Built-in Shelving and Storage
Bookcases, window seats, mudroom benches and floating shelves, scribed to fit walls that are never quite square.

Is this an emergency?
No. Built-ins and Shelving is scheduled work and is not covered by our emergency service, which runs 24 hours, 7 days, including holidays. We will book you into an ordinary dispatch window rather than charge an emergency rate for a job that can wait for one.
About Built-ins and Shelving
Why a built-in is not a bookcase you buy
The difference is scribing. A freestanding bookcase stands in front of a wall and the gaps do not matter. A built-in sits against the wall, and every gap is visible from across the room.
Triangle houses are not square. Walls bow, corners are rarely ninety degrees, floors slope, and ceilings undulate over a long run. A unit built to a drawing and pushed into place will show a tapering gap up one side. So the carcass is built square in the shop, and the face frames, fillers and scribes are cut on site to the wall as it actually is.
That hand-fitting is most of what you are paying for, and it is why we measure before quoting rather than pricing by the linear foot over the phone.
What it costs
Most built-ins land between $2,400 and $12,000.
The bottom of that is a single alcove of painted open shelving beside a chimney breast. The top is a full wall of floor-to-ceiling bookcases with a run of cupboards below, in a clear-finished hardwood, matched to the room's existing mouldings.
Larger projects are financing eligible where the quote clears the financing minimum. Both lender options are on our financing page.
The things worth deciding early
Doors or open. Adding doors and drawers roughly doubles the work in a given run, because every opening needs a face frame, a hinge fit and a finish on both sides. It is the largest single lever on the price.
What is actually going on the shelves. This sounds trivial and it is not. Paperbacks need less depth than art books, records need a very specific height, and a shelf sized for one is annoying for the other. A shelf carrying books needs more support than one holding photographs, and an unsupported span over about thirty inches in a softwood will bow within a year of being loaded. Tell us what it is for and we will size it properly.
Power and lighting. Wanted more often than people expect, for lamps, chargers and shelf lighting. The electrical work itself is an electrical service, but the chase, the backing and the cutouts have to be built into the unit rather than drilled afterwards, so decide before fabrication rather than during.
Matching existing trim. In an older house with distinctive skirting or crown moulding, a built-in that ignores it looks bolted on. Matching means either sourcing a profile or having knives ground to run it, and both are worth doing.
Floating shelves, properly
Floating shelves fail more often than any other thing on this page, and always the same way: too much load on a fixing that was never rated for it.
We fit them on concealed steel rods let into the shelf and anchored into structure, not into drywall anchors. That means locating studs or adding backing behind the plaster before the wall is closed up, which is why a floating shelf is easier to do well during a remodel than afterwards.
A properly supported floating shelf will carry a full run of hardbacks indefinitely. One on drywall anchors will sag visibly within months and eventually pull out, usually taking a piece of the wall with it.
Timeline
Three to six weeks of shop fabrication after sign-off, then one to three days on site. Shorter than custom cabinetry because there is less of it, but still shop work rather than something we build in your living room.
Before we visit
Clear the wall or alcove so it can be measured and checked for plumb. Have a rough idea of what will live on it. Say whether you want power or lighting inside the unit, and gather any photographs of styles you like.
What is included
- Included
- Design consultation, measured drawings and a fixed written quote
- Shop fabrication of carcasses, doors and face frames
- Adjustable shelving on concealed supports where specified
- Site fitting, scribing and levelling to the room as built
- Matching of existing skirting, architrave and crown mouldings
- Window seats with lift-up or drawer storage
- Mudroom benches, cubbies and hook rails
- Floating shelves on concealed steel supports rated for real loads
- Painting or clear finishing
- Not included
- Electrical work to bring power or lighting into a unit, which is an electrical service
- Structural alteration to create or widen an alcove
- Television mounting and cable management inside a unit
- Freestanding furniture
- Lead paint disturbance without certified containment
- Brands serviced
- Blum, Häfele, Sherwin-Williams, Rubio Monocoat, Benjamin Moore
- Certifications
- NC General Contractor licence 78341, EPA Lead-Safe certified firm
- Permit required
- No permit is required for this work.
