Quick answer
Expect roughly five stages: a quote (within 24 hours), an on-site measure to confirm exact dimensions, the cabinetry build, then a staged install followed by a final clean and sign-off. MTN Kitchens runs this in Auckland, building in East Tamaki with supply-and-install trade pricing.
Building units across Auckland means juggling a dozen trades, and the kitchen touches more stages than most. It needs a budget number early enough to test feasibility, a site measure once the linings are up, a build window that holds against your construction programme, and an install that doesn't leave you a snag list before CCC. Get any of those wrong and you're chasing variations and callbacks while sign-off drags. A defined process is how you take that off your plate.
Five stages, one programme.
Key points
- You get a real, landed-and-fitted quote in NZD plus GST within 24 hours of sending plans, a unit schedule, or even a sketch.
- The site measure is where the spec is locked: benchtop, finish, hardware and layout signed off before a panel is cut, which is what kills mid-build variations.
- Everything is built in MTN's own East Tamaki workshop with capacity for ten-plus kitchens a week, so lead times don't sit in a third-party joiner's queue.
- A single kitchen installs in about 5 to 7 days; volume work is staged so your other trades keep moving and unit 24 matches unit 1.
- One supply-and-install contract, one invoice, one point of contact, Site Safe crews, from 23-plus years and 2,000-plus kitchens.
Here's how a job actually moves through MTN Kitchens, from the first number to handover, and where each step protects your timeline and your margin. None of this is theory. It's how 2,000-plus kitchens have gone in over 23-plus years, and most of what follows is about the parts people don't think about until they bite: who measures, who carries the spec, what happens when a unit on site doesn't match the drawing, and where the days get lost on a job that looked simple at tender.
The quote lands within 24 hours
It starts with your brief, not a showroom appointment. Send us plans, a schedule of units, or one kitchen layout, and you'll have a quote back inside 24 hours. Because we supply and install on one contract and one invoice, that figure is the real landed-and-fitted cost in NZD plus GST, not a cabinetry price with labour, freight and coordination still to be added later. No showroom markup is baked in. Pricing is trade and wholesale, which is what lets volume work stack up at feasibility stage, before you're committed to anything.
For a developer running 40 units in Flat Bush or a terraced-housing block in Mount Wellington, that matters. We cost it as one programme, not 40 separate jobs, so the rate reflects the repetition. A fast, complete number lets you test the kitchen line against the rest of the build while you can still move it. If the feasibility's tight, you find out now, with time to value-engineer the benchtop or the appliance schedule, not three weeks before install when every option costs you a delay. If that's where you are, how to hit your feasibility numbers on kitchen costs goes deeper on the levers.
What we need to quote fast
The quote is only as quick as the information behind it. A floor plan with kitchen elevations is ideal. A unit schedule telling us which type goes where is better still. If all you have is a sketch and a unit count, send that. We'll come back with assumptions stated plainly so you can see exactly what's priced and what isn't, rather than a single number with no working. The clearer the brief, the firmer the number, and the fewer surprises survive to the site measure. If you want to know how to pull a quote apart line by line, how to read a kitchen quote and spot hidden costs is the companion read.
The site measure locks the spec
Once framing, services and linings are at the right stage, we measure on site. This is where a paper layout becomes a buildable one. We check the real dimensions, where the services actually landed, appliance allowances, and the variance between units that look identical on the drawings and never are on site. On multi-unit work the measure also nails down the consistent spec, so unit 3 and unit 33 come off the same drawings with the same benchtop, hardware and finish. There's a reason we don't build off the plans alone, and site measure vs plan measure: getting kitchen dimensions right lays out exactly why.
Signing the spec off here is what kills variations later. Benchtops, from laminate through to engineered and natural stone, and finishes, from 2-pac lacquer to timber and melteca, get confirmed before a single panel is cut. That's where the expensive mid-build changes come from otherwise, decisions made on assumptions too early. We close them out at measure.
Timing the measure is its own skill. Too early and the GIB isn't up, so the dimensions are framing dimensions, not finished ones, and you're building to a wall that hasn't been lined. Too late and you've squeezed the build window and pushed your own trades back. The sweet spot is GIB stopped, plumbing and electrical roughed in, and the floor either down or set out. On a staged release we'll measure in waves to match how the units come ready, rather than waiting for the whole block.
The build happens in our East Tamaki workshop
Manufacturing runs in our own workshop in East Tamaki, and owning it changes two things. We hold our own lead times rather than sitting in some third-party joiner's queue, so with capacity for ten-plus kitchens a week a volume run doesn't stall behind someone else's work. And the same machinery, the same team and the same QA turn out units that match, which is the whole point on a subdivision where every kitchen has to be the same. The people who measured, the people who built, and the people who install are on the one job. Nothing falls through a handover between separate suppliers. How those lead times slot against your build is worth mapping early, and kitchen lead times and your construction programme covers the sequencing in detail.
