Carpentry & Built-Ins

Carpentry is priced by the running foot, so the cost mostly comes down to how many feet you are building and how tall the units are. A full-height wardrobe up to a high landed ceiling costs more per foot than a standard one. The carcass material, the door finish, the hardware and internal fittings like drawers and lighting move the number too, and so do uneven walls that need extra trimming. We price the actual units after a free visit.

A walk-in wardrobe is priced on the total run of carpentry around the room, not the size of the room itself. Open shelving costs less than doors, glass or framed doors cost more than laminate, and drawers cost more than shelves. An island, seating, internal lighting or a new partition wall to close off the space all add to it. We measure the room and price the actual layout after a free visit.

It depends on the scope. Measurement and drawings come first, then the units are built in the workshop, then fitted on site room by room. A single wardrobe is a far quicker job than a whole house of carpentry, and spray finishes and imported boards add waiting time. We confirm dates against your actual scope, not a standard schedule.

No, built-in carpentry on its own is not structural and normally needs no approval. It becomes a question when the carpentry is part of a bigger job: taking out a wall, turning the attic into a proper room, or any addition and alteration work that touches the structure. That kind of work needs approval, filed by an architect or engineer, and we bring them in and handle the paperwork. We plan the carpentry around that timing rather than promising a date.

Moisture-resistant plywood is the safest all-round choice for the carcass. It holds screws well and takes humidity swings better than MDF, so it is what we use in kitchens, yards, bathrooms and on the ground floor. MDF is flatter, so it is good for spray-painted doors in dry rooms, but it swells badly if water sits on a cut edge. Solid wood moves with the climate, so we keep it for feature pieces, not whole cabinets. Most jobs mix all three by zone.

Usually yes, for two plain reasons. Landed walls are long and rarely straight, and ceilings are high, so a loose wardrobe leaves dead gaps at the sides and a dust shelf on top. Built-ins run wall to wall and floor to ceiling, which is often a whole extra shelf of storage per unit. And landed houses have shapes loose furniture cannot use at all: under the stairs, the attic slope, the odd corner. Loose furniture still makes sense if you expect to move.

Laminate is a printed surface layer, veneer is a thin layer of real wood, and spray is paint applied in the workshop. Laminate is the toughest day to day and the easiest to clean, so it suits kitchens and children's rooms. Veneer looks and feels like timber because it is, but it scratches more easily and needs sealing. Spray gives a smooth painted look with no visible edging and handles grooves and curves, but it costs more and takes longer. Many homes mix all three.

Both can happen, and the risk is highest on the ground floor and near the car porch, a planter or an outside wall. We cut the risk by using moisture-resistant boards in those zones, sealing every cut edge and not just the visible ones, keeping cabinets off direct contact with the floor slab, and leaving air paths inside closed units. If the house has had termites before, we recommend treatment before the carpentry goes in. No board is immune, so we tell you where the risk sits.

Yes, and most of our landed carpentry jobs run exactly that way. The units are built in the workshop, so the noisy, dusty part in your house is short. We work room by room, put up dust sheeting, protect the floors and the staircase along the carrying route, and clean up at the end of each day. A wardrobe or a feature wall takes days, not weeks, in that room. A full kitchen is more disruptive, so we agree upfront how long you will be without it.