Ordering bespoke steel doors for the first time can feel like stepping into the unknown. Naturally, it comes with questions. How long will it take? What happens after you pay? Who installs it? If you’ve found yourself wondering any of these, you’re in the right place.
At Steela, we understand that ordering something made specifically for your home feels different to buying off a shelf. That’s why we’ve made our process as clear and considered as the product itself.
This guide will walk you through exactly what happens between your first enquiry and the day your doors are hanging in place, so you know what to expect at every stage.
Step 1: Getting a Quote
There are two ways to begin, and neither one commits you to anything.
If one of our existing designs suits your project, you can browse our steel collections and configure your door online, including dimensions, glazing, finish and hardware. It’s a helpful way to get a sense of what’s possible, and what it costs, before speaking to anyone.
If you have something specific in mind, our bespoke service is where that begins. Send us your design and our in-house team will work through it with you until it’s ready for production.
And if you’re not quite sure which of those you are yet, that’s completely normal. Most people aren’t at this stage. Our showroom at 350 Oxford Street, Paddington is open so you can see the profiles up close, feel the finishes, and compare hardware in person.
Step 2: Confirming Your Order
Once you’re happy with the design and the quote, we’ll issue an invoice. For single and double doors up to $10,000 (inc. GST), payment in full is required. For all other products, a 50% deposit is enough to get things moving.
From this point, your project moves into our engineers’ hands and the detailed work begins.
Step 3: Reviewing Your Shop Drawings
Within approximately seven business days of payment, we’ll email you your shop drawings. These are technical drawings prepared by our engineers, setting out the exact dimensions and specifications of your product and how it will operate. Larger or more complex orders may take a little longer.
This is the part worth slowing down for. We produce your doors to these drawings exactly, which means anything that isn’t right here won’t be right later either. A licensed builder will need to review and approve them before production begins.
We know technical drawings can feel daunting if you haven’t seen them before. If anything is unclear, ask. This is exactly the stage for questions, and getting it right here is how we make sure what arrives on site fits the opening it was made for.
Step 4: Production Begins
Once your drawings are approved, our metalworkers get started.
Every Steela product is individually handcrafted from galvanised carbon steel, hand-treated with industrial-grade primers, and finished in Japanese marine-grade fluorocarbon paint. Matt Black and Pure White are our standard colours, and the Classic RAL chart opens up another 216 colours if you’d like to take your design somewhere else entirely.
Before anything leaves the workshop, each product is fully assembled and reviewed by our quality control and engineering team on the adjusting stand. Only once it meets our standard is it disassembled and prepared for shipping.
Step 5: Delivery
Your product will be ready for delivery from our warehouse within 12 to 16 weeks of your shop drawings being approved. If there’s a final invoice, it’s payable before shipment. We deliver Australia and New Zealand wide, so get in touch and we’ll quote on delivery to your site.
12-16 weeks can feel like a long wait, particularly if the rest of your build is moving quickly. Bespoke steel doors are made rather than picked off a shelf, and the lead time reflects the handcrafting involved.
Step 6: Installation
Steel doors are heavy, somewhere between 35 and 60 kilograms per square metre depending on your glazing, so installation is a job for experienced hands.
You have two options here. Use Steela’s in-house window and door installation service, or engage your own licensed builder. Either way, your product arrives with all the hardware needed for installation, and a licensed builder must carry out the work to protect both the product and your home.
After Installation
Every Steela product is backed by a 5-year limited warranty, in addition to your consumer guarantees under Australian Consumer Law.
The good news is how little steel asks of you from here. With a small amount of routine care, it will outlast almost any other framing material in your home, and our steel maintenance guide covers everything you need to know.
And if a question comes up at any point, before, during, or long after installation, please reach out. We’re here to help.
If steel doors are on the cards for your project, our classic steel collection is a good place to start, or send us your own design through our bespoke service.
