Specialty doors price out cleanly from the door schedule in a way that lulls estimators into treating the whole trade as a catalogue exercise: size, R-value, wind load, cycle rating, done. The actual risk in this trade isn't the door itself — it's everything mounted to, wired to, or triggered by it. Operators split power wiring with electrical mid-conductor, guide steel gets assumed by two trades at once, and a fire shutter's release circuit ties into a fire alarm system that isn't yours to commission but absolutely is yours to coordinate.
This is a working list of where those boundaries actually sit, built from what shows up across real Canadian ICI tenders — not a product line catalogue, a list of the specific split-scope questions worth answering before the number leaves the office.
What's reliably yours
- Overhead and sectional doors complete — doors, tracks, springs, motors and controls per the schedule, including sizes, R-values, wind loads, cycle ratings and vision panels. The schedule is dense but complete; read every column, since wind load and cycle rating change the assembly, not just the price.
- Coiling doors, grilles and counter shutters — rated and non-rated coiling assemblies complete with their hoods, guides and operators.
- Automatic swing and slide operators — operators fitted to pedestrian doors. Extract which specific openings get operators, what activation device each uses, and whose door frame the operator actually mounts to — that last question determines coordination, not just supply.
- Controls and safety devices — photo eyes, safety edges, loop detectors, push plates and actuators. This accessory list is what actually prices the opening; two doors of identical size can carry very different accessory costs depending on the activation and safety package specified.
Where the fight actually happens
Fire shutters and rated assemblies — release method and alarm tie-in
A fusible-link shutter and an alarm-released shutter are different systems with different costs: the alarm-released version needs a monitored circuit interface, not just a mechanical fusible link, and that interface has to be coordinated with whoever owns the fire alarm panel. Extract the release method specifically — don't assume fusible-link as the default — and confirm who owns the alarm tie-in wiring and who's responsible when the shutter fails its drop test during commissioning.
High-speed and specialty doors
High-cycle fabric or rigid doors are priced against a duty rating — cycles per day or per hour — that changes both the mechanism and the warranty terms attached to it. A door schedule that states an opening size and material but not a cycle rating is missing the number that actually distinguishes a standard door from a genuinely high-speed one, and the two are not interchangeable at the same price point.
Dock equipment
Levelers, seals, shelters and bumpers frequently ship as their own package, sourced and installed by a specialty dock equipment sub rather than the specialty doors trade — even on tenders where the loading dock door itself is squarely your scope. Confirm who carries the dock package before assuming it travels with the door; treating dock equipment as an included accessory when it's actually a separate package is an easy way to leave real money on the table or bid work that was never yours.
The other half: what isn't yours, even when it looks close
- Personnel doors and hardware — standard swinging doors and their finish hardware belong to the doors-and-hardware trade, a separate scope from specialty doors even on tenders where both appear in adjacent schedule columns.
- Aluminum entrance doors — glazing trade's scope, not yours, with one exception worth remembering: operators mounted on aluminum entrance doors still land in your scope even though the door itself doesn't. Extract the mounting and prep split specifically, since someone has to prep the aluminum frame for your operator hardware.
- Power wiring to disconnects — electrical's responsibility up to the disconnect. From the disconnect to the motor is the part that actually gets argued, and it gets argued on nearly every job with a powered opening — extract the exact split language stated in this tender every single time rather than assuming it matches the last one.
Four things that hide outside the door schedule
- Opening sizes vs. clear heights. Track and hood clearances checked against the drawn head heights is the classic doesn't-fit finding — a door schedule dimension that's technically correct but leaves no room for the track curvature or hood once you actually detail the opening.
- Jamb and guide steel. Support steel and angles at the guides are supplied either by the misc metals trade or by specialty doors, and the assignment isn't consistent across tenders. Extract it explicitly rather than assuming — this is exactly the kind of item that both trades leave out of their bids because each assumes the other carries it.
- Fire alarm interfaces. Release circuits, drop tests, and who actually commissions the interface between the door and the fire alarm system are coordination items with a real testing and sign-off cost, separate from the physical release hardware itself.
- Cycle and warranty demands. Spring cycle counts and operator warranties that exceed standard manufacturer terms are a real cost add, and they're the kind of requirement stated once in a general note rather than repeated against every door line.
Who you're actually sharing the opening with
| Trade | What to reconcile before you price |
|---|---|
| Electrical | Power, disconnects, interlocks and activation wiring — confirm exactly where their scope ends and yours begins on every powered opening. |
| Misc metals | Guide angles, jamb steel and hood supports — confirm supply assignment per opening rather than assuming a single answer applies to the whole schedule. |
| Masonry & concrete | Embeds and grouted guides at openings — sequencing and dimensional accuracy both matter here, since a misplaced embed is a field problem, not an office one. |
| Fire alarm | Shutter release circuits and verification testing — confirm who commissions the interface, not just who supplies the release hardware. |
The pass that catches most of this
Read the door schedule for what it's good at — sizes, ratings, accessories — then go check every powered and rated opening individually against the electrical, misc metals and fire alarm sections rather than assuming the first opening's split sets the pattern for the rest. The schedule prices the door; the boundary items above decide whether the opening actually closes, powers, and releases the way the drawings assume it will.