Miami, FL
DOORS ESTIMATING.

## Door Estimating in Miami Is Its Own Problem Miami is not a typical market for door contractors. You are quoting on high-rise condos in Brickell, hurricane-rated entry doors in Coral Gables, impact-rated storefront systems in Wynwood, and aluminum sliding panels in oceanfront units in Miami Beach — sometimes in the same week. Each job has a different product spec, a different permit path, and a different inspection requirement. Miami-Dade County enforces one of the strictest product approval regimes in the country. Every exterior door and window system must carry a Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance (NOA) or a Florida Product Approval number under Florida Building Code Chapter 14. If you are bidding a replacement door in an unincorporated Miami-Dade neighborhood versus the City of Miami proper, you are dealing with two separate building departments. Your estimate needs to reflect that complexity before you send it — not after the customer pushes back. On top of that, labor costs in the Miami metro are running higher than most Southeast markets. Door installers and finish carpenters here bill at rates that reflect the cost of living and the tight labor pool. Your bids need to price that accurately or you eat the margin. ## What Estimate.Pro Does Differently Estimate.Pro is built for the 25 trades that deal with exactly this kind of complexity. Door contractors are one of them. You walk the job. The AR measurement tool on supported devices uses ONNX-assisted live detection to measure rough openings, frame widths, and clearance zones on-site. On a phone photo or camera where live AR is not supported, measurements are flagged as estimates so you know what to verify before you send the bid. Either way, you are capturing dimensions in the field, not reconstructing them from memory at your desk. From there, the AI scope-of-work generator reads your walkthrough notes and produces a line-item draft. For a door job in Miami, that draft includes line items for impact-rated hardware, threshold sealing, permits, and finish work. You edit what needs changing. The median time from walkthrough to sendable bid is 8 minutes. Your material costs live in a saved workspace you control. Miami pricing for impact-rated steel doors, aluminum frames, and PGT or CGI glazed units is not the same as Tampa or Jacksonville. You set your own numbers. The app holds them. ## Permits and Code in Miami-Dade Miami-Dade County requires a permit for most exterior door replacements, including like-for-like swaps on residential properties. The building department uses an online portal (iBuild Miami-Dade) for permit applications. Turnaround on a simple residential permit is typically 5–15 business days, though expedited review is available for an additional fee. Every exterior door you install must reference its Florida Product Approval number on the permit application. That number links back to the manufacturer's testing documentation for wind-load compliance under ASCE 7 and the Florida Building Code, 8th Edition (2023). Inspectors in Miami-Dade check this. If the product on the job does not match the PA number on the permit, you fail inspection. For commercial projects, the requirements layer further. Means-of-egress doors must comply with NFPA 80 and IBC Section 1010, including hardware requirements for fire-rated assemblies. If you are bidding a commercial storefront with an aluminum door system, the NOA for that system needs to be on file before rough inspection. Building that compliance detail into your estimate — product approval references, permit fee line items, inspection allowances — is the difference between a bid that wins and a bid that blows up mid-job. ## Pricing Structure Estimate.Pro has a free tier with no credit card required. You can run real bids on it today. Pro is $39 per seat per month. Elite is $79 per seat per month and adds Stripe Connect invoicing and invoice export workflows. The Crew plan is $399 per month flat for teams. On the Free plan, Stripe Connect payments carry a 3% platform fee. On Pro and above, that fee is $0. For a door contractor doing volume in Miami, that difference adds up fast on higher-ticket impact door installs. ## Built for the Miami Market If you are bidding impact doors in Miami-Dade, you are operating in one of the most technically demanding door markets in the country. Your estimates need to reflect Florida product approval requirements, two-jurisdiction permit realities, elevated labor rates, and premium hardware pricing — all before you send a proposal. Estimate.Pro gives you a field-first tool that gets you to a compliant, accurate bid in under 10 minutes. Start free. No card needed.