How much should I pay for a fitted wardrobe?

A fitted wardrobe is priced on the opening it goes into, which is why the same wardrobe costs different money in two houses on one street.

George Herkes & Son have built bespoke wardrobes in East Lothian since 1989, and measure an alcove at three heights before quoting because it is never the same at all of them.

Call George and get the room measured, and the price you get back will say what is in it.

How much should I pay for a fitted wardrobe?

You should pay for the opening, not for the metre. A fitted wardrobe is priced on what the wall, the floor and the ceiling do, then on how the inside is fitted out and how it’s finished. Square room, simple inside, primed only? That’s the low end. Anything else climbs from there.

What changes the price in a house round here

Whether the room is square

It usually isn’t. In the Victorian and Edwardian stock around Musselburgh and Prestonpans you’ll find walls that bow, ceilings that fall an inch across a room, and skirtings that were fitted to neither. All of that is scribing, and scribing is time.

Chimney breasts and alcoves

An alcove either side of a chimney breast is the classic run, and it is the one most people are after. It’s also two separate setting-outs rather than one, because the two alcoves are never the same width. built wardrobes in Fala and the older cottages usually come with a third complication: a sloping ceiling.

Newer houses are quicker

A newer estate house is generally square, dry and plasterboarded. wardrobes fitting in East Saltoun on that sort of stock is a faster job and it’s priced that way. Same product, less packing.

That’s worth knowing when you’re comparing prices with a neighbour. If their house went up in the eighties and yours went up in 1890, you aren’t buying the same job even if you’re buying the same wardrobe.

The parts of a fitted wardrobe, and what each one costs you

The carcass

MDF or birch ply, cut and assembled to the opening. This is the least variable part. It’s also the part most people think they’re paying for, and it isn’t.

The inside

A hanging rail and a shelf is the baseline. Drawers, pull-out rails, a shoe rack, internal lights and soft-close runners each add their own small build. built in wardrobes in Tynehead often end up half hanging and half shelving, and that split is worth deciding before anyone quotes.

The doors

Flat slab doors are quick. Shaker doors with a bead are machining and then painting into a corner. Sliding doors need a track set dead level and take longer to hang than hinged ones. They also want a deeper carcass, so you lose floor space you might have wanted.

The finish

Primed and handed to a decorator, or sprayed on site to a colour. Spraying means masking the room and a return visit, and it’s a noticeably better finish. That’s a real choice and it belongs to you.

One thing worth saying: paint hides a lot on MDF and very little on a badly scribed edge. The finish shows up the setting out rather than covering it.

How to compare two wardrobe quotes

Two quotes for the same alcove will differ, and it won’t be the timber. Ask each of them the same five questions and the gap explains itself.

• Is the floor being levelled, or is the carcass going on what’s there?
• Is the skirting being cut and returned, or is the unit stopping short of it?
• What’s in the inside: rails, shelves, drawers, lighting?
• Primed or finished, and who’s filling and sanding?
• Is it made in a workshop or built in the room?

Is one of those more important than the others? The last one, usually. Anyone who does bespoke wardrobes in East Linton and the surrounding villages will tell you a workshop-made carcass fitted on site gives a better finish than one cut on a bench in your bedroom.

Then ask what they found when they measured. Someone who’s measured the alcove at three heights can tell you why their number is what it is. Someone who hasn’t been is quoting a shape, not your room.