Open letter to door and door handle manufacturers

To whom it may concern,

Just a note to register my ongoing disgust with the fact that manufacturers of door handles and exterior doors refuse to standardize deadbolt cover plate dimensions. Manufacturers must have some deep-seated resentment or contempt for door installers/ contractors to continue to require at least 20 minutes of modification to the door edge or door frame deadbolt cover plate cutout EVERY … SINGLE … TIME.

Yet another custom cut required for a deadbolt cover plate

I’ve installed a fair number of doors and the cover plate NEVER fits the frame cutout. Seems ridiculous in the year 2024, right? It’s so absurd that there must be some reason for it. Maybe Robert Jeld-Wen’s girlfriend dumped him for a classmate who later became a handyman or door installer. Or perhaps Theodore Pella and Cornelius Schlage were once business partners, had a falling out, and now the companies refuse to coordinate on the size of deadbolt cover plates and cutouts.

Somehow the latch cover plate (almost) always fits perfectly, while the deadbolt plate NEVER does.

Whatever the reason, I’d welcome any feedback on why manufacturers continue to insist on producing mismatched product that wastes so much of an installer’s time when a solution would involve simple standardization among manufacturers.

Frustratedly,

Aaron, owner, Handyman Kota