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Furniture Assembly

Furniture Assembly near you

Furniture assembly is the visit you book when the boxes have been in the hallway for a fortnight and the allen key has gone under the couch. An assembler brings proper drivers, builds the carcasses square, levels them on a floor that is never quite flat, fixes the tall pieces back to the wall and takes the cardboard away. In Australian housing the last two steps are the ones that actually need someone competent, because the wall behind a wardrobe might be double brick, brick veneer, a timber stud frame or a steel stud frame, and each of those takes a different fixing.

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The anchoring is not a nicety. The list of what topples in Australian homes is a list of ordinary things — bookcases, chests of drawers and wardrobes, cabinets, entertainment units, unsecured televisions, hall tables, buffets and sideboards — which is to say most of what arrives flat-packed, and the published safety advice for every one of them is the same: secure it to the wall or floor. Children under five are the people that protects, and the strap in the carton is part of the product rather than an optional extra.

Renters are routinely told they may not fix anything to a wall, and in New South Wales that is simply wrong. Securing furniture to a wall other than a tiled one, where it is needed for the safe use of that furniture, is named in the tenancy rules as a minor change that consent cannot unreasonably be withheld from. Ask in writing, keep the reply, and book the assembly knowing the strap can go in.

The flat-pack jobs that take an assembler longest

  • Sliding-door and walk-in robe systems, where every door and drawer front reads off a carcass that has to be square and plumb before anything is hung.
  • Bunks and loft beds, which carry the most fixings, the least forgiving instructions and a load that a child will test.
  • Modular storage walls, where units must be joined to each other and to the wall, so one out-of-level base throws the whole run.
  • Flat-pack laundry and linen cabinetry, which needs levelling feet set and scribed before anything is loaded.
  • Outdoor settings, shade structures and trampolines, where the fittings are usually stainless, the instructions assume two people and the ground is rarely level.
  • Home-office desks and chairs, quick one at a time but normally ordered in numbers, so the time sits in repetition.
  • Dismantling and rebuilding existing furniture for a move, which always takes longer than a new build because nothing is labelled and half the fittings are tired.

Anchoring tall furniture: what ACCC Product Safety actually asks for

Furniture tips when its centre of gravity moves forward, which is exactly what happens when every drawer is pulled out at once or a toddler uses the front as a ladder. The published advice is to secure the piece to the wall or floor with an anchoring device, and to do it in every room rather than only in the nursery, because a hall table or a sideboard falls just as hard as a bookcase.

Two practical warnings come with that. Not every piece arrives with hardware in the bag, and the regulator's own guidance is that if your furniture does not come with anchoring hardware you can buy what you need from a furniture retailer, hardware store or a baby goods specialist. And the right anchor depends on the building, not the furniture: what you need depends on what your wall or floor is made of and what kind of furniture you are working with, with different wall and floor anchors available for each case. Where that is not obvious, the advice is to get professional help rather than guess.

An assembler who asks what is behind the plasterboard before choosing a screw is doing the safety-critical part of the visit. One who drives a short screw into a hollow lining and calls it anchored has made the household less safe than leaving the strap in the bag, because now everyone believes the wardrobe is held.

What Australian walls are made of, and which fixing suits each

  • Timber stud frame behind plasterboard: the strongest and simplest case, provided the screw finds the stud rather than the space beside it.
  • Steel stud frame, common in apartments and in a lot of newer housing: it needs fixings made for thin steel, and an ordinary timber screw will strip the section.
  • Brick veneer: the visible inner wall is a lined stud frame and the brickwork is outside it, so a fixing that only reaches the lining has reached nothing.
  • Double brick and solid masonry, typical of older housing in Perth and Adelaide: masonry anchors work well, but the drilling is dusty and slow and the hole location cannot be adjusted afterwards.
  • Plasterboard glued or battened onto masonry: there is a cavity behind the sheet, so a short fixing pulls the board off the wall under load and takes the furniture with it.
  • Autoclaved aerated concrete panel: solid to the touch but soft, and it takes purpose-made anchors rather than standard masonry plugs.
  • Tiled walls, which are the one surface the NSW tenancy rules carve out of the furniture-securing right, and which need a decision about the tile before a hole is drilled anywhere.

How an assembly visit should run from boxes to rubbish removal

  • Parts and panels checked against the list before a single fitting is turned, so a damaged door is discovered while the packaging is still intact.
  • A protected work area chosen with enough floor space, because building a robe carcass on carpet in a hallway is how panels get scratched.
  • Carcasses assembled and squared, then moved into position before doors, drawers and glass go on.
  • Feet levelled against the actual floor, which in an older Australian house on stumps is rarely flat and rarely square to the walls.
  • Anchors fitted to the wall or floor, with the fixing chosen for the wall build-up rather than for whatever came in the bag.
  • Doors and drawers adjusted last, when the unit is standing in its final position and carrying its own weight.
  • Packaging flattened and removed, with the cardboard and expanded polystyrene separated for recycling rather than left in the bin.

Renting or living in strata: what you may fix to the wall

  • The NSW minor-change protection is narrower than it sounds: the landlord may still refuse where it is reasonable to do so, so the answer arrives in writing rather than by assumption.
  • It also does not reach every property. Homes on the loose-fill asbestos insulation register, heritage properties, strata schemes, residential land lease communities and social housing are all excluded.
  • That exclusion means a tenant in a strata unit has two conversations rather than one, with the landlord and then with whatever the by-laws require.
  • For an owner in strata, built-in wardrobes sit on the cosmetic work list, which needs no approval from the owners corporation at all.
  • A scheme can write its own cosmetic list and attach conditions to it, so read the by-laws once when you move in.
  • Tenancy and strata law are state law, so a renter in Brisbane, Melbourne or Perth checks their own regulator instead of borrowing the New South Wales answer.

