The cost of a built-in wardrobe is driven by six things: how wide it is, how high it goes, what the doors are made of and how they open, how complicated the inside is, what the hardware is, and what condition the room is in. Change any one of those and the number moves. Change the internals and it can move a lot.
This guide explains each of those factors so that when you receive a quote, you can see what you are paying for, compare two quotes properly, and work out where a change to the design would actually save you money rather than just remove something you wanted.
Why this page does not give you a price
Because any number published here would be wrong for your room.
Wardrobe pricing is not like buying an appliance. Two wardrobes on the same wall, in the same house, can differ substantially depending on whether the inside is mostly hanging space or mostly drawers. A per metre figure on a website is an average of jobs that have nothing to do with yours, and the main thing it does is set an expectation that the actual quote then has to argue with.
The useful thing is knowing what moves the number. That is what follows.
What actually drives the cost of a built-in wardrobe?
Size, measured across the front
The width of the opening is the starting point. Wardrobes are generally costed by the linear metre of frontage, because that determines the amount of board, the number of doors and the amount of labour to build and install.
This is the factor people already understand, and it is also the one they have the least control over. The wall is the width it is. What you can control is whether you use the full wall or part of it, and that is a decision worth making on the basis of what you need to store rather than on the basis of filling the space.
Height, and whether you go to the ceiling
A wardrobe that stops at a standard height costs less than one that continues to the ceiling, because the taller unit uses more material and usually adds a separate overhead compartment with its own doors.
It is one of the more common places people economise, and one of the places where the economy is a genuine trade rather than a free saving. Going to the ceiling adds real storage for seasonal items and luggage, and it removes the gap above the wardrobe that otherwise collects dust. Whether that is worth the difference depends on how much storage the rest of the house has.
Door type and the number of doors
Doors are a significant proportion of the cost of a wardrobe, and the type changes the arithmetic in two ways.
The first is the door itself. A flat melamine panel, a profiled polyurethane door and a mirrored panel are not equivalent products, and they do not cost the same.
The second is the hardware behind it. A hinged door needs hinges. A sliding door needs a top track, rollers, a bottom guide and a frame around the panel. Sliding door running gear carries the whole weight of the panel every time it moves, so it is a more substantial component than a hinge.
Door count matters too, and not always in the direction people assume. More sections means more doors and more hinges, but it also means narrower doors, which can be the right answer in a room with limited clearance.
The finish
Melamine is a decorative surface bonded to a board substrate. It arrives at the factory already finished, in a range of colours and woodgrain patterns.
Polyurethane is a finish sprayed onto a shaped board. That extra process, and the ability to shape and profile the door face before finishing, is why polyurethane sits above melamine on cost.
Neither is the correct choice in the abstract. Polyurethane suits a home where the wardrobe needs to match painted joinery, where a profiled or shaker style door is wanted, or where a colour is being matched. Melamine suits a home where a flat contemporary door or a woodgrain look is the intent. If you are choosing polyurethane because you assume it is the better product rather than because you want what it does, that is worth a conversation at the design appointment.
What goes inside
This is the factor with the widest range, and the one that most often explains why a quote came back higher than expected.
An interior that is mostly hanging rail and a few shelves is the least expensive configuration, because a hanging section is essentially two vertical panels, a shelf and a rail.
Every drawer adds a box, a front, and a pair of runners. Drawers are the single largest internal cost driver in most wardrobes, which is why a wardrobe with a bank of six drawers is a different proposition to the same wardrobe with a shelf stack.
Between those two extremes sit pull-out rails, shoe racks, tie and belt storage, jewellery inserts, hampers and internal lighting. Each is a discrete addition.
The practical implication is that the interior is where you have the most control over the final figure. If a quote is above what you had in mind, the productive question is not “can you reduce the price” but “which internal elements are doing the least work for me”.
Hardware
Hinges, runners and tracks vary in quality, and the difference shows up in how the wardrobe behaves after a few years rather than on the day it is installed.
The things worth asking about are whether the hinges are adjustable, whether drawer runners are soft close and what load they are rated to, and what track system sliding doors run on. A drawer runner that is rated for a heavier load will not feel different on day one. It will feel different when the drawer is full of denim.
The condition of the room
Site conditions affect labour, and they are the part of the quote that is invisible until someone has been to the house.
Walls in older Sydney homes are frequently out of square, floors are rarely level across the length of a wardrobe wall, and skirting boards, cornices, picture rails, power points and light switches all have to be worked around. A wardrobe going into a recess in a Federation home involves more scribing and fitting than one going onto a flat plasterboard wall in a recent build.
Access matters as well. Carrying materials up an external stair to a first floor bedroom in a terrace is a different job to walking them through a garage.
Which factor makes the biggest difference?
For most bedroom wardrobes, in rough order of impact:
1. The internals, particularly the number of drawers.
2. The finish and door type, taken together.
3. The width of the wardrobe, which is largely fixed by the room.
4. Height to the ceiling or not.
5. Site conditions, which vary from negligible to significant depending on the house.
6. Hardware, which is usually a smaller proportion than people expect and a poor place to economise.
That order is worth knowing because it tells you where to look if you want to bring a design back into budget. Reducing drawer count and reconsidering the finish will move a quote further than shaving a few hundred millimetres off the width.
Where people commonly overspend
Drawers they will not use. Bedroom drawers are useful for folded items and underwear. Beyond a certain number they become storage for things that could sit on a shelf behind a door. Six drawers is a decision, not a default.
