How Long Does a Built-In Project Take from Start to Finish?

Built-ins are cabinets, and cabinets that last in Northeast Florida take care to build. We build cases from plywood instead of particleboard, use poplar or maple for painted frames and doors, and spray a conversion varnish or waterborne coating instead of brushing on wall paint. Sprayed finishes need time to cure before the pieces are wrapped and moved. Rushing that step is how finishes scuff on install day.

Shop building also protects your house. Cutting, sanding, and spraying happen in our shop, so the days a crew is in your living room are spent setting, scribing, and trimming. Depending on the project, some pieces are built on site instead, which we explain on our page about whether we build on site or in the shop.

Day one: We protect the floors, set the base cases on a shimmed, level sub-base, and fasten them to the wall. On a sloped floor, that level base is what keeps doors aligned later.

Day two: Upper cases and towers go in. Oversized scribe stiles are cut to the wall, and a top filler is scribed to the ceiling so there are no gaps. Doors and drawers are hung.

Day three (larger walls): Crown, base, and trim are tied into the room, shelves go in, and doors are adjusted so the reveals are even. Smaller units like a single bookcase or a drop zone are often done in one day.

Interior humidity here swings hard between a closed-up August and a dry January, and wood moves with it. The EPA recommends keeping indoor relative humidity below 60 percent, ideally between 30 and 50 percent. Jacksonville's outdoor air averages about 89 percent relative humidity in the morning. That is why we install into conditioned space. In a new build, we schedule install after the HVAC is running and the drywall has dried. A house still drying out can move fresh cabinetry, and a week of patience prevents a year of sticking doors.

• Moving into a new build in Nocatee, Bartram Park, or St. Johns: Book the measure soon after closing. Square new walls mean less scribe work, and flex rooms and drop zones can be ready in about a month and a half.
• Hosting for the holidays: Count back seven weeks from the date you need the room, plus time for decisions.
• Older home in Riverside, Avondale, or San Marco: The timeline is about the same, but plan for a full install day of scribing. See our guide to built-ins in older homes with crooked walls.
• Built-ins plus trim in the same room: One reviewer's whole-room trim renovation took "about two months" from bid to final nail. Combining scopes takes longer, but the room gets finished once.

For timelines on trim, ceilings, and other carpentry, see the usual duration of a carpentry project.

A drawing and a date before you commit

Every built-in project starts with a measure, a drawing, and a written quote, plus a 3D rendering when the project is complex. You know what you are getting and roughly when, before the shop starts building. Decisions about glass, hardware, and lighting get made on paper, which is where they cost the least time. That front-loaded planning is why our installs run one to three days instead of dragging on.

Built to finish on time

Reviewers mention it directly. Laureen R. wrote that Ray and Nathan "went above and beyond to ensure that my built-ins were completed on time," and Sam S. said the work was "completed on time and within budget" on a 20 foot built-in shelving unit with crown molding. We hold a 4.8-star rating from 51 Google reviews from Jacksonville homeowners.

Short time in your home

Because cases, doors, and drawers are built and finished in our shop, the dusty part of the job happens away from your living room. Install days are spent setting, scribing, and trimming, and we clean up as we go. One reviewer noted Ray kept "the working area tidy at all times."