Custom Closets... you gotta be kidding!

[Papa Deuce]

My wife and I just brought 3 companies in for estimates on customizing our closet which is 8' x 20' .

We told each one to design a closet, but not go crazy. We had been to a home show and was told that "probably" a closet that size would be $3,000, which I thought was an awful lot. But we decided to let people come in and plan one for us.

Estimate #1.... $5800!!!

Estimate #2..... $7200!!!!!!!!

Estimate #3...........$13,850!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( take $3100 off if you want the plain fronts on the cabinets....... gee thanks!


We really liked the guy from estimate number 2 so we asked him to design a more modest closet and get back to us.... well, he came back at $5200, and the closet is really not at all fancy.

I think we'll pass.

 

[Beth76]

Ouch. That is high. Did they leave sketches or plans with you? Could you do it yourself with stuff from Home Depot. I have a design degree perhaps I should get into the closet business.

 

[Pooh67_68]

I would pass too.

 

[tiggersmom2]

Ummmm......CUSTOM CLOSETS????!!!!! Okaaaaayyyyy...not.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Ouch. That is high. Did they leave sketches or plans with you? Could you do it yourself with stuff from Home Depot. I have a design degree perhaps I should get into the closet business.

Yes. Similar parts would be over $3000 alone. I figure that I would mess up the installation. No matter what, I would let them do it. It would take me weeks to do what they say they can do in 2 days.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Ummmm......CUSTOM CLOSETS????!!!!! Okaaaaayyyyy...not.

Well, yes. They build your chests right into the wall. Add extra of the metal hanger areas. It is huge in our area. There must be 10 companies that do this withing 10 miles of my house, judging by the phone book ads.

 

[sandramaac]

we are having a new home built so I was going to be looking into custom closets I know they are quite expensive Ikea has a great section on closet orgainzers go on their web site and take a look

 

[sweet angel]

Plain old wire shelving can cost an arm and a leg too. I think about $3.50-$4.50 per foot. I love the California closets, but there's no way I'd spend that type of money for my closet. Give me a rod and and I'm good to go.

 

[SillyMe]

That would be a problem for me. If I paid to have the closet done, I wouldn't have any money left to fill it with clothing & shoes!

 

[Papa Deuce]

Plain old wire shelving can cost an arm and a leg too. I think about $3.50-$4.50 per foot. I love the California closets, but there's no way I'd spend that type of money for my closet. Give me a rod and and I'm good to go.

An article in the Philly Inquirer said California Closets run about $200 - $300 per linear foot. So, give or take... my closet with them would be about $14,000! I used $250 per linear foot.... Even more YIKES!!!!

 

[Kimberle]

Next time, leave off the gold leaf!

 

[curlyjbs]

An 8' X 20' Closet??? That's almost bigger than dd's bedroom! We have 3 girls and I don't think we could fill a closet that big................well ok maybe we could but JEEEEZ!

~curly

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

Yikes thats a rip off. I used to work designing custom closets. When we bought this house I new I wanted them. We used Home Depot's Expo (their high end design store), who contracts out with a closet design company. We paid $1,200 for our walk in closet with a total of 6 drawer units (many, many drawers), 3 hanging areas on my side, one long one on dh's side, and number of shelves and a 2ft wide (by 9ft tall) shoe wall with a removable hamper at the bottom. We also did each of my kids reach in closets for a total of $800. Each has 2 hanging areas on one side and 2 two drawers units (total of 8 drawers and 2 shoe shelves), and 4 shelves on top of that. We then did our home office which is a 10x10 room. It has 3 desk areas, storage drawers, and cabinets on 3 of the walls (including one that runs floor to ceiling to hide all our networking components), with the design on the doors, lol, and a of course the wrap around desktop. We also paid a bit extra for moulding on the cabinet tops and a special thing underneath the desk that hides all the wires. Grand total for office: just under $4,600.

Like I said I used to work in the business, and I knew which upsells really did benefit you and which just money down the drain. But if I were you I would keep looking. The nice thing about going through Expo is even though they contracted out the work Home Depot stood behind it. We had one problem with a drawer and Home Depot immediately stopped payment to the contracter and held it till they came out with a new drawer. Btw these were installed by them (included in the cost) but I have installed closets before and if you can use a drill and a level you can install a closet.

edit: okay don't know how my ticker got all screwed up hmm... and I didn't see the size of your closet. Wowza thats big. Ours is about 9X6 with some weird little areas where its deeper and some where its shallower. Depending what you are looking at I could see it getting up that high. Try looking at easycloset.com and entering your design into their online planner. May come out cheaper to order through them and hire a local contracter to install it if you really don't want to (but trust me its not that bad).

 

[Disney Doll]

We've had custom closets done and they ended up being about $1000-1500 apiece.

It is so worth it to do a custom closet, whether you have a company do it or just steal their suggestions, go to Home Depot, buy the stuff and do it oyurself, which can be much cheaper!! It really does maximize the amount of storage space in your closet.

 

[damo]

We went to Ikea and used their storage systems. They are great and look like a custom closet.

 

[Papa Deuce]

An 8' X 20' Closet??? That's almost bigger than dd's bedroom! We have 3 girls and I don't think we could fill a closet that big................well ok maybe we could but JEEEEZ!

~curly

Yeah, the closet is above the garage... with the slant, it is 8 x 20. Pretty standard in newer homes here.

 

[bsnyder]

PD, your problem is your closet is too big.

I had my DD's room done about 5 years ago, by California Closet, and loved it. I waited patiently to save enough to have the other 4 closets done and they just finished installation about a month ago.

Taking everything out for the installation really forces you to get rid of the unwanted/unuseable stuff.

We've never been so organized in this house!

We averaged about $1300 a closet. One was a reach in and the other three were walk ins.

 

[Papa Deuce]

PD, your problem is your closet is too big.

I had my DD's room done about 5 years ago, by California Closet, and loved it. I waited patiently to save enough to have the other 4 closets done and they just finished installation about a month ago.

Taking everything out for the installation really forces you to get rid of the unwanted/unuseable stuff.

We've never been so organized in this house!

We averaged about $1300 a closet. One was a reach in and the other three were walk ins.

Oh, I sure hope so! Especially for my wife. She has TUBS AND TUBS of clothes from my twins that they have outgrown. She keeps saying that shee's gonna give them away but these tubs have sat there for 2 years now.

 

[soccerchick]

We have two people coming next Thursday to give us estimates on closet installation. We too were at a home/garden show this past weekend and it got DH in a spending $ mood, so I'm striking while the iron is hot! Our closet is 9x9 and the builder's shelves are just silly. We thought of going to the Container Store during their elfa sale, but didn't make it. We can install ourselves, but want to see what the bottom line really is. I know some people casually who have had the custom stuff done and they've never offered up their exact costs, just that "it was expensive, but worth every penny." I've never had the guts to come out and ask what they spent.
We'll see.

 

[Papa Deuce]

Well, now you have an idea!