It also means problems get solved in-house. If a unit comes in 15mm off the drawing, a melteca carcass gets adjusted on the floor instead of going back through a supplier's order desk and adding a week. Stone gets templated and cut to the cabinetry we actually built, not to a CAD file that might've drifted. That control is invisible when it works, which is most of the time, and very visible when it's missing, which is most of the jobs that go sideways.
A worked example: 24 townhouses in Flat Bush
Say you're building 24 terraced units in Flat Bush across three blocks, released in stages of eight. Two kitchen types: a galley scullery layout for the two-bed units and a single-run kitchen with an island for the three-beds. Here's roughly how it sequences.
At tender, you send the consented plans and the unit schedule. Within 24 hours you've got a number for all 24 as one programme, priced on repetition, with the benchtop shown as an engineered-stone rate and a laminate alternative so you can see the lever. You sign off type A and type B specs off the drawings. As block one's eight units hit GIB-stopped, we measure all eight in a day, confirm the two units where the services landed differently, and release them to the workshop. While block one is being built in East Tamaki, your other trades carry on in blocks two and three.
Block one installs as a run of eight: a single kitchen takes about 5 to 7 days, but a staged block is sequenced so the crew rolls from unit to unit and the benchtop template follows a couple of days behind the carcass install. Block two is measured the week block one is installing. By the time block three's linings are up, the type A and B drawings, hardware and finishes haven't changed once, so unit 24 is identical to unit 1. No re-spec, no re-quote, no waiting on a stone supplier who's now booked two months out because the market moved. That's the whole case for one programme over 24 separate jobs, and it's the same logic behind keeping kitchen spec consistent across 30-plus units.
| Stage | Two-bed (galley scullery) | Three-bed (single-run + island) |
|---|---|---|
| Quote | Priced in the 24-unit programme | Priced in the 24-unit programme |
| Spec sign-off | Type A locked off drawings | Type B locked off drawings |
| Measure | In waves at GIB-stopped, per block | In waves at GIB-stopped, per block |
| Benchtop | Laminate or engineered stone | Engineered stone, island included |
| Install | About 5-7 days, staged in block run | About 5-7 days, staged in block run |
Delivery and install run to your sequence
We deliver and install to suit your programme, not ours. A single kitchen runs about 5 to 7 days to install. Volume work is staged, so kitchens land as each unit comes ready and your other trades keep moving instead of waiting on us. Our crews are Site Safe qualified, which means on a commercial fit-out or a developer site we slot into the head contractor's safety system without becoming a problem for them. We've supplied as head-contractor kitchen supplier to Spencer Henshaw, so we know what a tier-one site expects of a subbie. Getting the kitchen to dovetail with the trades either side of it is its own discipline, and coordinating kitchen install with your other trades digs into that handoff.
Being one supply-and-install partner is what drops your coordination load. You're not project-managing a cabinetmaker, a separate installer and a stone supplier and praying they line up. Here's what it consolidates:
- One contract and one invoice for supply and install, not three accounts to reconcile
- One point of contact from quote to sign-off who actually knows the job
- Benchtops, joinery and install handled together, so no gaps for trades to blame each other
- Site Safe crews that meet head-contractor requirements on commercial sites
- The same spec across every unit, measured and built off the same drawings
The two-visit reality on stone is worth flagging. With engineered or natural stone, carcasses go in first, the bench gets templated off the installed cabinetry, then it's fabricated and returned to fit. That gap is normal and we sequence it so it doesn't stall your plumber's final connection or your sparky's appliance hook-up. With laminate, the bench can come pre-made and the whole thing closes out faster, which is one of the levers on a tight programme. The full trade-off between the two materials is laid out in laminate vs stone benchtops: cost vs value.
What it costs, and the levers that move it
Nobody can give you a real per-kitchen price without the drawings, and anyone who throws a figure at a unit count over the phone is guessing. What's honest is the levers, because those are what actually move your number up or down. The biggest one is benchtop material. Laminate is the workhorse for rental and spec stock; engineered stone steps it up; natural stone is the top of the range and carries the most variation. Moving a whole development from stone to laminate can change the kitchen line materially across 24 units, and it's the first place to look if feasibility's tight.
Three accounts become one contract.
After that, in rough order of impact: cabinetry finish (melteca and melamine are the value option, 2-pac lacquer and timber cost more and look it), the amount of joinery per unit, hardware spec (soft-close everything versus standard), and appliance integration. Volume itself is a lever in your favour. Twenty-four near-identical kitchens priced as one programme don't cost twenty-four times one kitchen, because the design, setup and runs are shared. Trade and wholesale pricing with no showroom markup is the baseline; repetition is the discount on top. If you want to pressure-test where you can trim without hurting the result, value engineering kitchens without cheapening the build is built for exactly that call.
The cost that doesn't show on the quote is the one worth most: variations and callbacks. A kitchen that's measured properly, spec'd once and built in-house tends not to generate the mid-build change orders and post-install snags that quietly eat margin on the jobs that look cheap at tender. Cheapest quote and cheapest job are not the same number.
