About the cost of turning this space into a wardrobe?

[VelvetSpoon]

My DS has an alcove in his bedroom which I want to turn into a wardrobe (at the moment it has a free standing clothes rail and a small shelving unit in it but he wants something more permanent. And some doors so his mother doesn't keep nagging him to tidy it!)

It's about 6ft long and 2.5ft deep. So we basically want a couple of rails on one side, a divider and a load of shelves the other, plus doors. Something like the pic below but with doors and less rails.

I've been trying to find someone to do this for 3 years. Eventually got some people out to look and quote. The cheapest quote was over a thousand quid. The dearest was 3x that.

Now I understand labour and material costs but really a grand?! It's the kind of thing my dad would have done from scrap bits and bobs (ok not the doors but the rest of it - in fact he did something exactly like it in my childhood home). I was expecting to pay 4-500 tops.

Am I being completely U?

You used to be able to get sliding mirror doors and tracks from wickes.

I use Ikea Ivar shelf units for this kind of thing, and you can get doors to fit them too. Construct (very easy), attach to walls, paint if you like, total cost shouldn't be more than 200 ish.

Get a flat packed unit from a DIY/home improvement store and add a curtain (sometimes the curtain and rail are supplied in the set). It will cost you about 100-200 quids and a few hours to put it together (there are instructions in the box).

Another vote for Pax from Ikea.

£1000 sounds pretty cheap. You would get much change from £400 for a half decent stand alone wardrobe.

This is what I put in my son's bedroom:
www.leroymerlin.fr/v3/p/produits/kit-dressing-new-star-h-203-x-l-122-8-177-2-x-p-39-4-cm-e1500959179

It took about 3 hours to build, length is adjustable. Sorry the store is not in the UK but you would probably be able to find something similar in a local store.

Fitted carpentry is always expensive.

Any flat pack will be cheaper.

I have a similar alcove in my bedroom. I was also quoted similar amount for a bespoke fitted wardrobe. Instead I measured the alcove and found I could fit two Next double wardrobes side by side in the gap and the depth was perfect too. Cost about £300 instead of over £1200.

I was looking st having this done in my built in wardrobe. It's already got the doors. I think I'll have a rethink if it's that expensive!

This happened to us! Admittedly live in London but almost exactly the same size space and requirements, quoted THREE GRAND for MDF wardrobes without even painting them!

OH went to Ikea, bought some pax wardrobe systems, cut them at an angle at the top to fit our alcove with a jigsaw, done. Doors went on as normal.

£350 including the jigsaw.

I did it on the cheap bought wardrobe rails and drawers from Ikea and then sliding doors from screw fix. Cost about £400.

That sounds really reasonable to me. The cost of quoting, buying all the materials, wear and tear on machinery, design time, manufacting of parts and fitting. You are also buying the persons skill and knowledge

Trouble is people are used to buying flat pack furniture that’s produced en masse by machines that only needs to last a few years before being replaced so actually don’t know how much things like this cost

He has a curtain up already but it's a bit makeshift tbh. He wants doors. Which I can understand.

I've got a hanging rail already (2 actually). Will check Wickes and Screwfix for sliding doors. May work better if I get all the parts and get someone to fit although I've done that in the past with other jobs and it's a pain because no one wants to do the work unless they buy the materials themselves...

I might be able to put the rail up however I really struggle to use a drill or manage these kind of tasks. D'S is about as useless as me. My partner could help but won't because he'll say I should pay someone to get it done (that's another thread in itself!)