"Expensive" is not a property of custom furniture. Whether it is expensive depends on the alternative and on the requirements.

A bespoke cabinet compared with a flat-pack equivalent looks costly. Compared with the same cabinet bought twice because the first one did not fit, or with three months of a retail space working badly, it looks different. This article explains the main cost drivers and when a standard product is the more sensible choice.

Five factors influence the price. Their relative weight depends on the project.

Complexity often matters more than size, but both affect cost: size drives material use, handling, workholding and delivery, while detail drives machining time, extra setups and specialised fixturing.

A large simple panel is cheap per square metre. A small part with shaped edges, internal pockets, tight radii and machining on several faces is expensive per square metre.

Specific cost drivers: three-dimensional profiles rather than flat cuts, small internal radii that need smaller-diameter tools and can increase machining time, features on more than one face requiring re-fixturing, and curved or compound geometry. We machine on three axes, so feasibility also depends on tool access and on whether the part can be repositioned between setups.

The useful question during design is not "can this be made?" but "what does this detail cost, and is it visible?" Hidden details that cost real money are worth simplifying, as long as structural performance and fixing requirements are preserved.

Raw board price is the obvious part. Two other factors also affect material cost.

Yield. Sheet material comes in fixed sizes. A part 20 mm too large for efficient nesting can push a run onto an extra sheet, and a small dimensional change made early can sometimes avoid that sheet altogether.

Waste from grain and matching. Where grain direction is specified or veneer must be matched across a run, those requirements constrain the nesting layout and can reduce sheet yield. This is a legitimate cost of a good-looking result, not an inefficiency, but it should be a conscious choice.

Our published sheet cutting starts from 30 € per sheet for straightforward parts and series, with machining at 60 € per hour including program preparation. The exact figures live on the CNC page, where they are kept current.

Finishing can be a substantial cost, and it is the one most often underestimated.

An unfinished machined part and the same part in a two-component painted finish differ substantially in price. The work can include surface preparation, multiple coats, intercoat sanding where specified, and the drying and curing times the coating manufacturer sets.

Between those extremes sit oiled finishes, single-coat lacquers and factory-finished boards that need no additional face coating, though cut edges and cut-outs may still need treatment. Choosing an HPL-faced board instead of painted MDF is often a finish decision disguised as a material decision; compare the complete panel, edging and fabrication cost before deciding.

Setup can account for a large share of the cost of a small order.

File preparation, CAM programming, the first setup and the first-article check are shared across a batch. Loading, machining and some tool changes repeat with every part. At Cutlab, program preparation is included in the machining rate; CAD design is charged separately where a drawing has to be created or reworked.

Producing identical parts in one batch lowers the average setup cost per part, which is why a run of ten usually costs well under ten times one. It is also why asking for a price for one, when you expect to order thirty, produces a misleading number. Tell the workshop the expected total quantity and ordering schedule.

The quality of what you send changes the price before anything is cut.

Consistent, production-ready files reduce clarification and CAD work, though every file still gets a manufacturability review before programming. Sketches, mixed-source information and drawings that disagree with each other need engineering work first, at 75 € per hour for CAD.

That work identifies manufacturability problems before production. However, it is a separate cost item, and clients who send clean files should expect to see the benefit.

Comparing a bespoke piece to a catalogue product usually compares two different things.

A standard product benefits from an established design and production at scale, and it is built to a specification set by the manufacturer rather than by your project. When it fits your requirement, it is usually the more economical option and you should buy it.

The comparison becomes unfair when the catalogue product does not actually fit: wrong dimensions for the space, insufficient durability for the intended use, wrong appearance for the brand, or a compromise that costs somewhere else. A cabinet 80 mm narrower than the alcove creates a gap that someone has to solve, and that solution has a price too.

The space is irregular. Where walls or floors are uneven, bespoke furniture can take scribed panels, fillers and installation allowances based on site measurements. A catalogue product simply exposes the discrepancy.

The specification is not available. A durability, dimension or material requirement that no standard product meets.

It repeats. A design used across multiple locations amortises its development, and consistency across sites has commercial value.

Appearance carries commercial weight. Hospitality, retail and showroom work where the interior contributes to the customer experience.

Service life is long and repair matters. Bespoke pieces can be built to be repaired, which reduces lifetime cost where repair is practical and economical.

Worth saying plainly, because it saves everyone time.

A standard product genuinely fits. Buy it. A workshop that talks you out of a suitable off-the-shelf solution is not serving you.

The quantity is one and the design is ordinary. Setup dominates, and you pay development cost for a result a catalogue product would match.

The budget is set by a mass-market reference. If the expectation is flat-pack pricing, a bespoke solution will exceed that budget however the project is structured.

The design is unresolved and the deadline is fixed. Custom work needs decisions, and unresolved ones affect both the schedule and the result.

Below the minimum. Our minimum order value is 100 €. VAT is added. Orders below that value do not meet our minimum.

Simplify what is not seen. Non-essential hidden details can be simplified, provided structural performance and fixing requirements are preserved.

Standardise dimensions. Repeating a module three times costs less than three similar-but-different pieces, and usually looks more deliberate.

Choose the finish for the wear zone. Specify finishes for the abrasion, moisture and cleaning each area will actually see.

Send clean files, or ask for help early. Both cost less than discovering a problem during production.

Group orders. Compatible pieces produced together share setup and make better use of sheets and delivery capacity.

Say what the budget is. A clear brief supports an accurate quote, and a stated budget lets the workshop propose a construction that meets it.

Two factors change the calculation.

Total cost, not unit cost. Installation time, replacement frequency, downtime during replacement, and whether a damaged element can be swapped without replacing the entire installation.

Schedule risk. For a fit-out tied to an opening date, a supplier who delivers on the agreed date has value that does not appear in the quote. A lower-priced order delivered two weeks late against a signed lease can cost more overall.

Our typical lead time is two to five weeks from confirmation to dispatch, depending on workshop load, with faster work possible for a surcharge when the date is agreed in advance. VAT is added to all quoted prices.

Custom furniture is expensive when it is used as a substitute for a product that already exists. It is worth the additional cost when standard products do not meet the brief: a space that is not standard, a durability requirement that is not met, a design that has to belong to one brand, or a piece that will be repaired rather than replaced.

The most useful thing you can do before asking for a price is to say what the piece must achieve and what the budget is.

Next step: send the brief and the budget. CNC milling and cutting · work we have done