We’re coming to the end of a major home rennovation project. We ordered a solid African Mahogany front door and sidelights made of the same. The door and frame arrived on site unfinished (not stained or finished in any way) and our contractor, without discussing it with us, installed the front door and sidelights. The door now needs to be finished.

I won’t be doing this job myself, but we’re debating whether we should (1) remove the door, frame, and sidelights so that we can have it sent to the shop of a very good cabinet maker locally, who is willing to finish the door in his shop (he will spray, not brush), or (2) simply finish the door while it’s still up and in place.

The issue is this: removing the door is easy (just take it off the hinges), but removing the frame and sidelights is more difficult and may prove very difficult without damaging the wood. We could have the cabinet maker spray his finish with the frame still installed, but it will cost us an additional $2,000 to do this since he says he’ll need to build a make-shift “room” around the door to allow him to spray.

My question: given that I don’t want to spend the extra $2,000 to my cabinet maker, is it possible to find someone who can do a really good job at staining and finishing the door while it’s up….or is it inevitable that this will result in an inferior finish, and should I bite the bullet, take down the door, frame and sidelights and have it done by our cabinet maker (who is very good at what he does). Should I be looking for a good painter who can stain and finish this door while it’s up?

Any thoughts are appreciated!