What goes wrong with flat-pack, and what it costs you later

  • A damaged or missing panel found halfway through, by which time the carton it came in has been flattened and the supplier wants to see it.
  • Cam locks and knock-down fittings over-tightened into particleboard, which strips the housing and leaves the joint permanently loose.
  • A carcass built out of square, which shows up as doors that will not line up no matter how long they are adjusted.
  • Levelling feet left at factory height on a sloping floor, so the unit rocks and the weight sits on two corners.
  • The anchor strap fitted to the lining rather than to structure, giving the appearance of safety without the substance.
  • Assembly done in the wrong room, leaving a finished wardrobe that will not pass through the doorway it has to go through.
  • Outdoor furniture built with fittings from the wrong bag, which corrodes within a season anywhere near the coast.

What makes one assembly a longer booking than another

  • The number of boxes, which is a better brief than the number of items, because one wardrobe can arrive as four cartons.
  • Whether anything has to be anchored, and what the wall behind it turns out to be.
  • Stairs, lifts and parking at an apartment, which decide how long the boxes take to reach the room.
  • Whether old furniture has to be dismantled and taken away in the same visit.
  • Glass, mirrors and heavy stone tops, which need two people for safety rather than for speed.
  • How much of the floor is available to work on, since a clear room is faster than a full one.
  • Whether the pieces must be moved into position afterwards, particularly on finished timber floors where dragging is not an option.

Furniture Assembly: frequently asked questions

Does flat-pack furniture really need anchoring to the wall?

ACCC Product Safety says the best way to prevent furniture from tipping over is to secure it to the wall or floor, and its figures are the reason it says so: toppling furniture has killed at least 28 people in Australia since 2000 and causes nearly 20 injuries every week, with children under five most at risk. The pieces it names are the ordinary ones — bookcases, chests of drawers and wardrobes, cabinets, entertainment units, unsecured televisions, hall tables, buffets and sideboards. If the anchoring hardware is not in the box, it can be bought from a furniture retailer, hardware store or baby goods store.

I rent. Am I allowed to screw a furniture strap into the wall?

In New South Wales, securing furniture to a wall other than a tiled wall, where it is needed for the safe use of the furniture, is listed as a minor change and your landlord cannot unreasonably refuse consent for it. You still ask, and you ask in writing. The list does not apply to every property — homes on the loose-fill asbestos insulation register, heritage properties, strata schemes, residential land lease communities and social housing are excluded — and other states set their own tenancy rules, so check yours before drilling.

How do I know whether my wall will hold a wardrobe strap?

By finding out what the wall is made of before choosing the fixing. A timber stud frame holds well when the screw lands in the stud; a steel stud frame needs fixings designed for thin steel; double brick takes masonry anchors; and plasterboard glued or battened onto masonry has an air gap behind it, so a short fixing simply peels the sheet off the wall. Brick veneer catches people out most often, because the room-side wall is a lined frame and the brickwork is on the far side of it. Where the answer is not obvious, the published safety advice is to get professional help rather than guess.

Can an assembler also take the packaging and the old furniture away?

Most will, but say so when you book rather than on the day, because it changes both the time and the vehicle. Cardboard and expanded polystyrene from a large delivery fill a van quickly, and an old wardrobe that has to be dismantled first is a separate piece of work from building the new one. If the old piece is going to a charity or a second-hand dealer rather than to landfill, decide that before it is pulled apart, because most will not accept it in sections.

What should I tell an assembler when I book?

Room by room: how many cartons, what the items are, which pieces are tall enough to need anchoring, and what the walls behind those pieces are made of if you know. Add the access details for an apartment — lift or stairs, parking, and whether there is a loading dock booking. That is the difference between a visit that finishes and a visit that has to come back with a different box of fixings.

Sources

  1. ACCC Product Safety: Toppling furniture and televisions guide
  2. NSW Government: Making changes to a rental property
  3. NSW Government: Strata renovation rules

Written by the LokalMatch editorial team. Last reviewed 22 September 2026. How we write and check our guides

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What affects the cost of furniture assembly

Prices depend on the details of your project. We only publish price ranges when they’re backed by real LokalMatch quote data or reliable sources. Until then, here’s what usually changes the price:

  • Number and type of tasks
  • Time needed and any minimum visit charge
  • Materials and parts
  • Wall type and what's being mounted or hung
  • Height and access

How to compare handymen before you hire

  • Describe all the small jobs up front so the handyman can bring the right tools and give you a realistic estimate.
  • Ask whether they charge by the hour, by the job or with a minimum visit fee.
  • For anything involving wiring, gas or new plumbing, use a licensed trade instead of a general handyman.
  • Check that they carry liability insurance, especially for work on ladders or on the exterior.
  • Ask whether they supply materials or whether you should buy them ahead of time.

Questions to ask handymen before you hire

  • Do you charge by the hour or by the job, and is there a minimum?
  • Can you do all of the jobs on my list, or will some need a licensed trade?
  • Will you bring the materials, or should I buy them?
  • Are you insured if something is damaged while you're working?
  • How do you handle it if a job takes longer than expected?

Furniture assembly permits and local rules

Some furniture assembly work needs a permit or has to meet local bylaws. Rules vary by municipality, so ask your pro whether a permit is needed and who will apply for it — and check with your city or town if you’re unsure.

Permits and licensing

Guides about furniture assembly

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