Quick answer
Allow roughly 8-12 weeks from sign-off to the last fit-off on a 20-unit Auckland development: staged check measures as units are lined, cabinetry built in two batches at our East Tamaki workshop, then a rolling install at 10-plus units a week. MTN Kitchens runs supply-plus-install on trade pricing to keep developments on programme.
Building 20 townhouses out in Flat Bush or a terraced block on the isthmus, and the kitchen package sits closer to your critical path than almost anything else on site. It touches the plumber, the sparky, the floor layer and the painter, and it lands right before practical completion. Order too late and you hold up your Code Compliance Certificate. Order too early and you've got fragile carcasses stacked on a live site, getting knocked about and racking up variations. So the question is not really how much. It is: when do you need a call from me, and when is the last kitchen in?
Ten weeks, twenty kitchens.
Key points
- From a locked spec, expect roughly eight to twelve weeks from sign-off to the last fit-off on 20 units, not the full quarter most developers brace for.
- Our East Tamaki workshop turns out 10-plus kitchens a week, so a 20-unit run is about two production cycles, then a rolling install that tracks your handover order.
- The factory is rarely the holdup. Moving specs, late appliance schedules and units that aren't lined and floored are what blow out the dates.
- Stone is templated off installed cabinets, so it always sits a short lead behind the cabinet install. Plan that gap in.
- Supply and install on one contract, one invoice, at trade pricing with no showroom markup, so the numbers drop straight into your feaso.
On a 20-unit build the kitchens are rarely what holds you up, provided someone programmes them properly. The work is loaded into the front end, design and measure, then manufacture and install run as a steady cadence you can plan a handover sequence around. The factory is almost never the problem. Late decisions are. So is site that isn't ready, and stone benchtops that can't be templated until the cabinets are physically in the room. Get those three right and the kitchen quietly does its job in the background while you fight the fires that actually matter.
The short answer on timeline
From a locked spec, a 20-unit run is roughly two production cycles through our East Tamaki workshop, then a rolling install that tracks your handover order. In round numbers you're looking at something in the order of eight to twelve weeks from sign-off to the last fit-off, not the full quarter a lot of developers brace for. The spread inside that window is almost entirely about you and your other trades, not us. If you want the wider picture on how kitchen lead times slot against a build programme, we've broken that down in detail in kitchen lead times and your construction programme.
That number assumes the obvious things hold: spec doesn't move, units get lined and floored on programme, services land where the drawings say, and appliances turn up. Break any of those and the timeline doesn't stretch by a day or two, it ripples across all 20 units. A single design change that's trivial on a one-off villa reno becomes 20 changes on a development. That's the whole game on volume work, and it's why the front end matters more than the factory.
Design sign-off and the first measure
It all keys off a locked spec. On a multi-unit job that means two or three repeating kitchen types across the 20 units, not 20 one-off designs. Maybe a galley for the two-bed units, an L-shape with a small island for the three-beds, and a scullery option on the larger plans. That repetition is what holds the price and the lead time down. If you're still settling on shapes, kitchen layouts explained walks through where each one earns its keep. Once you've confirmed layouts, door finishes, benchtop material and the appliance schedule, we quote inside 24 hours and move to documentation. One supply-and-install contract, one invoice. No gap between a joiner and a separate installer, and nobody pointing fingers when something needs an adjustment on site.
Measuring at volume is staged against your build programme, so we don't need all 20 units lined and ready at once. We template early off framing and confirmed services, then come back for a precise check measure once the rooms are lined and the floors are down. Get your plumbing and electrical rough-in positions locked at that point. Nothing else saves you more rework later. A waste that's 40mm out, a gas point on the wrong side of a cooktop, a meter box that eats into a pantry run, these are cheap to fix on paper and expensive to fix once melteca's been cut. The distinction between measuring off a plan and measuring on site matters more than most people think, and we've covered why in site measure vs plan measure.
