menifee have it, and then the transom earns its $850. A solid wall of doors under a tall ceiling looks heavy, and glass fixes that for less than any other line. Our guide to transom windows above interior doors covers the proportions.

Glass in the doors versus glass above them is its own decision, and we lay out real pricing examples for each option in French doors vs. solid double doors for a home office.

See This In Action: Sage Creek Office

Paint ran higher than carpentry on this job: $1,200 for two days of enamel against $1,100 for one day of setting doors and building a transom. That is the honest shape of a door project in a finished house. The carpentry is one day if the opening is true. Making it look original is two.

What we used on this project:

• Prehung hollow-core three-panel double doors, matched to every other door in the home, hung in the existing 61 inch opening

• Site-built fixed transom with 1/4 inch tempered glass, pencil mould stop, and a flat painted trim band

• New 2-1/2 inch paint-grade casing matched to the existing profile, landing on the existing baseboard

• Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel in Swiss Coffee, two days of prep and finish

• Satin nickel knobs matched to the home; no switch, outlet, or grille relocated

The hub post has the before, during, and after photos, the full $4,805 breakdown, the 3-day timeline, and the construction details. Link: the full project story

Local Market Context: Why This Job Is So Common in the Inland Empire

Audie Murphy Ranch is a 1,100-acre master-planned community on the west side of Menifee, built out by production builders including D.R. Horton, Richmond American, and Brookfield Residential, according to Builder magazine's 2018 coverage of its grand opening. The same floor plan logic runs through Menifee, Murrieta, Temecula, and Perris: tall ceilings, open living areas, and a den off the main room that the builder cases but never closes.

Custom work here does not mean exotic materials. It means the new doors match the existing three-panel doors, the casing profile is the one on every other opening, and the transom was drawn for the ceiling height instead of bought off a shelf. The investment goes to matching and finishing, which is exactly what a box-store install figure leaves out. If the whole house is on your list, our guide to replacing every door and all the trim in the house breaks that package down by door count and linear feet.

Local ROI and Home Value

A home in Menifee, Murrieta, or Temecula competes against dozens of nearly identical floor plans from the same builder, often on the same street. C.A.R. data reported in August 2026 put the Riverside County median at $649,000, and at that number buyers walk a lot of houses. The one with a den that closes behind a matched pair and a transom reads as finished. The one with a bare opening reads as the model home nobody upgraded. Buyers remember that long after the showing.

The 2025 Remodeling Impact Report from the National Association of Realtors and NARI found that 64 percent of homeowners have a greater desire to be in their home after a remodel, and 28 percent name better functionality and livability as the single most important result, ahead of looks or resale. Results vary by home, market, and project scope.

The Holland & Sons Angle

The $850 transom line was the only real decision on the Sage Creek sheet, and skipping it would have saved about $800. The homeowners took the glass. Under a 9 foot ceiling a solid pair of doors with nothing above them looks like a closet, and $800 is a small fix for a room you look at every day. That is how we estimate: every line gets explained, and the ones you can cut get pointed out before you sign. Wyatt and I handle every design meeting in person, so the homeowner hears the reasoning from the people who will be standing in the opening with a level.

Related Resources: Adding Doors to an Open Den Guide

This post is one piece of a complete guide to turning a builder's open den into a room that closes.

• Double Doors with a Glass Transom in Menifee, CA: Turning a Builder's Open Den into a Private Office (Sage Creek Office): the project behind these numbers

• Can You Add Double Doors to a Cased Opening? 7 Things That Go Wrong in Inland Empire Tract Homes: what to settle before fabrication

• French Doors vs. Solid Double Doors for a Home Office: Which Is Right in the Inland Empire?: glass in the doors or glass above them

• Best Interior Doors for a Home Office: What a Menifee Carpenter Recommends: door lines, hardware, and paint that hold up

• Handyman, Door Company, or Finish Carpenter: Who Should Install Your Interior Doors in Menifee?: what a complete quote includes

• Transom Windows Above Interior Doors: Height, Glass, and When They Make Sense: proportions and when to skip it

Pricing FAQ

How much does it cost to add a door to an open doorway in Menifee?

Adding matched double doors to an existing cased opening in Menifee runs $4,000 to $8,000+ with Holland & Sons Construction in 2026, turn key, with design, paint, and cleanup included. The Sage Creek Office in Audie Murphy Ranch came in at $4,805 with a fixed-glass transom. Glass-lite doors, solid-core doors, or a wider opening push the number up. Full line items: the full project story

What is the average cost to install double doors?