Accessories chosen from a showroom rather than from their own wardrobe. Pull-out tie racks, jewellery inserts and dedicated shoe racks are genuinely good if you own the things they are for. Look at what is currently in your wardrobe before specifying storage for what you imagine will be in it.
A premium finish on doors nobody sees. If a wardrobe sits in a guest bedroom that is used four times a year, it does not need to be specified the same way as the wardrobe in your own room.
Full height in a room with a low ceiling. Where a ceiling is already low, an overhead compartment can be shallow enough that it is more expense than storage.
Where cutting cost usually backfires
Skipping the overhead compartment in a house with no other storage. The stuff goes somewhere. Usually the top of the wardrobe, in bags.
Choosing a shallower carcase to save on board. Wardrobe depth determines whether a coat hangs without touching the door. Once it is too shallow, everything in it is slightly wrong forever.
Economising on drawer runners and hinges. These are the moving parts, they are used daily, and they are the components that determine whether the wardrobe still feels solid in ten years.
Doing one room now and the other later, in a house where both need doing. Two visits, two set-ups and two installations cost more in total than one job covering both rooms. If both rooms are going to happen, price them together and then decide.
How do you compare two wardrobe quotes properly?
Quotes from different companies often look different because they are describing different things, not because one is better value. Before you compare the numbers, line up the specifications.
• Board thickness and type. What is the carcase made of and what thickness is it.
• Back panel. Is there a back on the unit, or is it fixed to the wall lining.
• Edging. How are exposed board edges finished.
• Drawer construction. What are the drawer boxes made of, what runners, what load rating, soft close or not.
• Hinge specification. Adjustable, soft close, and how many per door.
• Number and type of internal accessories. Count them on each quote.
• Full height or not, and whether an overhead compartment is included.
• Who removes the existing wardrobe, and who disposes of it.
• Who patches and paints where the old unit came out.
• What happens with the flooring, particularly if carpet is being replaced.
• Whether the quote includes installation, and what is excluded.
If two quotes differ substantially, the reason is almost always on that list.
What usually sits outside a wardrobe quote?
Worth knowing, because these are the items that turn an agreed figure into a larger total afterwards.
Removing and disposing of the existing wardrobe. Sometimes included, sometimes not, and disposal is a separate question to removal. A demolished built-in wardrobe produces more material than a car boot holds.
Patching and painting. When an old built-in comes out, the wall behind it is rarely in the same condition as the rest of the room, and the ceiling line and skirting often show where it was. If the new wardrobe covers exactly the same footprint, this may not matter. If it does not, someone has to make good, and that is usually a painter rather than a joiner.
Flooring. Whether carpet runs under the wardrobe or stops at it is a decision with cost attached either way, and it depends on the order of works. Replacing carpet after a wardrobe is installed costs less carpet. Replacing it before means the wardrobe sits on it.
Electrical work. Relocating a power point or light switch on the wardrobe wall, or running power for internal lighting, is licensed electrical work and sits outside joinery.
Plastering or structural work. Removing a redundant bulkhead, squaring a wall, or dealing with anything found behind the old wardrobe.
None of this means a quote that excludes these items is incomplete. It means the comparison between two quotes has to account for them, and it means your total budget is the quote plus whatever sits outside it.
Does doing more than one room change the cost?
Yes, in your favour, and it is worth knowing before you decide to stage the work.
A wardrobe job carries fixed costs that do not double when the job doubles: the measure and design visit, the setup, the delivery, the trades attending. Two bedrooms done in one job share those. Two bedrooms done six months apart do not.
If both rooms are going to happen eventually, the useful thing is to have both quoted now, then decide. You may still choose to stage it for cash flow reasons, and that is a legitimate decision. What you should not do is stage it by default without knowing what the combined figure would have been.
The same logic applies to a wardrobe and a home office, or a wardrobe and a linen cupboard, in the same house.
What should you have ready so a quote is accurate?
A measure and quote appointment goes better when you have thought about the contents before the designer arrives. Useful preparation:
• A rough count of what needs to hang: long items like coats and dresses separately from shirts and jackets, because the two need different rail heights.
• How many folded items you actually store, which tells you the shelf and drawer balance.
• Shoes, if they are going in the wardrobe.
• Whether anything unusual needs a home, such as sporting equipment, luggage or a safe.
• Whether the flooring is staying or being replaced.
• Photographs of any existing joinery you want the new work to match.
• Any known issues in the room, such as a wall that is visibly bowed or a power point in an inconvenient place.
None of this is homework for its own sake. The internals are the largest variable in the cost, and the internals are decided by what you own.
Why do wardrobe quotes vary so much between companies?
Three reasons, and only one of them is margin.
The first is specification. As above, two quotes often describe genuinely different products.
The second is what is included. Removal of the old wardrobe, disposal, patching, and installation can all sit inside a quote or outside it.
The third is how the work is done. A company that manufactures and installs with its own teams carries different costs to one that subcontracts, and the two structures produce different numbers as well as different accountability if something needs adjusting later.
The comparison that means something is not price against price. It is price against a specification you have read.
The next step
The only way to get a number that applies to your room is to have the room measured. 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 actual wall rather than an average one.
Book your free measure and quote, or call the team on (02) 9796 1022. You can also visit the showroom at 54 Canterbury Rd, Bankstown to see finishes, door types and internal fittings before you decide.
