Installation usually takes two to three days for a typical wall of fitted wardrobes, within an overall process of around four to six weeks from survey to finished.
Those are two different answers to two different questions, and it is worth separating them. Most people asking this want to know how many days somebody will be in their bedroom. The answer is fewer than they expect, because almost all the work happens somewhere else.
This guide covers both: the full timeline, and a walkthrough of what actually happens during the fitting days themselves.
Written from over 20 years of building and installing fitted furniture across Jersey.
The two answers
| Duration | |
| Fitting, on site | 1 to 3 days for most jobs |
| Whole process, survey to snagging | 4 to 6 weeks |
The gap between those numbers is the workshop. Components are machined, assembled, sprayed and left to cure off site, which is why your bedroom stays usable for the great majority of the period.
Installation time by job size
| Project | Days on site |
| Single alcove wardrobe | 1 day |
| Two-bay run, around 2m | 1 to 2 days |
| Full wall, around 3 to 3.5m | 2 to 3 days |
| Full wall with drawers and internal lighting | 3 days |
| Walk-in dressing room | 3 to 5 days |
| Loft or eaves run with sloping ceiling | 3 to 4 days |
Why the sloping ceiling run takes longer than its size suggests: nothing repeats. Every panel is a different height and has to be offered up, checked against the actual roof line and adjusted. There is no rhythm to it in the way there is on a straight wall.
The full timeline
| Stage | Duration | In your house? |
| Survey | 1 to 2 hours | Yes |
| Design and drawings | 3 to 5 days | No |
| Your approval | Depends on you | No |
| Ordering materials | 3 days to 2 weeks | No |
| Workshop build | 1.5 to 2 weeks | No |
| Finishing and curing | 5 to 8 days | No |
| Installation | 1 to 3 days | Yes |
| Snagging | 1 to 2 hours, a week or two later | Yes |
Across roughly five weeks you see somebody for about three days.
The stage most often underestimated is finishing. A sprayed finish needs drying time between coats and curing time after the final one, and curing is a different thing from drying. Paint can feel touch dry within hours and still be soft enough to mark for days. That wait is not padding, it is the reason the finish survives.
The stage that most often adds time is your own approval of the drawings. A design sitting unreviewed for a fortnight adds a fortnight to the end date, because nothing can be ordered or cut until it is agreed.
What happens on fitting day
Day one, morning: delivery and positioning
The components arrive, already finished. On a typical wardrobe run that means carcasses, doors, drawer boxes, end panels and cornice, all wrapped.
The first job is getting them into the room, which is why access was checked at survey. A tight staircase with a half-landing often means units have been deliberately built in sections to come up and be joined in the room, with the joints placed behind a shelf or at a height where they will not be seen.
Dust sheets go down, and the room is protected.
Day one, late morning: levelling
The part that takes longest and shows least.
Each carcass is set level independently using packers rather than following the floor. Floors fall, frequently by 10 to 20mm across a room and more in older properties, and a run that follows the floor would end up with doors visibly out of line with the ceiling.
Levelling independently and absorbing the difference in the plinth means the eye reads a level run above a straight plinth, and never registers the slope.
Expect this to take two to three hours on a full wall. It is the foundation for everything that follows, and rushing it shows in every door gap afterwards.
Day one, afternoon: scribing
The technique that distinguishes fitted furniture from furniture placed against a wall.
The end panel was deliberately made oversize, typically by 20 to 30mm. It is offered up to the wall and held plumb. A compass is then run down the wall, one leg following the stone or plaster and a pencil in the other, transferring the wall’s exact profile onto the panel.
That line is cut, usually with a jigsaw, and finished with a plane or belt sander. The panel then follows every bow and lean in the wall and sits flush along its whole height.
On a granite wall that bellies by 15 or 20mm in the middle, this is the difference between a clean junction and a tapering gap that no amount of trim disguises.
Scribing is also needed at the ceiling, if cornice is being fitted, and sometimes around skirting at the base.
Day one, end: fixing
Carcasses are fixed into structure, meaning studs, joists or masonry located during the survey. Plasterboard alone will not hold a loaded wardrobe.
Units are also joined to each other so the run acts as a single structure rather than a line of separate boxes.
Day two: doors, drawers and hardware
The visible transformation happens here, and it is quicker than day one looks.
Doors go on first. Modern concealed hinges adjust in three directions, height, depth and side to side, which is how consistent gaps are achieved. Each door is hung, then adjusted, then adjusted again once its neighbours are on, because the gaps only make sense relative to one another.
Drawers follow. Runners are set so the fronts sit flush and in line with each other and with the doors around them.
Internal fittings go in: rails, shelves, shoe racks, any pull-out mechanisms.
Handles last, because positioning them is easier once everything is hanging correctly.
Day two or three: finishing off
- Cornice and plinth fitted, both scribed where the ceiling or floor requires it
- Internal lighting connected, if specified
- Touch-ups on any marks from transport or fitting, done in place
- Final adjustment of every door and drawer
- The room cleaned and dust sheets removed
A week or two later: snagging
Furniture settles as it acclimatises to the room’s temperature and humidity. Doors move fractionally, runners bed in.
