The useful questions are not about the company, they are about the specification. Anyone can say they use quality materials. Far fewer can tell you the board thickness, the edging material, the drawer runner load rating and which edges are banded, without going away to check. Ask specification questions and the differences between three quotes become visible, because the quotes stop being three prices and start being three products.
This guide sets out what to ask, in the order it is useful to ask it, plus what the licensing and consumer protection framework in New South Wales actually gives you.
Start with what you need, not with who to call
Before you contact anyone, get clear on three things. It changes the quality of every conversation that follows.
What you are storing. Sort your clothes into long hanging, short hanging, folded and everything else, and get a rough count. The internals are the largest variable in what a wardrobe costs, and the internals are decided by what you own.
What the space is. Measure the wall, the ceiling height and the clearance in front. Note anything unusual: a rake, an alcove, a bulkhead, an air conditioner, a wall that looks out of square.
What matters most to you. Finish, storage capacity, budget, timing. If you know your own priority order, you can tell when a design is being pushed away from it.
A supplier who arrives to an appointment where you have done this gets you a better design, because the conversation starts at the layout rather than at the basics.
Questions about the specification
These are the ones that separate suppliers. Ask them of everyone you quote.
1. Is the carcase particleboard or MDF, and what thickness?
2. What are the doors made of? Melamine faced board, polyurethane sprayed MDF, or something else.
3. What are the shelves, and what thickness? Shelf thickness and span together determine whether a loaded shelf sags.
4. What is the maximum unsupported shelf and rail span you work to?
5. What edging material and thickness is used, and which edges are banded? Raw edges are where moisture gets into board.
6. Is a back panel included? Some units are fixed directly to the wall lining instead.
7. What are the drawer boxes made of, what runners are used, and what load are they rated to?
8. Are the hinges adjustable, and are they soft close?
9. For sliding doors, what track system is used, and is it specified for the weight of the panels?
10. What formaldehyde emission class is the board certified to, and under which standard?
11. Is moisture resistant board available or used as standard anywhere?
12. Is the shelving adjustable, or fixed at manufacture?
You do not need to understand every answer in depth. What you are listening for is whether the answers come readily and whether they are the same answers across the quote, the design and the salesperson.
Questions about the quote
13. What exactly is included, and what is excluded?
14. Who removes the existing wardrobe, and who disposes of it?
15. Who makes good the wall, ceiling and skirting where the old unit came out? Who paints?
16. How does flooring work? Whether carpet runs under the unit or stops at it, and what happens if flooring is being replaced.
17. Is any electrical work included? Relocating a power point or running internal lighting is licensed electrical work.
18. Is the quote fixed, and under what circumstances would it change? Site conditions found during installation are the usual reason.
19. What is the payment structure?
20. Is there a written contract, and can I see it before I commit?
Questions about who does the work
21. Do you manufacture yourself, or is manufacturing outsourced?
22. Are installers employees or subcontractors? Neither answer is wrong. It affects who you deal with if something needs adjusting later.
23. Who is my point of contact from quote to completion, and does that change?
24. Who comes back if a door needs adjusting in six months?
That last one is the most revealing question on this list. Doors settle, floors move, and a hinge occasionally needs a turn. How a company answers a question about coming back tells you more about what you are buying than anything on the specification sheet.
Questions about the design process
25. Do I get drawings before manufacture, and what do they show? Elevations showing section widths, internal layout and dimensions are what you want. Approving a design you have not seen drawn is where most disputes start.
26. What happens if I want to change something after approval?
27. When are final measurements taken? A check measure after any other trades have finished is normal practice on a renovation.
28. Can I see samples in my own room’s light? Showroom lighting is not your bedroom’s lighting.
Licensing and consumer protection in New South Wales
Worth understanding, because the framework gives you real protections and most people do not know what they are.
Licensing. NSW Fair Trading regulates residential building work under the Home Building Act 1989 (NSW). Tradespeople and builders carrying out residential building work valued at more than $5,000, including labour and materials, must hold a licence issued by NSW Fair Trading. Certain specialist work, including electrical, plumbing and air conditioning, requires the relevant licence regardless of the value of the work.
Whether a particular wardrobe installation falls within “residential building work” depends on the scope and value of what is being done, so it is a question to put directly to your supplier rather than to assume in either direction. You can check a licence on the NSW Fair Trading website, and you should, because a licence number printed on a quote is not the same as a current licence.
Written contracts. Where residential building work is valued at more than $5,000 including GST, a written contract is required. Builders and tradespeople must also give you a copy of the Consumer Building Guide published by NSW Fair Trading before entering into a contract for work above that threshold.
Insurance. Home Building Compensation cover applies to residential building work above a higher value threshold. Whether it applies to your job is worth asking, and the current threshold and requirements are published by NSW Fair Trading.
Consumer guarantees. Separately from any of the above, the Australian Consumer Law gives you guarantees that apply automatically to goods and services. Goods must be of acceptable quality, fit for purpose and match their description. Services must be provided with due care and skill. These guarantees exist regardless of what any warranty document says, and a business cannot contract out of them.
This last point matters when you are comparing warranties. A company offering a warranty is offering something in addition to your consumer guarantees, not instead of them. If any warranty document reads as though it replaces or limits your rights under the Australian Consumer Law, that is a reason to ask questions.
Questions about warranty and what happens afterwards
29. Is there a written warranty, and can I see the document before I commit?
30. What does it cover, and what voids it? Hardware and surfaces are frequently treated differently to structure.
31. Is it transferable if I sell the house?
32. How do I make a claim, and who do I contact?
33. What does the Australian Consumer Law give me here, over and above the warranty?
A warranty you have been told about but not shown is not a warranty you can rely on. Ask for the document.
