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Fitted storage · count before you measure · we say when not to build
More storage doesn't fix clutter. It postpones it.
Almost everyone who rings us opens with the same sentence, and about a third of them have plenty of storage and too much stuff. So this page starts with counting rather than measuring, and there's a section further down about the jobs we'd talk you out of. What survives that is worth building — and it's usually smaller and better than what was first asked for.
Count these before you ring anybody
Half an hour with a tape and a notebook. It's the difference between a design and a guess, and it's the reason our quotes don't move afterwards.
Hanging, in linear metres — Not "a wardrobe". Measure the rail you actually use, and split it — long-hang for coats and dresses, short-hang for everything else. They're different heights, and getting the ratio wrong is the commonest design error in this trade
Shelf, in linear metres — Everything folded, plus books, plus boxes. Depth decides it: 300mm holds most things, and 600mm holds most things twice with half of them lost at the back
Drawers, by number and depth — Shallow for socks, deep for jumpers. People want more shallow drawers than they ask for and fewer deep ones than they get sold
The awkward things, by name — The hoover, the ironing board, the suitcase, the Christmas box, the drill. Each one is a dimension, and each one is why a beautiful wardrobe ends up with a suitcase standing next to it
What's seasonal — Roughly a third of most people's clothes. That third can live somewhere worse, and designing around that fact is where most of the saving is
What you haven't worn in two years — Count it — don't judge it. It's the number that decides whether this is a joinery project or an afternoon with some bags
Shelf, in linear metres — Everything folded, plus books, plus boxes. Depth decides it: 300mm holds most things, and 600mm holds most things twice with half of them lost at the back
Drawers, by number and depth — Shallow for socks, deep for jumpers. People want more shallow drawers than they ask for and fewer deep ones than they get sold
The awkward things, by name — The hoover, the ironing board, the suitcase, the Christmas box, the drill. Each one is a dimension, and each one is why a beautiful wardrobe ends up with a suitcase standing next to it
What's seasonal — Roughly a third of most people's clothes. That third can live somewhere worse, and designing around that fact is where most of the saving is
What you haven't worn in two years — Count it — don't judge it. It's the number that decides whether this is a joinery project or an afternoon with some bags
Why more storage doesn't fix it
Storage fills to the space available — Every time, in every house, within about eighteen months. It's the most reliable fact in this trade and nobody selling wardrobes says it out loud
About a third of enquiries don't need us — They need two afternoons and a car boot. We say so, it costs us the job, and it's the reason the ones we do build stay good
Design for what you keep, not what you own — The drawing follows the count. If the count is bigger than the room, the answer is a smaller count rather than a deeper cupboard
Hidden isn't tidy — A door in front of chaos buys you about four months. That's a real four months, and it is not what four thousand pounds is for
The loft and the garage are storage too, and free — Anything touched twice a year belongs in one of them. Half of what people want fitted joinery for is exactly that category
What good storage actually does — Puts the things you use daily within one movement and the rest out of the way. That's the whole of it, and it's worth doing properly
About a third of enquiries don't need us — They need two afternoons and a car boot. We say so, it costs us the job, and it's the reason the ones we do build stay good
Design for what you keep, not what you own — The drawing follows the count. If the count is bigger than the room, the answer is a smaller count rather than a deeper cupboard
Hidden isn't tidy — A door in front of chaos buys you about four months. That's a real four months, and it is not what four thousand pounds is for
The loft and the garage are storage too, and free — Anything touched twice a year belongs in one of them. Half of what people want fitted joinery for is exactly that category
What good storage actually does — Puts the things you use daily within one movement and the rest out of the way. That's the whole of it, and it's worth doing properly
When fitted wins
It earns its money in the space nothing else can reach.
Awkward shapes and sloping ceilings — A loft room, a chimney breast, an odd corner. Fitted earns its price in the 200mm nobody else can use
Floor to ceiling — The top 400mm of a room is free storage, and no freestanding wardrobe has ever reached it
Where a gap would annoy you — No dust trap on top, nothing to see down the side. For some people that alone is worth the difference
When you're staying put — Break-even against good freestanding is about seven years. Under that, the sums usually don't work and we'll show you them
Floor to ceiling — The top 400mm of a room is free storage, and no freestanding wardrobe has ever reached it
Where a gap would annoy you — No dust trap on top, nothing to see down the side. For some people that alone is worth the difference
When you're staying put — Break-even against good freestanding is about seven years. Under that, the sums usually don't work and we'll show you them
When freestanding wins
Said here rather than at the survey, because it's the honest answer more often than this trade admits.
When you might move — It comes with you. Fitted joinery is a present for the next owner and it very rarely comes back in the sale price
When the budget is tight — Two good freestanding wardrobes and a proper clear-out beats one fitted run every time at the same money
When the need will change — A nursery becomes a bedroom becomes an office. Anything screwed to a wall is a bet on the room staying what it is
When you're renting — Obviously — and we'll say it on the phone rather than after driving out to you
When the budget is tight — Two good freestanding wardrobes and a proper clear-out beats one fitted run every time at the same money
When the need will change — A nursery becomes a bedroom becomes an office. Anything screwed to a wall is a bet on the room staying what it is
When you're renting — Obviously — and we'll say it on the phone rather than after driving out to you
Three builds, with what they cost
Understairs — five drawers and a cupboard
The most useful cubic metre in most houses and the hardest to draw. Deep drawers on runners rather than a door into a triangle. £3,400 including making good.
