How Long Does a Custom Cabinet Project Take? A Week-by-Week Guide
Hello from Ferris Custom Cabinetry. We thought you might be interested in a quick, week-by-week overview of the key steps and milestones after a custom cabinet project is signed. Every project is different, but this one ran fourteen weeks from signature to installed, and the sequence below is close to typical.
Week 1: Proposal
Let's make sure we build what you are envisioning. The proposal is where the project stops being an idea and becomes a specification: cabinet style, door style, finish, interior material, edge treatment, hardware, drawer construction, and accessories, each written down and priced. Getting this right on paper in week one is what prevents surprises in week ten.
Week 2: Site Dimensions
Let's get the exact dimensions. We measure the actual room, not the drawing of it. Walls are rarely square, floors are rarely level, and the difference between the architect's plan and the space as built is exactly the gap that custom work has to absorb. We lay out the room with lasers and record what's really there.
Week 3: Shop Drawings and Project Specifications
What is this going to look like? Shop drawings translate the specification into buildable geometry: plans, elevations, and section details for every condition in the project. Interiors get dimensioned, door swings get noted, finishes get finalized. Nothing is cut until you have approved these.
Weeks 4 to 8: Purchase Ordering
Let's specify the materials that work best for the project. This is the longest stretch on the calendar and the least visible, because it is mostly waiting. Specialty veneers, solid surface, and hardware carry real lead times, so anything slow gets ordered the moment drawings are approved. A material summary goes out against the drawings so we buy what the project needs and not a sheet more.
Week 9: Final Engineering
We're using a thorough checklist to ensure that every detail is perfect and ready for fabrication. Every part in the project gets modeled and broken down into a cut list before a saw runs. This is the last chance to catch a problem cheaply, and it is worth a full week.
Weeks 10 and 11: Construction
The fun part. Fabrication runs from cutting parts through a full-scale mock-up in our shop. Cases go together, drawer boxes get dovetailed, curved work gets laminated and clamped. Building a full-size mock-up before finishing means we see the piece the way you will see it, in three dimensions, while changes are still cheap.
Weeks 12 and 13: Finishing and Curing
Sanding, staining, spraying, and more sanding. Finishing takes two weeks because most of it is not spraying. It is surface preparation, and then it is patience: we typically wait a full week for every component to cure before anything goes on a truck. Finish that gets rushed shows it a year later.
Week 14: Delivery and Installation
Our own installers handle delivery and installation. The crew that installs your cabinetry works for us, knows how the job was engineered, and has usually seen the mock-up. Fourteen weeks of preparation is what lets the last week go quietly.
More on how we work: Our Process, Construction, and Finish Options. See more of our work on Instagram or in our portfolio.