If you’ve never hired an assembler, the visit itself is a small unknown: someone in your home for a few hours, with tools. Here’s how a professional visit actually runs, and the small things you can do at each stage to make it smooth.
Before the day
- Confirm the delivery arrived complete. Count boxes against the delivery note. The number one avoidable disaster is an assembler arriving to an incomplete order.
- Clear the build space. Furniture is built in the room it will live in, and a wardrobe needs roughly its own footprint again as working space. Old furniture out, floor clear, valuables and breakables elsewhere.
- Move boxes to the right rooms if you can. Not obligatory — but on an hourly rate, every trip up the stairs is billed time.
- Reconfirm the slot the day before. Thirty seconds that prevents the classic double-booking mix-up.
Arrival and setup
A professional will want a quick walk-through first: which items go where, your wall types for anchoring, where they can set up. This is the moment to mention anything not in the original quote — better a two-minute conversation now than a surprise on the invoice.
They’ll typically lay out dust sheets or work on the packaging cardboard, and unpack one item at a time rather than opening everything at once — parts from two builds mixed together is an amateur’s error.
The build
Expect a methodical rhythm: parts audit, frame, moving parts (drawers, doors), then adjustment. A few things are normal and not cause for alarm:
- Power tools on low torque. Pros use drills with clutch settings for speed; the horror stories about stripped threads come from full-torque amateurs, not careful professionals.
- Partial disassembly mid-build. Even experts occasionally back up a step; flat pack instructions sometimes hide an ambiguity until two steps later.
- A pause on a damaged part. If something’s split or missing, a good assembler stops, shows you, identifies the part number, and builds around it where possible — see our missing parts guide for what happens next.
Before they leave: the two-minute checks
Do these together, while they’re still there:
- Open every drawer and door. Smooth, aligned, no scraping.
- Rock test. Gently push tall units — solid means anchored and level.
- Anchoring confirmed. Ask to see the wall fixings on wardrobes and tall chests; it matters enough to verify.
- Spares handed over. Leftover fittings belong in a bag, not their toolbox — you’ll want them if you ever move the furniture.
- Packaging. Whatever was agreed — taken away or flattened for your recycling — happens before payment.
Then pay as agreed (card or transfer for the record), and if they were good, say so in a review — small firms live on them.
If something’s wrong after they’ve gone
A drawer that sags a week later, a door that drops out of alignment — reputable assemblers return to adjust their own work without drama. This is why the booking-stage questions about guarantees matter, and why the text-message paper trail is worth having.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to be home during the assembly?
For a first booking, yes — decisions come up (exact positioning, wall-fixing, a damaged part) that need your answer on the spot. Regular arrangements, such as landlords with a trusted assembler, often run key-safe visits, but that is earned trust, not a first-visit setup.
Should I open the boxes before the assembler arrives?
No — leave boxes sealed. Assemblers prefer to unpack systematically themselves, sealed boxes make returns far easier if something is damaged, and loose parts scattered before arrival is how pieces go missing.
Am I expected to tip or make tea?
Neither is expected. Offering a cup of tea is normal British hospitality and always welcome; tipping is not customary for assembly work — a good review and a rebooking are worth far more to them.
Prices and timings on this page are indicative, based on typical quotes we see across the UK. Your job may cost more or less — the only way to know is to get quotes for your specific items and location. This site earns a fee when we pass enquiries to assembly firms; this never changes what you pay.