See the buildLoft bedroom — sloping-ceiling wardrobes
Long-hang where the ceiling is high, drawers where it isn't. 4.2 linear metres of hanging in a room that had none at all. £6,900.
See the buildBoot room — by the door people actually use
The back door, not the front. A bench, hooks at two heights, and somewhere for wet things that isn't the radiator. £2,750.
See the buildPrices are what these clients paid, and they're here because a photograph with no number attached tells you nothing about whether it was for you.
Deeper than 600mm
The commonest request and the one we argue with hardest.
Anything at the back is lost — Not hard to reach — lost. You will forget it exists
600mm is a coat hanger — That's where the number comes from, and it hasn't changed
Two shallow runs beat one deep one — Same wall, twice the usable space
600mm is a coat hanger — That's where the number comes from, and it hasn't changed
Two shallow runs beat one deep one — Same wall, twice the usable space
A room you don't go into
Storage in the spare room is storage you will stop using by March.
Distance beats capacity — One movement away gets used; one flight of stairs doesn't
The spare room becomes the dumping room — Adding cupboards to it accelerates that
Put the daily things nearest — It sounds obvious and it's the thing plans get wrong
The spare room becomes the dumping room — Adding cupboards to it accelerates that
Put the daily things nearest — It sounds obvious and it's the thing plans get wrong
The door you don't use
Half the boot rooms in the country are by the front door, and half the country comes in the back.
Watch yourself for a week — Where do the shoes actually land? Build there
Coats go where you take them off — Not where you'd like to have taken them off
Hooks at child height too — One row at 1.5m and one at 1.1m, and the floor stays clear
Coats go where you take them off — Not where you'd like to have taken them off
Hooks at child height too — One row at 1.5m and one at 1.1m, and the floor stays clear
What it costs
Priced by the linear metre, plus the awkward bits — A straight run is one number; a sloping ceiling, a chimney breast or a curved wall is another. Both are on the quote separately so you can see which is which
Painted MDF, sprayed, is the sensible default — It takes a better finish than timber on a flat door, it doesn't move with the heating, and it costs less. Timber is for where you'll see the grain
Runners and hinges are named on the quote — Same argument as a kitchen: it's the difference between something that still feels right in year eight and something that doesn't
Making good is included — Skirting, coving, the paint line where the old wardrobe was. Left off a quote it looks cheaper and it is somebody else's day's work
Nothing is ordered before the survey — And the survey is free. The price after it is the price, unless you change your mind — which is allowed and gets re-quoted in the open
We won't quote from photographs alone — You can have a range on the phone, gladly. A firm number needs a tape in the room, and anybody giving you one without that is going to revise it
Painted MDF, sprayed, is the sensible default — It takes a better finish than timber on a flat door, it doesn't move with the heating, and it costs less. Timber is for where you'll see the grain
Runners and hinges are named on the quote — Same argument as a kitchen: it's the difference between something that still feels right in year eight and something that doesn't
Making good is included — Skirting, coving, the paint line where the old wardrobe was. Left off a quote it looks cheaper and it is somebody else's day's work
Nothing is ordered before the survey — And the survey is free. The price after it is the price, unless you change your mind — which is allowed and gets re-quoted in the open
We won't quote from photographs alone — You can have a range on the phone, gladly. A firm number needs a tape in the room, and anybody giving you one without that is going to revise it
The survey starts with your things, not the room
It's back to front compared with how this is normally done, and it is the whole reason these builds fit what goes in them.
Bring the count, or we'll do it together — Twenty minutes. It is not an inspection of your housekeeping and nobody has ever been judged for what came out of a drawer
We photograph the contents, with your permission — Only the things, never the room with anything personal in it, and the photographs are deleted when the job finishes. Say no and we'll write it down by hand instead
Then we measure the room — In that order. A room measured before the contents are known produces a lovely wardrobe with a suitcase beside it
You get the drawing before you commit — With the linear metres marked on it, so you can check it against your own count rather than trusting ours
Changes are free until it's ordered — And priced openly afterwards, because at that point somebody has cut a board
If the honest answer is "don't" — You'll get that at the survey, for nothing, with what we'd do instead. It happens most weeks
We photograph the contents, with your permission — Only the things, never the room with anything personal in it, and the photographs are deleted when the job finishes. Say no and we'll write it down by hand instead
Then we measure the room — In that order. A room measured before the contents are known produces a lovely wardrobe with a suitcase beside it
You get the drawing before you commit — With the linear metres marked on it, so you can check it against your own count rather than trusting ours
Changes are free until it's ordered — And priced openly afterwards, because at that point somebody has cut a board
If the honest answer is "don't" — You'll get that at the survey, for nothing, with what we'd do instead. It happens most weeks
Ask about your room
A reply within two working days, with a range. If the count suggests you don't need us, that's what the reply will say.
Ask about your room
"Too much stuff and I know it" is the most common honest answer and it gets the most useful reply. It usually saves people a four-figure sum.
Live preview — every color, word and block is editable after you pick it.