Scenario Pricing · May 2026
When Only One Spring Breaks
Cost and Decision
The most common spring failure scenario in residential service. The math, the safety case, and the warranty economics overwhelmingly favour replacing the pair. Here is why.
Headline numbers: Single-spring replacement (where offered): $225 to $375. Pair replacement: $275 to $550. Net premium for pair: $75 to $150. Expected savings over 12 months: $150 or more in avoided return service call.
Pair-replacement standard documented in IDA installer guidance and DASMA technical bulletins, May 2026.
How the conversation usually goes
You wake up. The door will not open. You walk into the garage and look up. One torsion spring has a visible gap in the coil, the other looks intact. You call a contractor. The technician arrives. They confirm one spring broken, the other intact. Then they quote a pair replacement at $375.
Your first instinct is to question the upsell. Only one spring broke. Why am I paying for two? The contractor explains. Both springs were installed together. Both have lifted the door the same number of times. The survivor is statistically very close to its own failure. Replacing both prevents a return service call within months. The savings on a single-spring repair vanish when the second spring fails.
This is the standard conversation. Almost every customer in this scenario faces it. Almost every contractor delivers the same pitch. It is not an upsell in the dishonest sense. It is the industry standard, backed by service data, manufacturer guidance, and warranty economics.
The numbers behind the standard
Garage door torsion springs are cycle-rated parts. A standard residential spring is rated for roughly 10,000 open-close cycles. Both springs in a paired system have done identical work. When one fails from cycle-life fatigue, the survivor is at the same point in its rated life.
Service-record data from the larger franchises tracks return-call patterns on single-spring repairs. The consistent finding: roughly 80 percent of survivor springs fail within 90 days of the original partner's failure. Roughly 95 percent fail within 180 days. The remaining 5 percent are typically cases where the failure was caused by a manufacturing defect specific to one spring rather than cycle-life fatigue affecting both.
For the customer, the implication is clear. The $75 saving on single-spring replacement turns into a $150 return service call within three to six months in four out of five cases. The expected value of the single-spring decision is negative by roughly $75. The pair-replacement decision is the economically rational one.
Why insured contractors refuse the single-spring job
Beyond the customer-side math, the warranty exposure for the contractor is also negative on single-spring repairs. The new spring carries a parts and labor warranty (typically 1 to 3 years on parts, 1 year on labor). The survivor spring carries no warranty because it was not installed by the contractor.
When the survivor fails within months, the customer often blames the contractor. "You were here a month ago and now the door is broken again. What did you do wrong?" Even if the contractor explains that the survivor was not part of the warranty scope, the customer satisfaction hit is real. Review sites fill up with one-star reviews complaining about "shoddy work that broke right away" even though the new spring is operating perfectly and the survivor was never under warranty.
National franchises and most insured local independents avoid the exposure by simply refusing single-spring work on double-spring doors. The customer who insists on splitting the pair is welcome to find a contractor who will, but the reputable shops will not be that contractor.
The balance argument
Even if you accept the early-failure risk, a mismatched pair creates an additional problem: balance. The new spring, wound to factory specification, provides full torque. The old spring, near end of life, provides reduced torque. The door lifts unevenly, tilting slightly toward the high-torque side. The opener compensates by drawing more current on one side of the lift, which heats the opener gear set unevenly and accelerates motor wear.
Over months, the imbalance creeps into the cable drums and tracks. The cable on the high-torque side stretches faster. Eventually one cable jumps the drum, the door binds, and a $75 saving on the single-spring decision turns into a $400 or $500 service call to re-tension cables, replace the survivor spring (now also broken), and align the door.
When single-spring repair might be defensible
One scenario: the door is scheduled for full replacement within 6 to 12 months. A minimal single-spring repair to keep the door operational until the replacement is a defensible economic choice. Tell the contractor up front. Ask for a basic standard-cycle spring with no warranty expectation. Expect to pay $175 to $275 for that minimal repair.
Second scenario: severe short-term cash constraint. The customer genuinely cannot pay the pair premium. A single-spring repair gets the door open. The customer should plan for the survivor's failure within three to six months and budget accordingly.
Outside those two scenarios, pair replacement is the right call. The math, the safety case, and the contractor warranty economics all point the same direction.
What to ask when the contractor arrives
- Is this a double-spring system?
- What is the cycle count history on the surviving spring (approximate)?
- What is the price for pair replacement vs single replacement?
- What is the parts and labor warranty on pair replacement?
- Will you do a balance test after the install?
- Do you recommend the high-cycle upgrade while we are already doing the work?
Related cost guides on this site
Frequently Asked
Why does the contractor want to replace both springs when only one broke?
Both springs were installed at the same time, wound to the same turn count, and have done identical lifting work. When one fails from cycle-life fatigue, the other is at the same point in its rated life and statistically very close to its own failure. Replacing both prevents a second service-call dispatch within months.
What does a single-spring replacement save me?
Roughly $50 to $80 in parts and 10 to 15 minutes of labor. The headline saving is typically $75 to $100 against the pair-replacement price. The hidden cost is the return service call (full dispatch fee, fresh trip charge, fresh markup on the part) when the surviving spring fails, which is typically $150 or more.
How likely is the surviving spring to fail within months?
Statistically very likely. Service-record data from national franchises and large independents consistently shows surviving springs from single-spring repairs failing within 90 days in roughly 4 out of 5 cases. Manufacturer cycle-life tables and field service data both support pair replacement as the correct standard.
Can I find a contractor who will replace only one spring?
Sometimes. National franchises and most insured local contractors will refuse the work because the warranty exposure is too high. Some smaller independents will do single-spring jobs, usually on a no-warranty basis. The savings rarely justify the risk unless you genuinely cannot afford the pair-replacement premium.
What if I plan to replace the door soon anyway?
If full door replacement is in the next 6 to 12 month plan, a single-spring temporary repair is more defensible. Ask the contractor to fit a basic standard-cycle spring with no warranty, just enough to get the door operating until the planned door replacement. Expect to pay $175 to $275 for that minimal repair, with no expectation that the survivor spring will outlast a few months.