Bespoke joinery · fitted on site
The trade calls this fitted furniture, or bespoke joinery. What it means in practice is a cupboard shaped to the room it lives in rather than the room being packed out to suit the cupboard. We cut the parts on our own machine and Nathan fits them, which is an unusual combination for a shop this size.
What we build
Most fitted furniture is built from modular carcasses in fixed widths. That works beautifully in a square box room and badly everywhere else, which is why sloping ceilings and odd alcoves tend to get quoted high or not at all. Those are the jobs we want.
Hinged or sliding, floor to ceiling, wall to wall. Internals drawn around what you actually hang rather than a standard rail height.
Under a sloping ceiling, where a standard carcass loses you half the depth. Angled tops, hinged access to the dead space behind.
Two alcoves in the same room are never the same size. Cut as a matched pair so they read as one piece.
The worst shape in any house and the most wasted. Pull-out shoe drawers, a cloaks section, a door that follows the string.
Desk, shelving and cable management as one run. Sized around the monitor you own, not a generic desk depth.
Benches, hooks, drying space and boiler boxing-in. Hard-wearing materials that take a wet dog without swelling.
A bay is three angles and none of them are 45 degrees. Measured properly and mitred to suit.
Floor to ceiling, with the run broken up so it does not read as a wall of doors. Recessed for a TV if you want one.
Indicative cost
Fitted furniture quotes are famously vague, so here are starting figures. They include VAT, materials, our build time and fitting. They are a starting point for a conversation, not a quote, because the opening decides the price and we have not seen yours yet.
| Piece | From | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Alcove or chimney breast cupboard | £950 | Height, doors, whether it is a matched pair |
| Understairs storage | £1,400 | How many pull-outs, and how bad the shape is |
| Home office run | £2,200 | Desk length, drawer count, cable routing |
| Three-door fitted wardrobe | £2,900 | Sliding doors, internal fit-out, lighting |
| Loft or eaves wardrobe run | £3,400 | Roof pitch, how much dead space you want back |
| Four-door fitted wardrobe | £4,600 | Door material, mirrors, whether it turns a corner |
For comparison, the large national companies land at roughly £2,900 for a standard three-door and £4,900 to £6,200 for a four-door, and the wider market runs from about £1,000 to £7,000. We are not the cheapest and we are not trying to be. Where we earn the difference is the room that is not simple.
How it runs
Photographs and rough dimensions by email or WhatsApp. We will tell you honestly if it is a job for us, and if it is not we will usually know someone.
Nathan comes out and measures properly. Not just the opening but how much the walls lean, where the floor falls, and where the services are. That survey is what makes the difference between fitted and packed out.
You get a drawing and a fixed price with the specification written down. Nothing goes into the machine until you have agreed both.
Cut, edged and finished here, not on your carpet. Typically two to four weeks depending on the queue.
One to three days on site for most jobs. We take the offcuts and the packaging away with us.
Materials
Carcasses are drilled on the 32 mm system, so hinges, runners and shelf supports are standard parts you can buy anywhere in ten years' time. That matters more than it sounds.
Your rights
Furniture made to your measurements is exempt from the 14-day right to cancel that applies to most distance and off-premises sales, because it is made to your specification and cannot be resold. That exemption only applies if we have told you about it clearly before you commit, which is what this paragraph is doing. Up until we start cutting we will always try to be reasonable.
A deposit on order, the balance on completion. We will never ask for the full amount up front, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 the work has to be of satisfactory quality, as described and fit for purpose. If it is not, tell us and we will put it right. A door that has dropped after a season of a house moving is a normal adjustment, not a fault, and we will come back and sort it.
If a job involves moving a socket, a radiator or lighting, that is electrical or plumbing work and needs the right trade. We will tell you what is needed and work around whoever you use, or recommend someone.
Start here
Photographs are more useful than measurements at this stage. A wide shot of the wall and a close-up of anything awkward tells us most of what we need.