How Long Does It Take to Get a New Garage Door? Ontario Lead Times, Ordering and What Causes Delays

Introduction

Almost every conversation about a new garage door reaches the same question within about two minutes: how long is this going to take? Homeowners usually expect one of two answers. Either they assume the door is sitting on a shelf somewhere and can go on in a few days, or they have heard a horror story from the supply chain years and brace themselves for six months.

Neither is right in 2026. A garage door is not a stocked appliance and it is not a bespoke luxury item either. It is a made-to-order product built in batches, and the honest answer depends almost entirely on how ordinary your choices are and what time of year you ask.

This guide walks through what lead time actually means, the realistic windows for a London-area home right now, the specific choices that add weeks, why the calendar matters more than most people expect in southern Ontario, and what to do if your door has already failed and you cannot simply wait.

The Short Answer for 2026

For a typical London, Ontario home, measured from the day the order is placed to the day the door is installed:

• A common size, common colour, no windows: roughly 2 to 4 weeks.
• A common size with standard windows or a standard decorative style: roughly 3 to 5 weeks.
• A non-standard size, a special colour, or upgraded glass: roughly 5 to 10 weeks.
• A full-view aluminum and glass door, or a genuinely custom build: 8 to 14 weeks, sometimes more.
• An opener on its own, with no door involved: usually within a week, often within a couple of days.

Those windows move with the season, and they move with the manufacturer. Two companies quoting the same door can be three weeks apart simply because one has a production slot open and the other does not. That is not a sales tactic, it is a factory schedule.

What "Lead Time" Actually Covers

People tend to hear lead time as "how long until the truck shows up." In practice it is five separate stages, and only one of them is the factory.

1. The quote

Usually same week. A site visit takes under an hour, and a written quote should follow quickly. You can shortcut a large part of this by using our Build Your Door tool to narrow down style, colour and size before anyone comes out.

2. The measure

A garage door is ordered to the opening, not to the old door. The rough opening width and height, the headroom above the opening, the side room on each side and the backroom depth all get recorded, because any one of them can change which door and which track can be used. Our garage door sizing guide explains what those measurements mean and why an inch matters.

3. The order

Once the order is submitted, it enters a production queue. This is the point at which a change becomes expensive rather than free, which is why a good company will confirm the colour, the window layout and the hardware in writing before submitting anything.

4. The build and the freight

Sections are formed, insulated, painted or laminated, cut for glass if windows were ordered, and packed with the matching track and hardware. Most doors for the London area come off Ontario and Quebec production lines, so freight itself is short. It is the queue in front of your door, not the drive, that takes the time.

5. The install date

The door arriving and the door going on are two different days. Installers book out, and in the busy months that gap can be one to two weeks on its own. Our guide to what happens on installation day covers what that day looks like once it arrives.

Stock Versus Custom: The Single Biggest Factor

Nearly every long lead time traces back to one thing: the door is not in the standard run.

What counts as a standard door

In Ontario, the volume sizes are 8x7, 9x7 and 16x7 feet, in white, almond, sandstone, brown, charcoal or black, in a raised short panel or a plain long panel. A steel door in that group is built constantly, so it is the fastest thing a manufacturer makes. If your garage takes one of those sizes and you are happy with a common colour, you are in the quickest lane available.

What pushes a door into the slower lane

• Non-standard width or height. A 10x8, a 15 foot wide opening, or anything built to an odd measurement leaves the standard run.
• A special order colour. Factories paint in colour batches. A colour outside the standard chart waits for the next batch of that colour, which can be weeks. Our garage door colour guide covers what is standard and what is not.
• Upgraded or decorative glass. Plain glass is stocked. Obscure, tinted, leaded or grille inserts frequently come from a separate supplier, and glass is the single most common reason a door sits half finished. See our garage door window options guide for the choices involved.
• Full-view aluminum doors. These are effectively a glazing product. Frames and glass units are made to the exact opening, and they are consistently the longest lead time on the board.
• Wood, wood composite and overlay carriage styles. Lower volume, more hand work, longer queue.
• Heavier insulation packages. Not usually a problem on their own, but a high R-value door in an uncommon size stacks two delays together. Our R-value explainer covers what those numbers mean for an Ontario garage.