Warning signs
Not accusations, just things worth a second look.
• A price that cannot be broken down. If a supplier cannot tell you what part of the figure is doors, internals and installation, comparing quotes is guesswork.
• Pressure to sign at the appointment, particularly a discount that expires when the designer leaves.
• No drawings before manufacture.
• A large deposit relative to the total, or a payment structure that does not match progress.
• Vague specification answers. Not knowing the board thickness is different to needing to check it.
• A warranty described but not produced in writing.
• No written contract on a job where one is required.
• Reluctance to give a licence number where a licence is required for the work.
What to check before you even call
Quick and worth doing on any supplier you are considering.
• An ABN, which you can check on the Australian Business Register. It tells you the entity’s name and how long it has been registered.
• Whether the trading name matches the entity on the quote and the contract. A quote from one name and a contract from another is worth a question, not necessarily a problem.
• A physical address. A showroom you can visit is not a guarantee of anything, but it is something.
• Reviews across more than one platform, read for patterns rather than for the average. The useful ones describe what happened when something went wrong.
• Any licence number published, checked on the NSW Fair Trading website rather than taken at face value.
How many quotes should you get?
Three is the usual answer and it holds up reasonably well. One gives you nothing to compare. Two gives you a number and a different number. Three is generally enough to see where the middle is and to notice when one of them is describing a different product.
More than three has diminishing returns and takes a lot of your evenings, unless the job is large or the quotes are unusually far apart, in which case a fourth opinion is reasonable.
What matters more than the count is that all of them are quoting the same thing. If one has designed a wardrobe with twice the drawers, you are not comparing prices, you are comparing designs. Give each supplier the same brief.
What if something goes wrong after installation?
Worth knowing the path before you need it.
Start with the company. Most issues are ordinary and are resolved by the supplier coming back. Put the request in writing, describe the problem specifically, and keep a record of what was agreed.
If that does not resolve it, NSW Fair Trading operates a complaint and dispute resolution service for consumers, including for home building matters, and can assist in negotiating an outcome.
If it remains unresolved, home building disputes in New South Wales are heard by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. There are time limits on bringing a claim, so it is not something to leave indefinitely.
Throughout all of this, your guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law apply alongside anything in a warranty document. Keep the quote, the drawings, the contract, the invoice and any correspondence. Disputes are far easier to resolve when the original specification is in writing, which is another reason to insist on drawings and a written contract at the start.
How to compare quotes once you have them
Line up the specifications before you look at the prices. Build a simple table with a row for each of the specification questions above and a column for each supplier, then fill it in.
What usually emerges is that two quotes that looked a few hundred dollars apart are describing units with different board thicknesses, different edging, different runners, and different inclusions on removal and making good. Once that is visible, the comparison is straightforward and it is rarely about the headline figure.
Where a quote is genuinely lower for the same specification, that is useful information too. The point of the exercise is not to find the most expensive option. It is to know what you are comparing.
Questions about timing and sequencing
Not about how long anything takes, which any supplier will give you at quote. About where the wardrobe sits relative to everything else, which is what actually goes wrong.
Where does the wardrobe fall in the order of works? On a renovation, joinery usually comes after the room is structurally finished and painted, and before or after flooring depending on the decision below. Getting this wrong means either a wardrobe fitted to a wall that then moves, or a room that cannot be finished because the joinery is in the way.
Does the flooring go in before or after? Both are done. Carpet is frequently laid after, so it stops at the unit rather than running under it. Timber and tile are often laid first. What matters is that the decision is made before the wardrobe is manufactured, because it changes how the base is set out.
Who else needs to be on site, and when? An electrician relocating a power point or running internal lighting has to come before the joinery. A painter making good after the old wardrobe comes out has to come before as well.
What happens if another trade runs late? Ask how rescheduling works, and whether a delay on your side affects anything.
When is the final check measure? On a renovation, measuring before the walls are finished produces a wardrobe sized to the wrong wall. A check measure once the room is in its final state is normal practice and worth confirming is included.
Is the room usable during installation? Useful to know in a one-bedroom home or where a child sleeps in the room.
What about accessibility and specific needs?
Worth raising at the appointment if it applies, because it changes the design rather than being added at the end.
Rail heights can be set lower, or a pull-down rail specified, where reaching a standard rail is difficult. Drawers can replace low shelving where bending is a problem. Handle types matter: a D-shaped pull is easier to use with limited grip than a knob or a recessed finger pull, and push-to-open removes the need to grip at all but requires pressure. Door mechanism matters too, since a sliding door needs a sideways push and a hinged door needs clearance to step around.
None of this is unusual to ask for, and all of it is easier to build in than to retrofit. If it applies to you or to someone who will use the room, say so at the measure.
What a good quote appointment looks like
• The designer measures rather than estimating, and measures more than once.
• They ask what you store before they suggest a layout.
• They notice the things that are not obvious: the rake, the out of square wall, the switch in the wrong place, the floor that falls.
• They tell you what will not work, not just what will.
• They leave you with something in writing.
• They do not require a decision that day.
The next step
If you are collecting quotes, Impressive Wardrobes offers a free measure and quote, where a designer visits, measures the space, works through what you need to store, and prepares a design and a price for your room. Bring the questions above to the appointment.
Book your free measure and quote, or call (02) 9796 1022. The showroom at 54 Canterbury Rd, Bankstown holds finish samples and internal fit-outs you can see at full size.
Sources: Home Building Act 1989 (NSW); NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Building Guide; Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) Schedule 2, the Australian Consumer Law. Licensing thresholds, contract requirements and insurance thresholds are set by NSW Fair Trading and should be checked against their current published guidance.
