A single torsion spring fitted in Richardson is an estimated $185 to $345. A matched pair on a double door is an estimated $265 to $450, and an extension spring pair on an older door is an estimated $155 to $275. Those are guide figures rather than a quote, and the number lands inside the band based on four measurements taken off the old spring at the door.
The four numbers that set the price
Nobody can price a spring properly over the phone, and a company that gives you a firm figure sight unseen is either guessing high or planning to fit whatever is on the van. What a technician takes off the broken spring is this:
- Wire gauge. The diameter of the steel itself, typically between about 0.207 and 0.283 inches on residential doors. Thicker wire costs more and carries more weight.
- Inside diameter of the coil. Usually 1.75, 2.00 or 2.625 inches. Different families of spring entirely.
- Relaxed length. Measured on the broken spring with both halves pushed back together, so the missing coils are accounted for.
- Wind direction. Left or right hand. Fit the wrong one and it unwinds instead of lifting.
Those four are read against the weight of the door, which is why a door gets lifted and felt before parts are ordered. A 90-pound single steel door and a 210-pound insulated double are not the same job even when the broken spring looks similar.
What moves you up or down the band
Larger wire and longer springs cost more in raw steel. A high-cycle upgrade to 20,000 or 25,000 cycles adds an estimated $60 to $120 and roughly doubles the service life, which pays for itself once on a door that opens six or eight times a day. A door that needs a new center bearing, an end bearing plate, or a shaft that has been running dry adds parts. After-hours dispatch adds the emergency rate, and that is the one variable you control.
Why both springs usually get replaced
On a two-spring door, both have taken the same cycle count. Springs are rated in cycles, not years, and the builder standard of 10,000 works out to seven to twelve years for a household opening the door four or five times a day. When one breaks, the other is normally months behind rather than years. Fitting one and leaving the other means a second call-out fee and a second visit, and it leaves tension uneven across the shaft, which racks the door in the tracks and chews rollers on one side.
There is a local wrinkle to this. Forty percent of the homes in Richardson were built between 1970 and 1979, so whole streets went up within a couple of years of each other and their doors get used at similar rates. Springs on similar-age houses tend to reach the end of their cycle life in the same few winters, which is why neighbors in the older Dallas County half of the city end up comparing notes about the same fortnight.
What should be included for that money
- The door clamped and any remaining shaft tension bled out with proper winding bars before anything comes off.
- Springs sized from the four measurements and the weighed door, not from stock convenience.
- Winding to a calculated turn count, then proving the balance by hand with the opener disconnected. A balanced door holds near waist height without creeping.
- Cables and drums inspected while the shaft is accessible, because that is the cheapest time to catch a frayed cable.
- Opener force and both travel limits reset, then the reversal test run against a flat board on the slab.
- A written parts and labor warranty on the invoice with a duration against each.
That last item is the one to insist on. Texas does not issue a state license specifically for garage door contractors, which you can verify against the regulated program list published by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. What is checkable is that the City of Richardson requires every contractor working in the city to register with Building Inspection before a permit is issued, and publishes that register publicly. Building Inspection takes those calls on 972-744-4180.
Why this is not a homeowner job
A wound torsion spring stores hundreds of foot-pounds of energy. A winding bar that slips out of a cone moves fast enough to break bone, and screwdrivers and lengths of rebar are not winding bars. Spring kits sold online are cheaper than a fitted price for a reason that has nothing to do with the steel. If you are pricing this against a DIY route, price the difference honestly: about a hundred dollars of parts against the emergency room.