What goes wrong, and how to stop it
The failures on kitchen packages are predictable, which is the good news. Most of them trace back to the same handful of decisions made too early or by too many parties. Here's where jobs actually come unstuck:
- Measuring before the GIB is up, so the kitchen's built to framing dimensions and fights the finished wall
- Splitting cabinetry, stone and install across three suppliers who then point at each other when something doesn't line up
- Locking a benchtop or appliance spec at concept, changing it mid-build, and wearing the variation and the delay
- No allowance for the stone template-and-return gap, so the plumber's final connection gets stranded
- Ordering off drawings that drifted from what was actually built on site, especially services positions
- Treating 24 units as 24 jobs, so the spec quietly creeps and unit 24 doesn't match unit 1
The throughline is fragmentation. Every one of those is a gap between two parties or two points in time. Close the gaps and the problems mostly don't happen. That's the structural reason measure, manufacture and install under one roof keeps jobs on programme: there's no handover for the job to fall through. For the broader playbook on staying out of trouble, how to avoid kitchen install delays collects the rest.
Most kitchen overruns aren't build problems. They're handover problems between too many parties. Put measure, manufacture and install under one roof and the job stays on programme. That's most of the battle.
Sign-off and handover
On completion we walk the kitchen, check the install against the confirmed spec, and hand it over clean. Because the spec was locked at measure and the units were built to it in our own shop, sign-off is usually a formality, not the front end of a snag list. For rental or turnover stock, durable finishes and consistent componentry also mean less maintenance and easier replacements years down the track, which is where the quiet savings sit long after handover.
On a multi-unit job, consistency pays off again at this point. When every kitchen came off the same drawings, the handover walk is the same walk 24 times over, not 24 different inspections. Your QS and your site manager know what they're signing. And if a hinge needs adjusting in unit 9 two years on, it's the same hinge as the other 23, so the fix is a part off the shelf, not a hunt for whatever a long-gone subbie happened to use. The detail behind that consistency is in how kitchens are quality-checked at every stage.
What to ask any kitchen supplier before you commit
Whether it's us or anyone else, the questions below sort the suppliers who'll hold your programme from the ones who'll hand you a snag list. Ask them at quote stage, when the answers are cheap.
- Is this supply and install on one contract and one invoice, or am I coordinating separate trades?
- Do you manufacture in your own workshop, or are you reselling someone else's lead time?
- What's your realistic install time per unit, and how do you stage a volume run?
- Are your install crews Site Safe qualified for a head-contractor site?
- When do you need to measure relative to GIB and services, and how do you handle units that vary?
- How do you sequence stone template-and-return so it doesn't strand my other trades?
- What's the benchtop and finish range, and what does moving between them do to the price?
- How do you guarantee unit 24 matches unit 1 across a staged release?
Frequently asked questions
How early can you give me a price for feasibility?
As soon as you have something to send, even a rough layout and a unit count. You'll get a number back within 24 hours with the assumptions stated, and it firms up as the drawings firm up, so you don't have to wait for consented plans to plan around a working figure.
Do you only do volume and developer work, or residential too?
Both. The bulk of the work is volume for developers, builders and commercial fit-outs, but there's a residential lane too, including one-off renovations like a Ponsonby villa kitchen or a single new build. Same workshop, same crews, same supply-and-install contract, just a different scale.
When exactly should you measure on my site?
After the GIB is up and stopped and the plumbing and electrical are roughed in, with the floor down or set out, so the dimensions are the finished ones. On a staged release we measure in waves to match how the units come ready, so we're not holding up the blocks that are already lined.
How do you keep every kitchen identical across a staged build?
The spec is locked at the first measure, then every unit of that type comes off the same drawings, built on the same machinery by the same team in East Tamaki. Because nothing's re-quoted or re-sourced between block one and block three, unit 24 is built to the identical drawing as unit 1, months apart.
What if a unit on site doesn't match the drawing?
It happens on nearly every multi-unit job, which is exactly why we measure on site rather than building blind off the plans. We catch the variance at measure and build that carcass to the real dimensions, and because manufacturing is in-house, an adjustment is a change on our own floor, not a week-long order back through a third party.
How long does a single kitchen take to install?
About 5 to 7 days for a single kitchen. Volume work is staged so kitchens land as each unit comes ready, and the crew rolls from unit to unit through a block rather than treating each one as a separate job.
Send us your unit count and we'll come back in 24 hours
So that's the run: a real quote in 24 hours, a precise measure, a controlled build in East Tamaki, a staged install by Site Safe crews, and a clean handover. With 23-plus years and 2,000-plus kitchens behind us, the process is built for volume that has to land on time and on spec, without the handover gaps that turn a kitchen package into a problem.
Send us your unit count, your drawings, or just the brief in your head. You'll have bulk trade pricing and a programme that fits your build back within 24 hours, in NZD plus GST, landed and fitted. If feasibility's tight, that's the fastest way to find out what the levers are worth before you're committed to anything.