Summary

Fitted wardrobes sit at an interesting point in domestic carpentry pricing: the material cost (MDF or plywood carcass, sliding door gear, hanging rail) is relatively modest, but the labour is skill-intensive and the margin for error is small. A carcass that isn't built square, a sliding door track that's out of level by even 2mm over its length, or a wall fixing that hasn't accounted for dot-and-dab construction will all produce a visible, customer-noticed defect — doors that drift shut on their own, gaps at the scribed edge, or in the worst case, a wardrobe that tips forward under load. Pricing this job accurately means pricing the survey and joinery time properly, not just the board and hardware cost.

The biggest single pricing variable is the wall and opening condition. A perfectly square, plumb, level alcove with solid masonry on both sides is the fast, cheap job. A period property alcove that's 15-20mm out of square, with a mix of masonry chimney breast on one side and a stud partition on the other, needs scribing, careful wall-type identification for each fixing point, and considerably more time — this is where inexperienced quotes go wrong, because the difference isn't visible until the survey. Always survey in person (or from detailed customer-supplied photos and measurements at minimum) before committing to a fixed price on anything beyond a simple, known-good opening.

The second pricing variable is door system and finish level. Hinged doors are the simplest and cheapest to fit; sliding door systems (the dominant choice in UK bedrooms for the past decade) need a dead-level top track and add both material and precision-fitting time; bespoke painted or veneered finishes with spray-applied lacquer look considerably better than site-painted MDF but require either an off-site spray facility or a well-controlled site environment. See built in storage and fitted furniture for the underlying construction and fixing technique this pricing guide draws on.

Key Facts

Quick Reference Table

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Scope What's Included Labour Total Price Range (Regional) Total Price Range (London)
Single alcove wardrobe, hinged doors, square opening Carcass, shelving, hanging rail, 2 hinged doors, standard MDF painted finish 1-1.5 carpenter days £800-£1,400 £1,000-£1,750
Single alcove wardrobe, sliding doors, square opening As above but 2-3 panel sliding door system 1.5-2 carpenter days £1,200-£1,900 £1,500-£2,400
Single alcove wardrobe, irregular wall requiring scribing As above + scribing to out-of-square masonry or period plasterwork 2-2.5 carpenter days £1,500-£2,300 £1,900-£2,900
Full bedroom wall run (3-4m), sliding doors Multiple bays, internal fitments, full-width sliding door system 2.5-4 carpenter days £2,800-£5,000 £3,600-£6,200
Full bedroom wall run, bespoke painted finish (spray) As above + off-site spray finishing for factory-quality doors 3-4 carpenter days + spray finishing £3,800-£6,500 £4,800-£8,000
Bespoke walk-in dressing room (small room conversion) Full internal fitments, drawers, shoe racking, lighting, mirrored elements 5-9 carpenter days + electrician for lighting £6,500-£12,000 £8,200-£15,000
Under-stairs bespoke storage (stepped profile) Bespoke carcass following stair string profile, doors or drawers 2-3 carpenter days £1,600-£3,200 £2,000-£4,000

Detailed Guidance

Survey and measurement — where accurate pricing starts

The single highest-value activity before quoting a fitted wardrobe is a proper survey. Measure the width, height, and depth of the opening at multiple points — top, middle, and bottom for width; each side and centre for height — and record the worst-case (most restrictive) dimension for each. UK properties, especially anything pre-war, are rarely square: an alcove created by chimney breast removal commonly has a plaster reveal that's 10-20mm out of square, and floors and ceilings are often out of level by a similar margin. Check the floor for level with a spirit level and identify the high point; check the ceiling the same way. Every irregularity found at survey should translate directly into either an allowance in the price or an explicit scope note in the quote — undiscovered irregularities found only once cutting has started are the source of most wardrobe job disputes and delays.

