The Average Cost to Install a Custom Closet

What is the average cost to install a custom closet installation cost? And how much does a closet system cost? This handy guide will help you weigh the pros and cons—and budget accordingly.

The decision to customize your closet is a happy one. Soon, you will have beauty and organization in an important part of your home. There is, of course, a financial element to the decision as well. You have resolved to invest in your home, and you understandably want to make sure that it is money well spent. Maybe you are wondering about the installation of your new closet system. You might want to know what the custom closet average cost of installation is, and whether or not it’s worth it.

We get it. And we’re here to help.

Breaking Down the Custom Closet Average Cost

Teasing out the individual components from the total cost of a custom closet with an estimator is complicated. The average cost of a custom closet is estimated to be somewhere between $2,000 and $6,000. That cost includes the price of the pieces that go into your closet plus the wages of the installers. Behind the per-piece costs lurk the prices of the raw materials and the fuel it took to ship and process them. There are taxes factored into that, and probably tariffs too, and a certain amount of the wages of every person who touched the materials along the way.

Installation can be seen in a similar light. Besides the money that the installers take home at the end of the month, there are taxes, training costs to be recouped, insurance, and administrative costs. Installation can account for up to half the total price of a closet customization at the very low end of the cost range, but that proportion is not maintained for more elaborate jobs, as there is an economy of scale for labor. That is to say, the cost of materials rises faster than the cost of the labor involved, so the percentage of labor in the cost of a major project is much lower.

But there’s more to designing and installing a closet than the initial price tag. Let’s take a look at what a professional custom closet installation means for you, the customer.

What You Get for Your Money

Short answer: a custom closet means getting the closet of your dreams.

If you’re wondering whether you could save some money by installing it yourself, remember that while DIY may carry a lower upfront cost, there are other factors to consider. Installing a custom closet requires skills that go beyond basic handyman’s work. You pay for the labor when your custom closet is installed, but you receive a number of intangible benefits as well:

• a way out of a task that is challenging and not necessarily enjoyable, where even a small error could be costly

• the assurance that things will be done right by professionals who have a high level of training and supervision

• insurance against anything going wrong during the installation and a warranty after the work is done

• cleanup after everything is in place

Unless you are that rare person with the skills, time, and desire to complete a professional-level custom installation on your own, that’s not a bad deal.

The Potential Cost of Doing It Yourself

Another aspect of closet installation is the things you don’t pay for when you let the professionals handle it. There are two big entries on this list even under the best of circumstances:

• Tools. One closet company sends you the pieces for your closet customization in many boxes with long, complicated instructions. They assume that you have about 15 different tools at your disposal. Chances are that you will have to run to the hardware store and buy at least a couple of those new.

• Transportation. It is a minor expense when the installers bring the pieces with them in a van from a local warehouse. If those heavy things have to be shipped to you by a third party, especially from a distant location, the financial outlay will be in a completely different category.

No matter how good your skills are, circumstances can diverge from the ideal fast. There are endless places where things can go wrong, and when they do, you are looking at things like this:

• Medical assistance. Drop a saw or hammer a finger, and you could be looking at an expensive trip to urgent care. This is no joke—and it happens all the time.

• Replacements parts. If you bend or split one of the components of your organization system, it has to be reordered, remade, reshipped, and re-paid for.

• Repairs later. If one minor element of the installation turns out just a little off, it’s probably going to get worse over time—so you’ll either need to fix it soon, incurring additional costs—or fix it later, which will likely be even more expensive.

Maximizing the Value of a Custom Closet Installation

The custom closet average cost of installation can be calculated in more than dollars and cents. If you take on an installation project you’re not sure you can complete, you’re risking your money, and potentially your health (not to mention dignity!) too.

Instead, think of the full spectrum of benefits that come from working with a full-service, local closet customization company. First, a local company knows the local market in a way that designers on the other side of the continent can never hope to. Second, your personalized attention starts well before the installers arrive.

At Closet America, we offer a free consultation with a design expert who will sit down with you and discuss your closets and your needs and use that information to create an interactive 3D model of the closets you design together. Our expert will also bring product samples so you can judge the quality of our products on your own. And if you would like to see more, we will be happy to show you around our showroom right in Landover, MD.

If you would like to find out more about our full-service closet customization experience, contact Closet America today. We will be happy to tell you all about it, along with your custom closet’s cost and our Closet America prices.