National guides put interior double door installation far below what a finished Inland Empire project runs, because they cover the hang, not the job. HomeGuide's 2024 guide lists interior double doors without glass at $300 to $700 installed. That leaves out casing, paint, hardware, and the fact that a cased opening was never framed for a door. A matched, cased, painted pair in a Menifee tract home is a $4,000-and-up project.

How much does Home Depot charge to install interior doors?

Home Depot's published door installation guide lists interior door installation at $178 to $398 in labor and swinging French doors at $324 each, excluding the door itself and varying by market. That buys a hang into an opening that already has a jamb. It does not include building a jamb into a cased opening, matching casing to the house, a transom, or two days of enamel, which are what make new doors look original.

What is the labor cost to install an interior door?

Carpentry labor on the Sage Creek Office was $1,100 for one full day: a prehung pair set plumb, a transom frame built in the opening, and new 2-1/2 inch casing. Paint was another $1,200 for two days. Angi's 2026 guide puts a standard remove-and-replace at about $350 for two to three hours, which is a slab swap. Labor scales with how much of the opening has to be built, not how many doors swing in it.

How much does it cost to turn a single door into a double door?

Turning a single door into a double door means widening the opening, which moves the job from finish carpentry into framing. HomeGuide's 2024 guide lists widening a doorway at $500 to $2,500 before doors, casing, drywall patching, and paint, and a new header can bring a permit into the picture. If you already have a 48 to 72 inch cased opening, you skip all of that, which is why a builder's open den is such a good candidate for a pair.

How much does a transom add to the cost of double doors?

A fixed-glass transom added $850 to the Sage Creek Office and would have saved about $800 if skipped, since the head trim is needed either way. This Old House's 2026 guide puts the national average for a transom window at $1,730 installed, mostly exterior and retrofit work. Built into the same opening as new doors, the transom is one of the cheaper lines on the sheet.

Are solid core doors worth the extra cost?

Solid-core doors add $1,000 to $1,500 to a matched pair with Holland & Sons and are worth it when the room needs quiet more than it needs to match. On the Sage Creek Office, hollow-core won because every other door in the house is hollow-core three-panel. For a bedroom or an office next to a TV, the upgrade earns its keep. The full comparison: solid-core vs. hollow-core interior doors.

Got a Den That Will Not Close?

If your builder left you an open passageway where an office should be, we can tell you what it will run before anyone orders a door.

Fill out the project intake form at hsconstruct.com/contact, describe the project, tell us the city, and upload a photo of the opening and any inspiration photos. Wyatt and I handle every design meeting in person. Want to see this advice applied to a real project? Here's the full breakdown: the full project story

We build in Menifee, Murrieta, Temecula, Perris, Riverside, and across the greater Inland Empire. More of our work is on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.

951-338-8058 | brian@hsconstruct.com | hsconstruct.com | CSLB #1123738

More Than Just Double Doors

Adding doors to an open den is one of the quickest ways to finish a tract home. Interior doors are one piece of what we do at Holland & Sons, and one chapter in a much longer story. Brian has been a finish carpenter since 1991, and his sons now build alongside him, which means every room in your home is fair game. If your space needs more than a pair of doors, here's what else we build:

• Kitchen and bathroom remodels: full custom cabinetry, tile work, and finish carpentry from demo to done

• Coffered ceilings: grid beam systems that add architectural depth to any room, sized and proportioned to the space

• Wainscoting and wall paneling: classic raised panel, flat panel, board-and-batten, and shiplap applications

• Reclaimed wood accents: feature walls, fireplace surrounds, and detail work using salvaged material with real character

• Beam wraps: hollow wood wraps that give exposed beams the look of solid timber without the structural engineering

• Crown molding, baseboards, and trim carpentry: the details that make a house feel finished, from a single room to a whole home

• Cased openings and interior door replacements: clean transitions between spaces that most contractors overlook

• Custom built-in entertainment walls and bookshelves: designed for the room, built in the shop, installed to last

Wood, proportion, and rooms that feel right. That's what we do. hsconstruct.com

About the Author

Brian Holland is the owner and lead carpenter of Holland & Sons Construction, a family-run finish carpentry and general contracting company serving Riverside County and the Inland Empire. He entered the trade at 17 in 1991, learned on the job, and has spent every year since building the kind of work that makes rooms feel right, often before a homeowner can articulate why. Many projects start at his vintage drafting table, where he sketches the layout by hand with pencil and paper using a Vemco drafting machine before anything gets built. His sons now apprentice alongside him on every project. Holland & Sons is based in Perris, CA and licensed by the CSLB (#1123738).

Memberships & Credentials: NAHB Member | CBIA Member | NARI Member | BBB A+ Rated | Tanya Holland, NAHB Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) | CSLB #1123738