Lock the appliance schedule early
The appliance schedule is where developer jobs quietly fall over. We build cabinetry to suit the actual ovens, cooktops and rangehoods going in, not generic openings. If the appliance package is still being negotiated when we're trying to cut board, you've created a hold. Confirm the models, get the spec sheets to us, and if you're switching to a different supply line partway through the build, tell us before the run, not after. A 600 underbench oven and a 600 freestanding cooker want completely different cabinetry.
Manufacturing in the East Tamaki workshop
Spec locked, manufacturing runs as a batch. Our own workshop in East Tamaki turns out 10-plus kitchens a week, so a 20-unit run is roughly two production cycles of cabinetry. Not a queue that stretches out for months. Building in-house to a repeating spec is what keeps unit number 18 identical to unit number 2, which is what a buyer or a registered valuer expects when they walk three of your show homes back to back. Owning the workshop also means when your programme moves, and it will, we can reshuffle a batch internally instead of begging a third-party joiner for a slot. Holding that consistency across a big run is its own discipline, and we go deeper on it in keeping kitchen spec consistent across 30-plus units.
Carcasses, doors and the benchtop substrate get built ahead of install. Engineered and natural stone tops are templated off the installed cabinets and run on their own short lead, so we always sequence stone behind the cabinet install rather than guessing dimensions off a drawing. Where the budget runs to laminate or melteca tops, those can follow the cabinetry tighter. The finish you pick changes the rhythm: a 2-pac lacquered door has a paint-and-cure cycle that melamine simply doesn't, so if programme is tight and the spec allows it, melteca doors keep the cadence faster. If you're weighing door finishes against budget and lead time, kitchen cabinet finishes explained lays out the trade-offs.
Staged delivery and install cadence
This is the part that separates a volume supplier from a one-kitchen joiner. We don't tip 20 kitchens onto your site in one go. We deliver and install in waves that match your handover order. A single kitchen runs about 5 to 7 days end to end, benchtop included. Across the development we run several units in parallel, so once site access is consistent and units are ready in front of us, the practical cadence sits around 10-plus kitchens a week.
A workable rhythm for 20 units looks roughly like this:
- Weeks 1-2: design lock, quote confirmed within 24 hours, contract and appliance schedule signed
- Weeks 2-4: staged check measures as units are lined and floored
- Weeks 3-6: cabinetry built in two batches at the East Tamaki workshop
- Weeks 5-9: cabinet install and stone templating roll through units in delivery order
- Weeks 6-10: benchtops, splashbacks and fit-off finished unit by unit, ready for plumber and sparky to connect
Those windows overlap on purpose. While the first units are being fitted off, the later ones are still in manufacture. From a locked spec you are looking at a window measured in weeks, not the quarter a lot of developers brace for, and the last kitchen lands in step with your handover programme instead of sitting between you and your CCC. The stone gap is the one most people forget to plan for: once cabinets are in, the bench gets templated, then there's a few days back at the stone fabricator before it returns to be fitted and the splashback and fit-off close out the unit.
| Element | Value play | Step up | How it moves programme |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benchtop | Laminate | Engineered / natural stone | Stone templates off installed cabinets, adds a short lead; laminate follows cabinetry tighter |
| Doors | Melamine / melteca | 2-pac lacquer / timber | 2-pac carries a paint-and-cure cycle; melteca keeps cadence faster |
| Kitchen types | 2-3 repeating types | Many one-off variations | Repetition holds price and lead time; variations slow the batch |
| Appliances | Freestanding in a gap | Integrated / panelled | Integrated units need more cabinetry build and tighter tolerances |
A worked example: 24 units in Flat Bush
Take a real-shape job. Twenty-four units off a single resource consent in Flat Bush, staged in three blocks of eight, terraced, two kitchen types: a galley for the two-bed units and an L-shape with a stub island for the three-beds. Engineered stone tops on the three-beds to lift the perceived value at the open homes, laminate on the two-beds to protect the feaso. Melteca carcasses throughout, 2-pac doors on the three-beds only.