Carcass construction and material choice

18mm MDF is the standard carcass material for a painted finish — it machines cleanly, takes paint well once properly sealed, and is cost-effective. 18mm birch plywood is stiffer for the same thickness (useful where shelf spans are pushed toward their limit) and can be left with a veneered or painted finish. For very large spans, or internal dividers that need to resist racking under load, a CLS timber frame carcass gives more structural margin than sheet material alone. Whichever material is specified, build the carcass flat and square before standing it into position — fixing panels in sequence directly against an out-of-true wall is slower and produces a weaker, less square result than building the box first and scribing it to the opening afterward.

Shelf and hanging rail spans matter more than they first appear: an 18mm MDF shelf loaded with folded clothes at the maximum 900mm unsupported span can visibly sag over a year of normal use if the load is towards the heavier end (15kg+); for any shelf intended for books or genuinely heavy storage, either reduce the span to 600mm or specify 25mm MDF or 18mm plywood. The same logic applies to the hanging rail — a loaded rail over 900mm unsupported will bow, so a centre support bracket is standard practice beyond that span, not an optional extra.

Scribing to irregular walls — where the time actually goes

Scribing is the process of cutting a panel edge to precisely match an irregular wall profile, and it's the step that separates a fast, low-cost fit from a proper joinery job in a period property. The panel is positioned with a 10-15mm gap to the wall, a compass or scribing block is set to the maximum gap dimension, and the wall's profile is transferred onto the panel face as a pencil line, which is then cut with a jigsaw. For a straight wall that's simply out of plumb rather than genuinely irregular, a scribing strip of solid timber glued to the back edge of the panel and planed to the wall angle is often quicker than scribing the main panel. Either way, the finished scribed joint should be caulked with paintable decorator's caulk before painting — an uncaulked scribed joint will open up visibly as the property moves seasonally, and this is a common (and easily avoided) source of a snagging callback.

Wall fixing — the detail that determines whether the wardrobe lasts

Correctly identifying the wall construction before drilling any fixing point is essential, and it's worth stating explicitly in the survey notes because different fixing points on the same wardrobe run can hit different wall types. Solid masonry gives continuous drilling resistance and takes a standard frame plug and screw (rated 80-100kg per fixing pair) or, for heavier loads, a chemical anchor (200kg+). A stud partition wall is hollow between studs (typically 400mm or 600mm centres) and firm at the studs — the most reliable fixing is a screw directly into a located stud, engaging at least 50mm of timber; where the fixing point misses a stud, a hollow-wall anchor rated for the load (SnapToggle-type, 100-160kg) is the correct substitute, not a standard butterfly plug rated at only 10-20kg. Dot-and-dab plasterboard (common in modernised period properties, where plasterboard is bonded to masonry with adhesive dabs, leaving a 25-50mm gap behind) is the wall type most often got wrong — a standard masonry plug sized for the plasterboard alone finds nothing solid behind it; the fixing needs to bridge the gap and embed properly in the masonry behind. See fitted furniture for the full wall-type identification and fixing selection reference.

Anti-tip fixing — not optional on tall furniture

Every tall fitted wardrobe must be secured to the wall at the top to prevent forward tipping — a genuine safety requirement reflected in furniture stability standards and product liability law, not a finishing preference. For bespoke fitted wardrobes, the top rail (the horizontal rail connecting the wardrobe run to the wall, typically at or near ceiling height) provides this function, provided it's fixed to the wall at a minimum of 600mm centres using fixings appropriate to the wall type found at each point, and the carcass sides are properly fixed to the top rail rather than simply resting against it. Confirm the fixing capacity is adequate for the tip-over load (weight, height, and depth) rather than assuming any fixing will do — worth a specific line in the survey notes and handover, both to protect the customer and the tradesperson's liability position.

