How much does wardrobe assembly cost?

Sliding doors are the main one. Hinged doors bolt on and are quickly adjusted; sliding doors run on tracks that have to be level and square, and getting them to close flush without catching takes far longer. That single difference is usually what separates a £70 job from a £180 one.

Size matters for a similar reason. A tall double is a two-person job to stand upright safely, so some fitters price it as such or bring a second pair of hands. If the wardrobe is going upstairs, or the flat has no lift, expect that to be reflected in the quote too.

The make has more effect than people expect. Well-known flat-pack ranges have clear instructions, pre-drilled holes that line up and cam fittings the assembler has built a hundred times before. Budget or unbranded units often have vague diagrams and holes that need re-drilling, and an experienced fitter will price in the extra time.

If you searched for wardrobe fitting, check which one you actually need — the prices are nothing like each other.

Assembly is everything on this page: you have bought a wardrobe, it arrived in boxes, and someone builds it. That is the £60–£120 job.

A fitted or built-in wardrobe is made to measure for your wall and installed by a carpenter. Supplied and fitted, mid-range work generally runs £400–£900 per linear metre, with budget builds nearer £350–£600 and bespoke joinery £900–£1,500 or more. A typical master bedroom wall of 3.6–4.8 metres usually lands somewhere between £2,000 and £6,000, and a walk-in fit-out is more again.

If you have already bought the units and only need someone to fit them, that is labour only and much cheaper — commonly £250–£600 depending on the number of doors and how much scribing the walls need, or a joiner's day rate of roughly £180–£280.

Those ranges move a lot with door material, internal fittings and how square your walls are, and quotes for the same wall can differ by thousands. Get three written ones and check each says whether materials are included.

Both are common, and neither is automatically cheaper.

A fixed price per item is the norm for a single wardrobe, and it is the safer option for you: the assembler carries the risk if the build turns out to be awkward. Ask for it in writing along with what happens if a part is missing or damaged.

An hourly rate — typically £25–£50 an hour for a handyman in the UK — often works out better if you have several items to build in one visit, or if the job is unpredictable. A half-day or day rate is usually the best value once you are past two or three items.

If you are getting more than one thing built, ask for a price for the lot rather than adding up the individual item prices. Most assemblers will drop £20–£40 per additional item, because the travel and setting-up time only happens once.

Any tall wardrobe should be fixed to the wall. It is the single most important part of the job, and it takes minutes.

Flat-pack wardrobes are light, tall and top-heavy, and they tip forwards easily — particularly when a drawer is open, or when a child climbs on one. Almost every unit ships with an anti-tip bracket or strap for exactly this reason, and it is not optional in any meaningful sense.

Most fitters do this as standard. Confirm before they start, and check what your wall is: a plasterboard stud wall needs the fixing to land in a stud or use a proper hollow-wall anchor, not the plastic plug in the box. If you have solid masonry, it is a two-minute job with the right drill bit.

Included as standard by most assemblers: unboxing, the full build, fitting doors and adjusting them so they hang straight, fitting internal shelves and rails, and anchoring the unit to the wall.

Often not included, so worth asking about: taking the packaging away, disposing of an old wardrobe, and moving furniture out of the room beforehand. Cardboard from a large wardrobe fills a car boot on its own, and some assemblers charge £10–£30 to take it, or decline because they are not licensed waste carriers. If a lot of waste is going, it may be cheaper to book a rubbish removal separately.

Also check what happens if a part is missing. A good assembler will build everything they can, tell you exactly which part number to order, and quote a small return fee to finish — rather than walking away from a half-built wardrobe.

Most flat-pack wardrobes can be taken apart and rebuilt, but not indefinitely — chipboard cam fittings lose their grip each time, and a unit that has been moved twice often will not hold square again.

Expect to pay roughly £40–£80 to have a wardrobe dismantled and the parts labelled and wrapped, and the usual assembly price to rebuild it at the other end. If you are booking both, book them with the same person if you can: whoever took it apart knows which panel is which.

If the wardrobe is cheap and already a few years old, it is worth pricing a replacement before paying to move it. Once you add dismantling, rebuilding and the risk of it not going back together, the sums often favour buying new.

Get everything built in one visit. Travel time is priced into every job, so a second item on the same visit costs far less than a second call-out.

Clear the room first. An assembler charging by the hour should not be spending it moving your bed.

Leave the boxes sealed. It is tempting to open everything, but loose fittings go missing and a half-started build takes longer to finish than an untouched one.

Be flexible on timing. Midweek daytime slots are usually easier to fill than evenings and weekends, and assemblers will often price accordingly.

Finally, get more than one price. Assembly is straightforward work with a wide spread of quotes — posting the job and letting local people bid costs nothing and routinely saves more than the difference between the top and bottom of the ranges above.