Quick answer
A multi-lot kitchen package is priced by typing the lots into a handful of kitchen types, pricing each type as coded line items, multiplying the per-kitchen number by the count, then applying a volume step at the package total. GST goes on last. The number only holds once types, finishes and appliance gaps are locked.
Key points
- Nine lots almost never means nine kitchens. Typed properly it is usually two or three, and the price sharpens the moment that happens.
- Each type gets priced as coded lines (sink base, dry metres, overheads, tall units, benchtops), so the per-kitchen number can be checked element by element.
- The money concentrates in two places on this kind of package: the stainless wet bench and the tall units. Watch those lines before any other.
- Volume discount is applied once, at the package total, after the types are priced. A few percent at this scale, more past twenty kitchens.
- The number holds only when kitchen types, finishes and the appliance gaps are locked in writing. Change any of the three and the package reprices.
A nine-lot terraced subdivision south of Auckland came across our bench recently: three floor plans repeated along the row, kitchens to be priced while the civils were still going in. The developer's feasibility carried the kitchen line as one round number multiplied by nine. Except the plans said something more useful. Read properly, they described three kitchens, built four, three and two times over, and the package only got a price worth relying on once it was typed that way.
What follows is the worked pattern from that job, anonymised, with the numbers held to honest bands. It is the same sequence behind multi-lot kitchen package pricing at any scale, six kitchens or sixty: type the lots, price each type as coded lines, multiply out by count, apply the volume step once at the total, and put GST on last. None of it is complicated. Most of it gets skipped when the kitchen line sits in the feasibility as an allowance, and the gap surfaces after the budget is locked.
The roll-up: nine lots typed into three kitchens, priced once.
Type the lots before you price anything
Nine lots rarely means nine kitchens. On this package the mid-terrace lots shared one narrow floor plate, the corner lots picked up a return wall, and the two end lots had the bigger plan with room for a tall run. Typed honestly, that is three kitchens. Getting from nine one-off prices to three repeated ones is the single biggest move in typing kitchens across mixed lot plans, and it is where the workshop economics start: a run of four identical galleys batches cleanly, while nine near-identical kitchens each need their own setup.
The discipline is to type on the joinery, not the architecture. Two lots can differ in floor area and still carry the same kitchen. What matters is run length, shape, and what sits in the run. Here is how the nine lots fell out.
| Type | Lots | Shape | What drives its price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type A | 4 | Straight galley on the party wall | Benchtop metres and the wet bench |
| Type B | 3 | L-shape on the corner lots | Extra dry metres in the return |
| Type C | 2 | L-shape plus a tall run | Tall units and a longer overhead run |
Price each type as coded lines
Each type then gets priced the way a Schedule of Rates measures a kitchen: element by element, every line with a unit and a rate. The shape of it looks like the list below, with codes of the kind used on social-housing schedules. Treat them as illustrative. Where a client schedule exists, that document governs, and the code-by-code walkthrough is in kitchen Schedule of Rates codes explained.
- Wet underbench cabinet at the sink run, priced per number (the CJC240 shape)
- Dry underbench cabinetry, priced per metre of run (CJC250)
- Wall and overhead cabinetry, per metre (CJC260)
- Pantry and tall units, per number (CJC270)
- Toe kick, per metre (CJC725)
- Laminate benchtop on the dry runs, per metre (CBT140), and the stainless sink bench as its own line, per number (CBT330)
- Glass splashback behind the cooker, per number (CMS480), plus the small lines: cutlery inserts (CJD800) and childproof catches (CHC400)
Priced this way, Type A stops being a guess and becomes a short addition: one wet cabinet, so many metres of dry base, so many metres of overheads, a benchtop run, a splashback, the small lines. Change one element on one type and one line moves. That is the entire point.
Where the money concentrated
Two lines carried a disproportionate share of every kitchen on this package: the stainless wet bench and the tall units. The wet bench is a manufactured 304 pressing priced per number, and it lands whether the kitchen is two metres long or five, so on the compact Type A galleys it was the biggest single line by some distance. Tall units stacked cost onto Type C instead: a full-height cabinet carries far more material and hardware than a base unit, and each of the two end lots had a pair of them.
Dry metres, by contrast, are cheap and predictable, which is why arguing over the base cabinetry rate is usually effort in the wrong place. To pull cost out of a package like this you look at the tall unit count and the length of stainless first, then the splashback spec, and only then the dry cabinetry. Budgeting kitchens across a multi-unit development covers the same concentration pattern at bigger unit counts.