Sliding versus hinged doors — the pricing and skill difference

Hinged doors are the simpler, cheaper option — standard butt hinges, straightforward alignment, no track-levelling requirement. Sliding door systems are now the dominant choice in UK bedrooms, largely for the space-saving benefit and the clean look of a floor-to-ceiling sliding front. The trade-off is precision: the top track must be fixed dead level along its full length — even 1-2mm of drift over 3m causes visible drift over time — and each door's roller height needs individual adjustment to sit perfectly vertical. Bypass systems (2 panels, each covering half the opening) are the cheapest sliding solution but only give access to half the wardrobe at once; full-access systems (3+ panels on separate tracks) cost more but allow the full opening to be used. Factor the extra precision-fitting time into the labour estimate — sliding doors typically add 25-40% fitting time over an equivalent hinged-door wardrobe.

Pricing worked example: full bedroom wall run with sliding doors

A tradesperson quoting a 3.6m full-width bedroom wardrobe run with a 3-panel sliding door system, on a reasonably square wall (moderate scribing only), might build the job like this:

Total cost to the tradesperson: £2,400. Applying a 25-30% markup on materials (£1,490 → roughly £1,900) and pricing labour at the business's charged day rate rather than the internal cost rate gives a quoted price to the customer of roughly £3,600-£4,000, depending on regional labour rates and finish quality agreed. Keep the internal cost build-up and the customer-facing quoted price clearly separate at every stage — the customer sees only the itemised price, never the underlying cost figures.

Finish quality — site-painted versus spray-finished

Site painting MDF (sand to 120 grit, seal, sand to 240 grit, two topcoats of water-based satin or eggshell) gives a good, durable finish suitable for most domestic jobs, and is included in most standard quotes. Spray finishing — off-site in a spray booth, or on-site with a well-sealed, ventilated workspace — gives a noticeably flatter, more factory-like finish on large slab doors, and is worth quoting as a distinct upgrade line rather than folding it into the base price, since it typically adds £250-£600 to a full run.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need Building Regulations approval for a fitted wardrobe?

No, in the overwhelming majority of cases. Fitted furniture within an existing room — including wardrobes built into an alcove — does not require Building Regulations approval, planning permission, or any formal notification. The exception is where the work involves genuine structural alteration, such as removing a load-bearing partition wall to create alcove space, or cutting into a structural element — that work falls under Building Regulations Part A and needs proper structural assessment regardless of the fitted furniture that follows it.

How do I stop wardrobe shelves from sagging over time?

Match the shelf span to the material and expected load: 900mm maximum unsupported span for 18mm MDF under normal clothes/shoe storage, reducing to 600mm for books or genuinely heavy items. Beyond these spans, either add a central support bracket or divider, or upgrade to 18mm plywood (stiffer than MDF at the same thickness) or 25mm MDF. Even a correctly specified shelf will sag under sustained overloading, so it's worth briefly explaining sensible loading to the customer at handover — a shelf that's been asked to hold considerably more than its design load will deflect regardless of the material chosen.

My customer's wall is a mix of masonry and stud — does that change the price?

Yes, and it's exactly the kind of detail that should be caught at survey rather than discovered on the day. Different fixing points on the same wardrobe run may need different fixing types — masonry frame plugs at one end, stud screws or hollow-wall anchors at the other — and mixed wall construction usually means more careful stud/wall-type identification time before any fixing goes in. It doesn't typically add huge cost, but it should be reflected in the labour estimate rather than assumed to be the same speed as a single, known wall type throughout.

Can I just fit a flat-pack wardrobe kit instead of building a bespoke carcass?

For a simple, genuinely square opening, a good-quality flat-pack or semi-bespoke kit (many suppliers offer made-to-measure kits assembled from standard components) can be a faster, lower-cost route, and it's a legitimate option to offer alongside a fully bespoke quote. The trade-off is flexibility: a flat-pack kit generally cannot accommodate significant scribing to an irregular wall, unusual room shapes, or a stepped profile like an under-stairs space, all of which need genuinely bespoke joinery. Present both options where the opening allows it, and be clear with the customer about what each price point actually buys.

Regulations & Standards