Block A is lined and floored first, so that's where we start. Early templating happens off framing while the GIB stoppers are still working through Block B. Check measures on Block A's eight units run across a few days once floors are down and the plumber's confirmed waste and supply positions. First cabinetry batch covers Block A plus a head-start on Block B. As Block A cabinets go in, the stone fabricator templates the three-bed L-shapes; that stone returns roughly a week later while the laminate two-beds in the same block are already getting fit-off. By the time Block C is lined, the workshop's well into its second cycle and the install crew is rolling straight off Block B.
The decisions that made that run clean were all made up front. The developer locked the appliance package before block A's measure, didn't change door colours mid-stream, and kept his plumber and sparky one block ahead of us so nothing waited on services. The one variation that did land, swapping a tap model across all the three-beds, got flagged before the second batch was cut, so it cost a line on the schedule instead of a rework on installed units. That's the difference between a kitchen package that holds programme and one that becomes the reason your CCC slips. Tightening that loop on a multi-block job is exactly what choosing a kitchen supplier for a staged development is about.
What moves the dates
All of that assumes decisions are made and the site is ready to receive us. The things that blow it out are predictable. Finishes that change mid-run. Appliances ordered late by someone else. Units not lined when we turn up to measure. Services roughed in the wrong spot. On a volume job a single variation isn't a single problem, it ripples across all 20 units, which is why we push hard to lock the spec before the first sheet of board is cut.
Site readiness is the other big lever. We can't template stone off cabinets that aren't in, and we can't install cabinets into a room that's still got chippies and plasterers working in it. A unit that's lined, floored, painted to first coat and clear of other trades is a unit we can move through fast. A unit that's 'nearly ready' three times in a row is the one that drags your average right down. Sequencing the units so we always have a clean run in front of us is worth more to your programme than any factory speed.
Our crews are Site Safe qualified, so they slot into a live developer site under your health-and-safety plan without becoming your compliance headache. We're the head-contractor kitchen supplier to Spencer Henshaw, so this staged, on-programme way of working is just how we run, not something we're trying for the first time on your job.
On volume work the kitchen is rarely the late trade. What causes delay is a spec that keeps moving and a site that isn't ready to take us. Lock both and we hold our cadence, unit after unit.
Built to hold your programme.
Costing it without the showroom markup
We supply and install on one contract and one invoice, at trade and wholesale pricing, with no showroom markup loaded on top. Your feasibility numbers come out cleaner for it, and there's a single point of accountability for both the product and the fit. The crew that built the kitchen is the crew that installs it, which is exactly what cuts the callbacks and late variations that quietly chew into margin near the end of a job. Prices are ex-GST for the trade, so they drop straight into your feaso. If you're benchmarking what that actually means against a retail price tag, trade vs retail kitchens: what developers actually pay is the place to start.
The levers that actually move the price
There's no honest single number for a developer kitchen, because the spec swings it enormously. What I can tell you is where the money sits, so you can pull the right levers for your buyer and your margin:
- Benchtop material: laminate is the value play, engineered stone is the step up most three-bed buyers expect, natural stone sits above that again. This is usually the single biggest line on the page.
- Door finish: melamine and melteca are the workhorse for volume; 2-pac lacquer costs more in material and in cure time; timber and timber-look sit at the top.
- Repetition: two or three repeating kitchen types across 20 units is far cheaper than 20 variations. Standardise the boxes, vary the finish where it shows.
- Run size and cabinet count: islands, sculleries and tall pantry banks add carcass and bench; a tight galley is the lean option.
- Appliance integration: integrated dishwashers and panelled fridges cost more in cabinetry than freestanding units sitting in a gap.
Plus GST throughout, and the cleanest way to get a real figure is to send the drawings and let us price the actual job rather than guess off a per-unit rule of thumb that won't match your finishes. The benchtop line is usually the one worth modelling hardest; laminate vs stone benchtops: cost vs value digs into where that money actually earns its return.