Manufacturers are open about this. Canadian maker Garaga and US maker Clopay both separate their catalogues into standard sizes and colours that move quickly and custom configurations that do not, and both build to order rather than to stock.

Why the Ontario Calendar Changes the Answer

Garage door demand in southern Ontario is not spread evenly, and the same door can be three weeks or seven weeks depending on the month you order it.

Late winter and early spring, February to April

The quietest ordering window of the year and the best time to get a short lead time. The freeze and thaw has finished doing its damage, but the renovation rush has not started. Factories have slots and installers have days.

Late spring and summer, May to August

The busiest stretch. Renovation season, real estate season and new construction all compete for the same production lines. Expect the middle to upper end of every range above.

Autumn, September to November

The second rush, driven entirely by people who want it done before the snow. This is the point where a four week lead time quietly becomes seven, because everybody in the region has had the same idea at the same time. If a new door is on your list for this year, this is the month to commit, not the month to start browsing.

December and January

Production slows for the holidays and most factories close for one to two weeks, which pushes anything ordered in mid December well into January. Installation is still perfectly possible in an Ontario winter, but cold weather affects sealants and adhesives, and a bitter day can push a booking. Our guide on the best time of year to replace a garage door goes through the trade-offs in more detail.

What Actually Causes Delays

When a door runs late, it is almost never a mystery. It is usually one of these.

• A colour batch that has not run yet. The most common single cause of a door sitting in a factory.
• Glass. Window inserts often come from a different supplier than the door, and a door cannot ship until its glass arrives.
• Freight damage. Steel sections dent easily. A damaged section is rejected at delivery and reordered, which usually costs another two to four weeks. This is worth knowing in advance so it feels like a known risk rather than a broken promise.
• A measurement that changed. If the opening turns out to be different from what was quoted, for example rotten framing found once the old door came off, the order can change after the fact. Checking for rot in the wood frame around the opening before ordering avoids most of this.
• Hardware and track. Low headroom track, high lift track and heavier duty hardware are separate line items that can arrive separately from the door.
• Permits, on rare jobs. A straight replacement in the same opening does not normally require one in Ontario, but changing the size of the opening does. Our guide to garage door permits in Ontario explains when that applies.
• The installer's calendar. Not a supply problem at all, but it is part of your wait, and in October it is often the biggest part.

Booking Backwards From the Date You Want

The practical way to plan this is to pick the date you want the door on and count backwards.

1. Target date. Before the first snow, before a house sale closes, before a family event.
2. Subtract the install booking window. One to two weeks in busy months, a few days in quiet ones.
3. Subtract the production and freight time. Use the ranges above, and use the top of the range if you are ordering in summer or autumn.
4. Subtract a week for quoting and measuring.
5. Add a two week cushion for a colour batch, a glass delay or a damaged section.

For a standard steel door wanted before the snow flies in London, that puts the sensible ordering date somewhere in late August or early September. For a full-view aluminum door, it is closer to June.

Your Door Has Already Failed and You Cannot Wait

This is the situation that catches people out. A door that is already broken does not care about the production schedule, and a car can be trapped behind it today.

In most cases the answer is a repair now and a replacement later. A broken spring, a snapped cable or a door off its tracks can usually be made safe and working again the same week, which turns an emergency into a planned purchase instead of a panic buy. Prices below are before HST, all in for a typical residential door, parts, labour and the service call included:

• Pair of springs, single door: $260 to $400. Pair of springs, double door: $300 to $550.
• Lift cables replaced as a pair: $130 to $350.
• Off track, simple re-rail: $150 to $280.
• Rollers, full set, single door: $120 to $320.
• Yearly multi-point tune-up: $120 to $220.
• Our service call: a flat $85, absorbed into the repair when we do the work.

The question of whether that repair is money well spent or money thrown at a door that is finished is worth answering properly rather than guessing. Our repair or replace guide walks through the decision, and the free Repair or Replace tool on our site will give you an answer in about a minute.

