A floor plan. That is the one thing a cabinet factory in China cannot quote without, and it is also the thing most first enquiries leave out. Everything else on this page improves the quotation; only the floor plan makes one possible.

Over the last two months buyers from eight countries asked us some version of the same question before sending anything: "Which information should I provide to you?" A distributor in Cyprus asked whether we produce technical drawings for each project. A homeowner in Norway asked whether we had received the floor plan he had just sent. A wardrobe brand in Australia wanted to know what it needed to bring to a first meeting. None of them asked about price first. They asked what to send.

So here is the brief, item by item: what we need, why each item changes the number, what to do if you do not have it, and what you should ask us to send back before you commit anything.

What is the one thing you cannot quote without?

The floor plan of the rooms you want fitted. It does not have to be an architect's drawing. Over the last two months we have started projects from a one-page PDF, from a DWG file of a kitchen as built, from a set of construction drawings running to ninety pages, and from a hand sketch with the wall lengths written on it. All four are floor plans for our purposes. What they have in common is that they tell a workshop how long the walls are and where the doors and windows sit.

A buyer in New Zealand put the test in one line: "If I give you a floor plan, can you work off that?" Yes. From a floor plan alone we can prepare an initial layout, a rendering of one or two rooms and a whole-house cabinetry budget. That is the normal starting point, not the exception.

If the plan is not yet drawn, measured wall lengths, ceiling height and the position of doors, windows and existing plumbing are enough to begin. A photograph of your current kitchen is welcome and tells us a great deal about what you like, but it cannot tell us how wide the wall is, so it is a supplement to the plan, not a substitute for it.

What turns a floor plan into an accurate quotation?

Each of the items below moves the number. None of them is mandatory to get started, but every one you leave out will be replaced by an assumption in the first estimate, and assumptions are where the surprises come from later.

Do I need to supply drawings, or does the factory draw?

We draw. For each project we prepare 2D CAD drawings and 3D renderings from the dimensions and site information you provide. We have more than twenty professionally trained designers doing this in-house, and it is the part of the process most buyers underestimate: a factory that only cuts what it is sent is a different kind of supplier from one that prepares the shop drawings for you.

The sequence matters more than the software. Nothing is manufactured until a drawing is signed. The renderings come first, so you can see the rooms; then the 2D drawings with the electrical and plumbing layouts, so your builder can see where the sockets and waste points land; then sign-off, and only then production. If you want the full sequence with who does what at each stage, it is set out step by step in how ordering custom joinery from China actually works.

A distributor who was choosing between manufacturers asked us for an example of our technical drawings before sending his own project. That is a good question to ask any factory. If the answer is a sales brochure rather than a construction drawing, you have learned something.

Should I send 3D renderings, or is that your job?

If you already have renderings from your own designer or architect, send them; they shorten the first round considerably because they settle the look before anyone starts drawing. If you do not, that is what we prepare. When a buyer in Brazil asked what to send, our answer was one line: "A floor plan is all I need." Her reply, "If you have 3D renderings, that would be even better", had it exactly the right way round: the plan is the requirement, the renderings are the bonus.

One caution on renderings from any source, including ours: they show intent, not dimensions. The 2D drawing is the document that gets built from. Check the 2D against your site measurements before you sign it, however good the rendering looks.

Why did the first estimate come back higher than I expected?

Because a first estimate answers a question that has not been fully asked yet. A buyer in Brazil received an estimate for a kitchen and replied within the hour: "why is very high price?" A buyer in Norway had the same reaction to a whole-house figure. In both cases the honest answer was the same: a total price on its own cannot tell you whether something is expensive or cheap. The same layout can be built at three very different price levels; what changes is the board, the door finish, the hardware brand and how much is fitted inside the cabinets.

So the useful reply to a high first number is not "can you do it cheaper" but "break it down". Ask for the quotation separated into carcasses, doors and finishes, hardware, internal accessories, countertops and freight. Ask which of those you specified and which the factory assumed. Then decide where you actually want to spend. Our published ranges are on the price ranges page and the landed-cost build-up, including freight and tax, is in the cost breakdown. Read those two before the estimate arrives and the number will make sense when it does.

If you are working to a figure, say so early. It is not used to fit the price to your budget; it is used to choose the right specification to quote first, which saves a round.

What happens after I send the brief?

The stages below are in order. The production figure is ours and is what we quote; the door-to-door times are explained in the lead-time article.

Our minimum order value is USD 5,000, so a single kitchen or a one-house wardrobe package is within scope, not below it.

What should I ask the factory to send me in return?

The brief runs both ways. Before one buyer in Croatia sent us her complete floor plans and room list for five apartments, she asked for our full company profile including the exact factory name and address. That is the right order of operations, and here is what a reasonable factory should be able to put in front of you before you send a single drawing:

What one supplier can and cannot cover in a single order is a separate question, and a bigger one than most factories admit. It has its own page: what can you actually source from one Chinese supplier.

Can freight be quoted at the same time?

Only once three things are known: the delivery address, the value of the goods and the shipped volume in cubic metres. Before those exist, a freight figure is a guess, and we would rather not give you one that has to be corrected later. The cabinetry quotation does not wait for this; freight is added when the specification is signed and the volume is real.

For a sense of scale, a 40-foot high-cube container from China currently runs about USD 1,900 to 2,500 to Australia and USD 2,500 to 3,000 to New Zealand, and rates move with the season. We recommend transit insurance; the premium is a commercial quotation on the day, so it is not estimated in advance. Your own broker confirms the duty, GST and biosecurity position for your shipment; the general rules for Australia and New Zealand are set out in the cost breakdown linked above.

Frequently asked questions

Can I send a hand-drawn sketch?
Yes, if the wall lengths, ceiling height and the positions of doors and windows are written on it. Many projects have started from exactly that.

Do you charge for design?
No. A 10% deposit starts the rendering stage and counts towards the order; it is not a fee on top of it. Payment then steps up to 20% when the 2D and layout drawings are done and to 50% at sign-off.

Can you quote two material options for the same drawing?
Yes, and we recommend it. Seeing veneer against laminated board, or two hardware tiers, side by side is the fastest way to understand where the money goes.

I only have photographs of my current kitchen.
Send them, and add the wall lengths and ceiling height. The photographs tell us what you like; the measurements let us quote.

The project is only at concept stage. Is it too early?
No. Send the floor plan and the room list and ask for a whole-house budget figure. It is what the first estimate is for, and it commits you to nothing.

Do I have to tell you my budget?
No. If you would rather not, ask for the quotation broken down by component instead, so you can see the levers yourself.

How do I mark which rooms to include?
Any way that is unambiguous. Highlighting the rooms on the plan, or a written room list, both work.

Where these figures come from

The minimum order value, quotation turnaround, design deposit, payment structure, production time, warranty and the door-to-door ranges for Australia and New Zealand are Moyisi's published figures and are what we will quote you. The container freight ranges are our current forwarder rates at the time of writing and move with the season. The examples of what buyers sent and asked are drawn from our own enquiries over the two months before publication, with names and projects withheld.

Two things we deliberately do not give here: a freight figure before the address, value and volume are known, and a saving percentage against local pricing, because both depend on your specification and neither is honest as a general number.

If you are at the beginning of this, send the floor plan, tell us which rooms and which country, and say whether you want one specification or two. That is the whole brief. The rest is our job.