Altering An Interior Hollow Core Door

Painter James

Customer of mine ordered a 4-panel hollow-core interior french door for an opening I would enclose (her home office). I was drafting the contract and told her that to have an accurate estimate we'd need to discuss the type of door to order. After agreeing to that, and getting a signed contract with deposit to cover the door cost, I ordered the door (explaining this to the customer).

Problem: she now wants a door with glass panes, which I told her "no problem, but it will cost the price of a new door, plus the cost to finish." The thinking was that the 15-light door available in our market comes as unfinished wood, stain-grade. It would need to be caulked, primed, and painted, which entails more labor than simply painting a pre-primed 4-panel unit.

No matter how I slice it, even if I went for an in-stock slab with glass, (cheaper price than ordering a new pre-hung, even if it was in-stock) I'd have to mill the door to fit the hinges, install the flush-bolt, etc., and I'm back up to the cost of ordering a whole new door!

Just thinking about options here, wondering if anyone's got an idea of how to (cost-effectively) answer the questions:

1) Can a hollow-core door be modified to accept frosted glass panes (or similar product)?

2) Is there a way to keep the french door unit that has been special ordered, (60" x 80") and yet install a french door with lights?

She's not too keen on buying a set of french doors that will be waiting in her garage for who knows how long. Thanks!

Double-A

1. This is a change and requested by her, therefore, no matter what she thinks of an unused French door, she still owns it.

2. Have you spoken to the manufacturer of the door yet to see if they can supply what you need, precut, bored and primed?

3. Did you give her all her options when you sat down to discuss this door with her the first time? We've found that folks will talk themselves into or out of a good choice, budget wise, because they find something pretty after the fact. If you show them the pretty options, they have time to think it over and make a dispassionate decision.

This is why we have a design fee.

__________________
"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006

Painter James

Thanks for the response. No, haven't spoken to the manufacturer, as this has happened over the past 24 hours (we close up shop here in the South on Sunday), but will need to follow up on that note.

As to methodology/design issues--great idea! Will need to adopt the approach of getting more in tuned with hammering the options out to ensure a more dispassionate decision (the main problem is an ambivalent rush into quick decision-making that the customer in question has used to navigate through the process of determining job scope).

Thanks again.