How much does a carpenter charge, and what are you paying for?

The three ways carpentry gets priced

Knowing which model fits your job is the fastest way to tell whether a quote is sensible.

• Hourly or half day: best for repairs and odd items where the work might take twenty minutes or might take two hours.
• Day rate: used when there is a list of jobs, or when the scope cannot be pinned down until things are opened up.
• Fixed price for the job: used for anything designed and made to measure. You get one number covering labour, materials and finishing.

What sits inside a day, beyond the hours on site

A day rate is not eight hours of sawing. It also covers the parts of the job you do not see: collecting and cutting materials, setting up and protecting the room, waste removal at the end, insurance, tools and the time spent measuring and pricing before anyone arrived.

This is why the cheapest hourly figure is often not the cheapest job. A fitter who works from accurate measurements finishes in one visit. A cheaper one who returns three times has cost you more and taken three days of your life.

What pushes the price up on a real job

The same item can vary a lot in price, and almost always for one of these reasons.

• Access: upper floors, tight stairwells, flats with lift restrictions and parking permits all add time.
• Condition: old plaster, out of square walls and rotten timber mean making good before the new work can start.
• Materials: paint grade MDF, solid oak and composite all sit at different points, and hardware quality varies enormously.
• Finish level: a spray finish, a scribed edge or a shadow gap detail takes longer than a butt joint and a bead of caulk.
• Preparation by others: electrics, plumbing or plastering that has to be sequenced around adds days that are nobody's fault.

How to compare two quotes properly

Put the quotes side by side and check they describe the same job before you look at the totals. Most price gaps turn out to be scope gaps: one quote includes making good, waste removal and materials, and the other does not.

Ask each firm who is doing the work. We use our own team rather than subcontracting the job out, which is why we can commit to a start date and stand behind the finish.

Questions we're asked about this