Multiply out, then step the total once
With three types priced, the roll-up is arithmetic: Type A times four, Type B times three, Type C times two. The volume step is then applied once, at the package total, not smeared invisibly across the lines. At nine kitchens the step is real but modest, a few percent, because the workshop is batching three runs instead of setting up nine times. Past twenty kitchens the steps get bigger. When bulk kitchen pricing pays off sets out where those thresholds sit and why.
GST goes on after the step, and the quote should say so plainly. A package number that is silent on GST is not a number. It is an argument scheduled for later.
What does a nine-lot kitchen package cost in Auckland?
Bands, not precision, because run length and spec move everything. In Auckland a standard straight or galley kitchen runs roughly $5.5–8.5k supplied, $8–12k installed. An L-shape runs roughly $8.5–13k supplied, $12–18k installed. On coded social-housing work, a kitchen package commonly lands around $10–19k including GST per kitchen depending on run length and count. Multiply those bands by the type counts above and a nine-lot terraced package prices in the low six figures installed, with the volume step then pulling a few percent back out.
Where a package lands inside its band is decided by three choices: the benchtop spec on the dry runs, the length of stainless at the sink, and how many tall units each type carries. Everything else moves the number politely. Those three move it rudely.
What had to be locked before the number held
The quote on this package was conditional on three locks, and every multi-lot quote is, whether it says so or not. First, the types themselves: the moment one lot wants its own layout, it leaves the type and gets priced alone. Second, the finishes: one door colour, one benchtop spec, one handle across the package, chosen once. Third, the appliance gaps: appliances were supplied by others, so the joinery needed the models in writing, because a 900 mm cooker arriving at a gap drawn at 600 mm is not a tweak, it is a redrawn type.
None of those locks costs money. They cost a decision, made early and written down. The developers who hit their feasibility numbers on kitchen costs are the ones who make those decisions before tender rather than during install.
- Kitchen types confirmed, with each lot assigned to a type
- One finish set across the package: door, benchtop, handle
- Appliance models in writing, or the gaps dimensioned and owned by whoever is buying them
- Pricing basis stated: supply only or supply and install, GST position, validity period
Pricing your own package
The pattern travels. Type the lots, price the types as lines, multiply, step once, GST last. To get a number that holds, send the plan for each lot type with the count per type, the finish intent even if provisional, and the appliance position. From that, a typed, line-priced package quote with a reference number comes back inside 24 hours, and a site measure locks dimensions before anything is manufactured. We run this from our East Tāmaki workshop across Auckland, and the nine-lot job that started this article was priced exactly this way: three types, coded lines, one number the QS could take apart and put back together.
Frequently asked questions
How is a multi-lot kitchen package priced?
Type the lots into a small number of kitchen types, price each type as coded line items (wet cabinet, dry metres, overheads, tall units, benchtop, splashback, small lines), multiply each type price by its lot count, then apply a volume discount once at the package total. GST is added last. The number holds once types, finishes and appliance gaps are locked in writing.
How many kitchen types should a nine-lot development have?
Usually two or three. Mid-terrace lots tend to share one plan, corner lots pick up a return, and end lots run bigger, so the joinery collapses naturally into a few repeated kitchens. Fewer types means better batching in the workshop and a sharper per-kitchen rate. A lot that insists on its own layout leaves the type and gets priced as a one-off.
How much volume discount applies at nine kitchens?
A few percent at this scale. The saving is real because the workshop batches three repeated runs instead of setting up nine times, but the bigger steps arrive past twenty kitchens. The step should be applied once at the package total rather than hidden inside each line, so it stays visible and auditable in the quote.
What costs the most in a multi-lot kitchen package?
The per-number lines: the stainless wet bench at each sink run and the tall units. A 304 stainless bench is a manufactured pressing that lands regardless of kitchen size, and each full-height cabinet carries far more material and hardware than a base unit. Dry base cabinetry per metre is the most predictable line and the least worth arguing over.
Do finishes need to be locked before pricing a kitchen package?
For a band, no. For a number that holds, yes. A supplier can band a package off typed plans alone, but the firm quote needs one door finish, one benchtop spec and one handle across the package, because a finish change reprices every kitchen at once. Locking one finish set early is also what keeps nine kitchens presenting as one product.
Are appliances included in a kitchen package price?
Commonly not. On most multi-lot and social-housing packages the fridge and stove are supplied by others, and the joinery package prices the cabinetry, benchtops and splashbacks around dimensioned appliance gaps. The models must be named in writing before drawings are approved, because a change of cooker width after manufacture means a rebuilt cabinet run, not an adjustment.