Kitchen landed in Sydney

The kitchen we priced

About 8 lineal metres plus an island, 2-pac doors, moisture-resistant carcasses, Blum hinges and runners, flat-packed over 1 metre.

Landed in Sydney, line by line

Every line from the factory gate to your site. Low, middle and high use the low, middle and high of every published rate at once. Estimate: no delivered Elje job sits behind this figure yet.

Against Sydney prices

Supply only is the fair comparison with a landed price; installed prices include labour, which you pay either way.

Per lm, Sydney: Carcasso $1,900 to $2,300 supplied (cabinets plus basic benchtop, delivered); SteepWood NSW 2-pac $1,800 to $3,000, polyurethane $1,400 to $2,200, timber $2,200 to $4,000+. WTD: Sydney about 15% above Brisbane.

The local supply-only figure is worked out from published per-metre cabinetry rates, not a single quote, so treat it as a guide.

Is it worth it?

Yes, on the numbers we have. About $17,530 landed against $20,000 to $33,000 for local joinery, supply only, so roughly $2,470 to $15,470 less, before you add the benchtops, tapware and anything else that rides in the same shipment for far less than it would on its own. Estimate.

The Sydney market

Sydney is the dearest of the eight cities: about 15 percent above Brisbane on the cost index, with kitchens $13,800 to $51,750 installed, bathrooms $11,500 to $40,250 and tiling labour $46 to $115 per m2. Plumbers charge about $92 to $230 an hour, and stone fabricators 15 to 20 percent more per metre than Brisbane or Adelaide. Amber Tiles' Sydney price zone is its cheapest, so tiles are the one line where Sydney shoppers start ahead.

How it gets to Sydney

Foshan factory to Nansha, Shekou or Yantian, a direct service to Port Botany, then the M5 or the M8 to the suburbs.

DP World, Patrick and Hutchison run container terminals at Port Botany, about 15 km south of the city.

Inner suburbs: depot unpack and a small truck. Outer suburbs and new estates in the west and north-west: a container at the kerb is usually fine.

What moves the number

• Door finish. 2-pac and timber veneer cost more than a decorative board, at the factory and here.
• Volume. Pieces over 1 metre come flat-packed, which can halve the shipped volume. Freight is charged on cubic metres.
• What it travels with. A kitchen on its own pays a whole set of port, broker and delivery charges. In a whole-house container it shares them.
• Hardware. Name the hinge and runner brand on the quote (Blum or Hettich). Unnamed hardware is where a cheap quote gets cheap.
• Benchtops are a separate line. See stone benchtops.

What it has to comply with

• Board: E0 or E1 formaldehyde emission, with the test report for the batch.
• Timber products: as the importer you run illegal logging due diligence and answer the community protection question on the import declaration.
• Tariff 9403.40.00, general duty 5 percent, Free from China with a ChAFTA certificate of origin.

Notes for Sydney

Temperate and humid on the coast. Moisture-resistant board in wet rooms is enough for most of Sydney.

• Sydney has the most local showrooms and the widest local price range, so the gap to landed varies more here than anywhere else.
• Terraces and inner-city streets rarely take a side-loader. Plan on depot unpacking and a smaller truck, and a council permit if anything stands in the street.
• Port Botany charges a per-container terminal access fee of about $225 to $233, like Brisbane and Melbourne. It is on the breakdown below, not hidden in the freight rate.

Questions