How Much Does a Custom Closet Cost in the UK? Fitted Wardrobe Prices for 2026

Two joiners can measure the same 2.4 metre bedroom wall and come back with prices that differ by a factor of three. Both can be honest. What changes is who builds the boxes, what they are made of, and how much of the number covers a showroom and a commission rather than timber and hours.

Trades price this work per linear metre of wall, so that is how we will price it here. Get comfortable with that one unit and almost every quote becomes readable, including the ones designed not to be.

These are supplied-and-fitted figures for a 2.4 m ceiling, including VAT where the trader is registered. Measure the wall in metres, pick your route, multiply.

Most single-bedroom jobs land between £1,800 and £3,800. London and the Home Counties run 25-40% above these bands; the North East, South Wales and Northern Ireland sit 15-20% below. Central-belt Scotland tracks the UK average.

• •Flat-pack modular (IKEA PAX, Howdens or Wren carcasses), assembled yourself: £250-£450 per linear metre
• •The same modular kit fitted by a joiner or flat-pack fitter: £450-£700 per linear metre
• •Independent joiner, moisture-resistant MDF carcass and doors, sprayed on site: £700-£1,200 per linear metre
• •National made-to-measure firm, hinged or sliding: £900-£1,500 per linear metre
• •Bespoke cabinetmaker, veneered ply or hardwood, dovetailed drawers: £1,800-£3,500 per linear metre
• •Converting a 2.2-2.8 m box room into a walk-in dressing room: £4,000-£9,000 all in

Trade prices move, but the ratios hold. If a quote is three times these numbers, the gap is overhead, not quality. Note how little of it is timber — the interior fit-out is where budgets vanish, so work out what you need to store first, ideally after a room-by-room declutter.

• •18 mm moisture-resistant MDF, 2440 x 1220 mm sheet: £48-£70
• •18 mm birch ply sheet: £80-£115
• •Soft-close concealed hinge: £4-£7 each, 12-16 per run
• •Metal-sided drawer box on soft-close runners, supplied and fitted: £70-£150 per drawer
• •Soft-close sliding door gear, per opening: £120-£300
• •Oval hanging rail with end sockets: £10-£22 per metre
• •Pull-down rail for high hanging: £60-£130
• •LED strip with door sensor, wired to a fused spur by an electrician: £150-£350
• •On-site spray finishing: £30-£45 per m² of frontage, or £400-£800 for a typical two-door front
• •Joiner day rate: £190-£280 (£280-£380 in London)
• •Clearing the old built-in: £120-£200 man-and-van, £220-£350 for a small skip

On a joiner-built wardrobe, materials are 30-40% of the bill and labour is 60-70%. That surprises people until they watch someone scribe a carcass into a Victorian alcove where no wall is plumb and the floor drops 18 mm across two metres. Four days is normal: one to strip out and template, two to build and hang, one to fill, caulk and finish.

National made-to-measure firms bundle everything into one number. The split is roughly 25-35% manufacture, 15-20% fitting, and 45-55% for the free survey, showroom, commission and margin. That last figure explains the "if you sign tonight" discount entirely: a headline price with 40% of air in it can be halved on the sofa and still turn a profit.

Sole traders below the VAT registration threshold do not charge VAT, a genuine 20% difference on a like-for-like build. It is neither a loophole nor a warning sign, but it does mean a small local joiner and a national firm are never compared on equal terms.

Some extras earn their money. Others are pure margin, and telling them apart is most of the negotiation.

One cost that never appears on a quote and should: a wardrobe built tight against a cold external wall in a solid-wall property traps still air behind the carcass, and by February the back panel is spotted black. Ask for a 25 mm ventilation gap and vented plinths, or expect to be tackling damp and mould inside two winters.

• •Fair: ceilings above 2.4 m, which force two-part construction and add 10-15%
• •Fair: chimney breasts, sloping loft ceilings and out-of-square walls, £300-£900 in extra scribing
• •Fair: mirrored or glass sliding doors, £150-£400 per door above painted MDF
• •Fair: making good plaster and skirting after the old unit comes out, and a sprayed rather than brushed finish
• •Questionable: a "design fee" on a straight run of standard modules, or any discount that expires when the salesperson leaves your house

Priced the way a joiner prices them, on the back of a measuring pad.

• •Alcove wardrobe, 2.4 m wide, 1980s semi in Leeds, local joiner. Materials £880 (seven MDF sheets £340, door material £180, hardware and two drawer boxes £190, paint £110, consumables £60). Labour £1,290 (four joiner days at £240, plus 1.5 days spraying at £220). Total £2,170, or £904 per linear metre.
• •Three-metre sliding-door run with full interiors, Milton Keynes, national firm. Quoted at £5,400, discounted on the night to £3,600. Fair value on that spec is £3,200-£3,900 — so the discount is reasonable and the list price was fiction. £1,200 per linear metre.
• •Three-metre IKEA PAX run, self-fitted over a weekend. Frames £330, sliding doors £480, drawers, rails and shelves £260, fillers and scribes £70 — £1,140, or £380 per linear metre. Add £200 for a fitter if the walls are not straight, which in most UK housing stock they are not.

Ask for the quote broken into carcass, doors, interiors, fitting and finishing. A trader who will not itemise is telling you something. The discipline is the same as when you compare contractor estimates on any job: three quotes, one written specification, or you are comparing nothing.

Deposits above 25% are unusual on a wardrobe, and anything past 50% before manufacture is a genuine warning sign — one of several contractor red flags worth knowing before you sign. Made-to-measure goods are generally exempt from the 14-day cancellation right under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, which is precisely why the pressure to sign at the survey works. Read the cancellation clause before anyone measures anything.

• •Divide the total by the linear metres and compare it against the bands above
• •Ask what the carcass is: 18 mm MDF or melamine-faced board, not 15 mm
• •Ask whether the units have backs — many do not, which is fine internally and a problem on an external wall
• •Confirm fillers, scribes, plinth, cornice, making good and waste removal are included, not extras
• •Check the hardware brand and its guarantee; hinges and runners fail long before carcasses do
• •Withhold final payment until the doors are aligned and the fit is signed off

A good share of fitted-wardrobe enquiries are storage problems rather than carpentry problems, and reorganising what you already own solves them for under £100 more often than anyone selling wardrobes will admit. Start with a seasonal wardrobe rotation, then small-space storage ideas.

Our figures come from UK merchant pricing, published joinery day rates and quotes seen on domestic jobs across England, Scotland and Wales through 2025-26. They include VAT where the trader is registered and assume a 2.4 m ceiling, no structural work. Expect materials to move 5-8% a year.