A short return visit adjusts hinges and runners and touches up any marks. This should be included rather than charged as a callout, because the final alignment is the one made after the furniture has settled.
What makes installation take longer
Uneven walls. More scribing, and more of it. A straight modern wall might need a token scribe. A rubble granite wall needs the full technique on every panel that meets it.
Floors that fall significantly. More packing, more checking, and sometimes a plinth that has to be scribed to the floor line rather than cut straight.
Sloping ceilings. Every component different, nothing repeating.
Tight access. Units built in sections have to be joined in the room, which adds assembly time on site.
Working around services. A radiator, a boxed-in pipe or a consumer unit within the run means components cut to fit around them.
Non-standard heights. Where units run to a ceiling that varies along its length, the cornice has to follow it.
Internal lighting. Adds a half day, and may need an electrician depending on how it is supplied.
What makes it quicker
A straight modern wall, where scribing is minimal.
A level floor.
Good access, where finished units come in whole rather than in sections.
Fewer drawers, since each one is a separate box to fit and align.
An accurate survey. This is the real determinant. Measurements taken properly, at multiple heights, with the floor checked and the structure located, mean components that go in without adjustment. A poor survey means a fitter solving problems on site, which is slow and never produces as good a result.
Why fitting is the short part
A reasonable question: if the whole thing takes five weeks, why is the fitting only two or three days?
Because the making already happened. In the workshop, sheet materials were broken down on a panel saw, components machined to size, joints cut, carcasses glued and clamped square, everything sanded and sealed, then sprayed in a booth and left to cure.
None of that can happen in a bedroom. The machinery does not go up a staircase, assembling square requires clamps and a flat bench, and a spray booth controls dust, airflow and temperature in a way a house cannot.
The trade-off is a long quiet period followed by a short, contained fit. Furniture built on site reverses that: it finishes sooner on paper and means weeks of dust and noise in the room.
Why older Jersey properties take longer to fit
Island housing stock adds time at the installation stage specifically, which is worth factoring in.
Rubble and granite walls that bow or lean by 20 to 40mm, meaning every panel meeting the wall needs full scribing rather than a token adjustment.
Floors that fall noticeably, requiring more packing and often a scribed plinth.
Ceilings that vary along their length, so cornice has to follow rather than run straight.
Walls that will not take a standard fixing. Soft lime mortar, rubble infill or crumbling plaster sometimes means locating something solid to fix into, or using a different fixing method.
Tight access. Narrow lanes, restricted parking, and staircases in older properties with half-landings that a 2.4 metre panel cannot pass. This is why access gets checked at survey and why units are sometimes designed to come up in sections.
Realistically, add half a day to a day for a wardrobe run in a granite or period property compared with the same job in a modern house. A fitter who has worked in these buildings allows for it. One who has not will either rush the scribing or run over.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to fit fitted wardrobes?
Usually two to three days for a full wall, one to two days for a smaller run, and up to five days for a walk-in dressing room. The wider process, from survey through design and workshop build to installation, runs around four to six weeks.
Why does the whole process take weeks if fitting only takes days?
Because the components are made off site. Machining, assembly, spray finishing and curing all happen in the workshop, which keeps the dust and noise out of your house and allows tolerances and a finish that cannot be achieved in a bedroom.
What takes the longest on fitting day?
Levelling, which commonly takes two to three hours on a full wall and shows nothing when it is done. Each carcass is set level independently rather than following the floor, which is what keeps the doors aligned and the run looking true.
What is scribing and why does it add time?
Scribing is cutting an end panel to follow the exact profile of an uneven wall, so it sits flush along its whole height with no gap. The panel is made oversize, the wall’s shape is transferred onto it with a compass, and the line is cut on site. It adds time but it is what makes fitted furniture look built in.
Do fitted wardrobes take longer to install in an old house?
Usually about half a day to a day longer. Bowed walls need full scribing on every panel, sloping floors need more packing, ceilings that vary mean the cornice has to follow, and tight access can mean units arriving in sections to be joined in the room.
Is a snagging visit normal after installation?
Yes, and it should be included. Furniture settles as it acclimatises to the room, so doors and drawers typically need small adjustments a week or two afterwards, along with any touch-ups.
Getting started
The most useful first conversation is about what goes in the wardrobes and what the room is actually doing. The survey determines almost everything about how smoothly the installation runs, because accurate measurements mean components that go in without adjustment.
Davision Interiors Ltd has designed, built, finished and installed fitted wardrobes across all parishes of Jersey for over 20 years, with carcasses built to the room, end panels scribed to follow uneven walls and spray finishing carried out in house. Most fitted furniture projects run four to six weeks from survey to installation, with only a couple of days on site. Every project starts with a free design and survey visit, all work is covered by our workmanship guarantee, and we are fully insured. Get in touch to arrange a visit and a no-obligation quote.