Pet Door Installation Cost in LA

Standard wood door insert: $120–$220

The most common pet door install in Los Angeles is a flap insert cut into an existing solid-wood or fiberglass interior or exterior door. For a small-to-medium pet door (PetSafe Freedom, Ideal Pet 7x11 or 11x16) on a standard wood door, the typical LA price is $120–$160. For a large or extra-large door (Labrador, Golden Retriever sizing) at 15x23 or larger, expect $160–$220 because of the additional cutting, framing, and weight of the door panel itself.

What's actually included at this price: pro arrives with a template, marks the door, removes the door from the hinges (most pros prefer to cut horizontally on a sawhorse), cuts the opening with a jigsaw, sands and seals the cut edges, installs the pet door with both interior and exterior flange screws, and rehangs the door. Total time is typically 60–90 minutes for a single door.

What's not included unless you specify: the pet door unit itself (most homeowners buy ahead — common picks are PetSafe Freedom for sub-100 lb pets and SureFlap microchip doors for security-conscious owners), repainting the cut edge to match the door's existing finish, or upgrading to a microchip-only model. Microchip doors cost $150–$280 for the unit itself but the install labor is identical.

Sliding glass door panel insert: $180–$320

On homes with sliding glass patio doors — extremely common in LA tract homes in Sherman Oaks, Studio City, and Westchester — the simplest pet door install is a panel insert. The pro brings a custom-fit aluminum frame with a built-in pet flap that drops into the existing slider track, narrowing the slider opening but leaving the original glass door fully reusable. Standard 80-inch height in widths of 4–7 inches (PetSafe, Ideal Pet, Cat Mate brands) runs $180–$240; 96-inch height for a tall slider runs $240–$320.

What's actually included: pro measures the slider track, brings a panel sized to the opening, installs the panel between the existing slider and the jamb, adjusts the security pin so the slider locks against the panel, and tunes the flap weather-stripping. Total time 45–75 minutes.

Two things move this quote up. First, slider track condition — if the existing track is bent, crushed, or has worn rollers, the slider won't seal properly against the new panel and the pro has to fix the track first (+$60–$120). Second, double-pet-door panels — some homeowners want a separate small flap for a cat at floor level plus a larger flap higher up for a dog, which doubles the panel cost (+$80–$140) but keeps both pets working independently.

Wall-mount through stucco: $300–$580

Wall-mount pet doors — cut directly through an exterior stucco wall rather than through a door — are the upgrade homeowners ask about when they don't want to permanently modify a door, or when no door is on the right side of the house for the pet's preferred path. In LA, where most homes are stucco over wood frame, this install runs $300–$580 depending on pet size and wall complexity.

What's actually included: pro identifies stud locations and any electrical or plumbing in the wall cavity, marks the opening on both interior and exterior sides, cuts through interior drywall, frames a header and sill if the opening interrupts a stud bay, cuts through exterior stucco with a wet-saw or grinder, installs an interior trim ring and exterior trim ring with a tunnel between them, seals all penetrations with stucco-compatible sealant, and patches drywall on the interior. Total time is typically 3–5 hours.

Two things drive the upper end. First, pet size — a small cat opening (5x7) is fast; an extra-large dog opening (15x23) interrupts at least one stud and requires header framing, which adds 60–90 minutes. Second, exterior finish matching — a fresh stucco patch around the trim ring takes 24–48 hours to cure before paint, so most pros leave the stucco finish slightly proud of the surrounding wall and recommend a follow-up texture-and-paint visit ($80–$160) once the stucco has cured.

Through-wall through brick or framed cavity: $400–$700

On older LA homes — Spanish revivals in Hancock Park, brick-clad bungalows in Pasadena, masonry construction in older West Adams — through-wall pet doors involve cutting brick or grouted block instead of stucco. This pushes the install to $400–$700 because masonry cutting is slower and the tunnel framing has to bridge a thicker wall.

What's actually included: pro uses a wet-cut masonry saw or core drill to cut the exterior brick, cuts the interior wall finish (drywall or plaster), frames a wood or steel tunnel through the wall cavity to bridge the brick to the interior wall, installs an interior trim ring and exterior trim ring rated for masonry, and seals all joints with masonry-compatible sealant. Total time is typically 4–6 hours.

On hillside homes in Silver Lake, Echo Park, or Mount Washington where wildlife (coyote, raccoon, occasional bobcat) is a real consideration, most pros recommend a microchip pet door (SureFlap DualScan, PetSafe SmartDoor) instead of a flap-only model. The microchip-only flap stays locked unless your pet's chip is in range, which prevents wildlife and neighborhood cats from coming in. Microchip unit upcharge is $80–$180 over a standard flap.

Security considerations for ground-floor LA units

Pet doors are a real security tradeoff and worth thinking through, especially for ground-floor units in DTLA, Koreatown, Hollywood, and other higher-density neighborhoods. Three security levels most LA pros will discuss with you:

• Standard flap with locking slide ($0 add-on): the pet door has a manual slide-in panel that converts it to a fully locked, opaque opening when you're away. Adequate for most suburban homes; not adequate as the only line of defense on a ground-floor unit.
• Microchip-activated flap (+$80–$180 unit upgrade): door stays locked unless your pet's microchip is in range. Solves the wildlife and neighborhood-pet problem and adds a meaningful barrier — a person can't reach through and operate the flap.
• Wall-mount with motorized panel (Endura Flap, High Tech Pet, +$200–$400): full motorized cover that closes and locks when your pet is on the inside or out of range. The most secure option and the one ground-floor DTLA owners typically end up with after the first time they think about an arm-reach-through risk.

What you can supply to lower the quote

Two things you can do to keep the quote at the lower end. First, buy the pet door unit yourself ahead of time and have it on-site when the pro arrives. Most LA pros are happy to install a homeowner-supplied unit; you save the markup ($20–$60) and you get to choose the exact model that fits your pet (PetSafe Freedom, SureFlap, Endura Flap, Hale, etc.) rather than whatever the pro stocks.

Second, schedule the cut-and-install at a single visit. Some homeowners want to 'pre-cut' the opening and finish the install later, but that almost always costs more total because the pro has to charge for two trips and the cut edges are vulnerable to weather between visits. Single-visit installs run cleaner and usually 15–25 percent cheaper.

Hillside and wildlife considerations

Pet doors in hillside LA neighborhoods — Silver Lake, Echo Park, Mount Washington, Laurel Canyon, Beachwood Canyon, the Palisades, parts of Bel Air — have a specific risk profile that flat-lot homes don't. Coyotes, raccoons, opossums, and occasional bobcats actively pattern through these neighborhoods, and a flap-only pet door is essentially an open invitation for any animal smaller than the flap dimensions to enter the home.

Most LA pros installing in these areas will recommend one of three configurations. A microchip-activated pet door (SureFlap DualScan, PetSafe SmartDoor) is the baseline — it stays locked unless your specific pet's chip is in range, which solves the wildlife problem at $80–$180 in unit upcharge. A motorized panel pet door (Endura Flap automatic, High Tech Pet) is the step up — full automatic locking with multiple security modes, $200–$400 in unit upcharge but worth it for homeowners who travel.

On ground-floor units in DTLA, Koreatown, Hollywood, and similar higher-density neighborhoods, the security calculus is different — the wildlife risk is low, but the human-reach-through risk is real. A standard flap with a manual locking slide is workable for daytime use only; for overnight and away-from-home use, the manual slide goes in. Some homeowners in these neighborhoods opt for a wall-mount pet door above 4 feet rather than a low door insert, which makes reach-through significantly harder while keeping the door usable for medium-and-large pets.