What goes wrong on developer kitchen runs
The failures repeat across jobs, and almost none of them are about the cabinetry itself. The big one is the moving spec: a developer who keeps tweaking handle styles or bench colours after the batch is committed, then can't understand why the programme slipped. Lock it once, lock it properly. The second is treating the appliance schedule as an afterthought, then discovering the chosen oven doesn't fit the cabinetry that's already built for a different model.
Third is services in the wrong place. A waste pipe roughed in before the kitchen layout was finalised, a gas bayonet on the wrong wall, a switchboard that wasn't allowed for in the cabinet run. These are your other trades' work, but they land as a kitchen problem because that's the last thing in. Get the rough-in positions confirmed against our setout drawings, not against a generic plan, and most of this disappears. Most of these failures are really coordination failures, and coordinating kitchen install with your other trades is the practical fix.
Fourth, and the quiet killer, is buying on the lowest line in the spreadsheet and discovering the supplier can't actually hold cadence across 20 units, or splits supply from install so callbacks become a finger-pointing exercise weeks before your CCC. A cheap kitchen that arrives late or wrong isn't cheap. On a development the cost of a held handover dwarfs the saving on the cabinetry every time.
What to confirm before you brief a kitchen supplier
Before you ring anyone for volume pricing, have these straight. It's the difference between a real quote in 24 hours and a fortnight of back-and-forth:
- Unit count and how many distinct kitchen types across them
- Your handover sequence or staged release order, not just a single completion date
- Benchtop material per kitchen type, and door finish per type
- Confirmed appliance schedule with models, or at least the supplier and tier
- Plumbing and electrical rough-in positions, or a commitment to lock them at check-measure
- Whether the work sits under unit-title or cross-lease, and any body corporate spec requirements
- Drawings, even preliminary ones, so the supplier can set out properly rather than estimate
- Who holds the H&S plan on site and how install crews are inducted
You don't need every one of these perfect on day one, but the more you bring, the tighter and more honest the quote and the schedule will be. A supplier guessing at half of this is a supplier who'll variation you later.
Frequently asked questions
Can you really install 10-plus kitchens a week across one site?
Yes, once site access is consistent and units are ready in front of us. The cadence comes from running several units in parallel and owning the workshop that feeds them, so install never waits on a third-party joiner's slot, and the limiter is almost always how fast your other trades hand us clean, lined, floored rooms.
Why does stone take longer than the cabinets?
Because we template engineered and natural tops off the actual installed cabinets, then fabricate and return them to fit, rather than guessing dimensions off a drawing. It's a deliberate short lead behind the cabinet install, and if programme is genuinely tight on a value run, laminate or melteca tops follow the cabinetry much tighter.
Do you handle supply only, or only supply and install?
We supply and install on one contract and one invoice, which is deliberate on developer work. The crew that built the kitchen is the crew that fits it, so there's a single point of accountability, a lower callback rate, and no gap where a separate installer blames the joiner three weeks before your CCC.
How early should I get you involved?
At design, before the rough-in, because the cheapest fixes happen on paper. If we see your layouts before the plumber and sparky commit positions, we set the kitchens out to suit and your services land right first time; bring us in after the GIB's up and you're paying to work around decisions that were free to get right a month earlier.
Will the kitchens be consistent across all the units?
That's exactly what building in-house to a repeating spec delivers. Unit 18 matches unit 2 because they came off the same setout in the same workshop, which is what a buyer expects walking your show homes back to back and what a registered valuer expects comparing across the development.
Send us your unit count and we'll map it to your programme
Scoping a townhouse or apartment development anywhere across the wider Auckland region, from Hobsonville Point to Manukau to Papakura? Send us your unit count and a brief, or drawings with your target finishes and programme dates. We'll come back inside 24 hours with bulk pricing and a realistic measure, manufacture and install schedule mapped to your handover sequence, so you can see exactly where the kitchens sit in your build rather than the other way around. Twenty-three years, 2,000-plus kitchens, our own East Tamaki workshop and Site Safe crews, all on one contract and one invoice at trade pricing. Get the spec in front of us and let's put a real timeline on it.