There is one exception worth naming. If the door itself is damaged beyond repair, for example a vehicle has gone through it, the opening can be temporarily secured and the opener disconnected while the replacement is built. It is not comfortable, but it is safe, and it is a great deal better than forcing a damaged door to keep running.

Looking After the Old Door While You Wait

If your replacement is six weeks out, the door you have still has to do six more weeks of work. A little attention keeps it from becoming an emergency in the meantime.

• Watch and listen to it run once a week with nothing parked underneath.
• Keep the tracks clear and the bottom of the door free of ice, leaves and grit.
• Test the safety reverse by placing a solid object such as a length of two by four flat on the floor in the door's path. The door should reverse on contact.
• Check the photo eyes near the floor are clean and pointed at each other.
• Do not lubricate or adjust anything under tension. Springs, cables, drums and bearings are strictly professional territory.

The Door and Access Systems Manufacturers Association sets out the same monthly routine in its homeowner maintenance guide: look, listen, test the balance and the reverse, and leave anything under tension alone.

Questions Worth Asking Before You Sign

• Is this door a standard size and a standard colour? If the answer to either is no, ask what that adds in weeks.
• What is the quoted lead time, and is it from the order date or the deposit date?
• Is the install date included in that number, or does it start after the door arrives?
• What happens if a section arrives damaged? Ask who reorders it and how long a replacement section takes.
• Is a deposit required? We do not take one. A deposit is not unusual in this trade, but it is worth knowing what it buys and what happens to it if the order is cancelled.
• Is the old door removal and disposal included?

If those answers are vague, that is information in itself. Our guide to choosing a garage door company covers what a solid written quote should contain.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a new garage door take in Ontario in 2026?

For a standard size and colour steel door, usually 2 to 4 weeks from order to installation. Windows, special colours and non-standard sizes push that to 5 to 10 weeks, and full-view aluminum doors can run 8 to 14 weeks. Autumn ordering sits at the top of every one of those ranges.

Can I get a garage door installed the same week?

Only very occasionally, if a supplier happens to have your exact size and colour on the floor. It is worth asking, but it should never be the plan. A broken door is fixed with a repair, not by hoping a stock door exists.

Does an opener take as long as a door?

No. Openers are genuinely stocked, so a new opener on an existing door is usually a within-the-week job. A new opener supplied and installed runs $525 to $1,200 before HST depending on the drive type, from a basic chain drive up to a wall mount unit.

Why does the colour add so much time?

Because doors are painted in batches by colour. A standard colour runs constantly. A special order colour waits for its batch, and the gap between batches is the delay, not the painting itself.

Will ordering in winter really take longer?

Mid December orders usually do, because most factories shut down for one to two weeks over the holidays. Ordering in late January or February is one of the fastest windows of the year.

Should I pay a deposit to hold a production slot?

A deposit does not hold a slot. The order does. Plenty of reputable companies take deposits and that is normal in this trade, but it should be explained in writing rather than presented as a way to jump the queue. We do not require one at all.

Can I keep using my car while I wait for a new door?

In most cases yes. If the existing door still opens and closes safely, keep using it and keep an eye on it. If it has failed, a repair will usually get you running again within days, and that repair does not have to be wasted money if the door is otherwise sound.

What is the single best thing I can do to shorten the wait?

Decide on the colour and the window layout early, and be honest with yourself about whether the standard chart has something you can live with. Those two decisions drive more of the lead time than anything else a homeowner controls.

Conclusion

A new garage door is a made-to-order product, so the wait is real, but it is predictable. Standard size, standard colour, no glass, ordered in February: you are looking at a few weeks. Custom size, special colour, decorative glass, ordered in October: plan on a couple of months and be pleasantly surprised if it lands sooner.

The two mistakes that cost homeowners the most are leaving it until the weather turns, and treating a broken door as a reason to rush a decision they will live with for twenty years. Order early, get the measurements done properly, and if the current door has already given up, repair it and buy the replacement on your own timetable rather than on its.

If you would like a written quote with a realistic lead time attached to it, call 519-619-7901 or reach us through our contact page. AA Advantage Doors has been installing garage doors for London-area homeowners since 2009, and we will tell you honestly whether your choices put you in the three week lane or the ten week one before you commit to anything.