- Typical timeline
- Three to six weeks of shop fabrication after sign-off, then one to three days on site to fit.
What it costs
This is quoted rather than booked. An estimate visit is free and carries no diagnostic fee, and you get a fixed written quote at the end of it. The range below is what work of this kind usually costs, not a quote.$2,400 to $12,000
- After hours
- $150 between and , and on Sundays
- Financing
- Available from $3,000This work clears the minimum. See financing options.
What moves the price
- Run length and height, and whether the unit reaches the ceiling
- Whether it is open shelving or has doors and drawers, which roughly doubles the work
- Timber species and whether the finish is painted or a clear coat over grain
- How out of square and out of plumb the walls are, since every scribe is hand-fitted
- Whether trim has to be matched to existing mouldings elsewhere in the room
- Whether power or lighting is being run into the unit, which brings in an electrician
What affects any Cedarline price
- How old the equipment is, and whether replacement parts are still manufactured
- How accessible the work area is: a crawlspace or a second-storey roof takes longer than a garage
- Whether a permit and an inspection are required
- Material grade, which on a roof or a deck moves the total more than labour does
- Whether the visit falls outside dispatch hours
Before we arrive
- Clear the wall or alcove so it can be measured and checked for plumb
- Note what will actually live on the shelves, since books and record collections need different depths
- Say whether you want power or lighting inside the unit
- Gather photographs of styles you like
Typical timeline
Three to six weeks of shop fabrication after sign-off, then one to three days on site to fit.
Warranty
- Labour
- 60 months
- Parts
- 12 months
Five years on our joinery and finish. Hinges and runners carry lifetime manufacturer warranties.
Questions
Carpentry questions
How long does custom cabinetry take?
Six to ten weeks of shop fabrication after you sign off the design, then two to five days on site to fit. From first visit to finished cabinetry is three to four months. There is no version of this where cabinetry appears in three weeks: the timber has to be selected and milled, carcasses and doors built, and the finish sprayed and properly cured before anything leaves the shop. If your date is genuinely immovable, stock or semi-custom cabinetry through a kitchen remodel is the faster route and we will say so.
What makes custom cabinetry expensive?
Timber species first, then whether the doors are inset or overlay. Painted poplar is the value option and a genuinely good one, because paint does not care what is underneath as long as it is stable; white oak and walnut are several times the cost. Inset doors sit flush within the frame, which looks considerably better and demands tolerances measured in fractions of a millimetre across a run that will move seasonally, so it costs more than overlay.
Can you reface my existing cabinets?
No. Where the carcasses are sound, refacing can be good value, but it runs on a different supply chain from the one we work in and we would be the wrong company to do it. We build new cabinetry in our shop and fit it, or we fit stock and semi-custom units as part of a kitchen remodel.
Why did the joints in my new trim open up?
Almost always because the material was cut and fitted straight off the van rather than acclimatised first. Trim arrives at whatever moisture content the warehouse had, and your house is drier in January and more humid in August, so timber shrinks as it equalises. We deliver material several days before we cut it and let it sit in the room it is going into. It costs nothing except a corner of a dry room and it is the difference between joints that stay closed and joints you notice every time you walk past.
What is a coped joint and why does it matter?
A coped inside corner has one piece run into the corner and the other cut to its profile with a coping saw, so the joint closes rather than opening as the timber moves. A mitred inside corner looks identical on the day and opens up by the following summer. Mitring is faster, which is why plenty of installers do it. We cope every inside corner on crown, and price tracks corner count far more closely than it tracks linear feet.
Can you match the original trim in my old house?
Usually yes, either with a stock profile close enough or by having knives ground to run the original. The second costs more and is often worth it in a house with any architectural character. Bring us a short offcut of the original if you have one anywhere; a piece from the back of a cupboard is enough to copy from, and it is far more useful than a photograph.
My door sticks in summer and swings free in winter. Should I plane it?
No. That is timber doing exactly what it should in North Carolina humidity, and planing it in summer gives you a door with a visible gap by winter. The usual real fixes are a longer hinge screw driven into the stud rather than just the jamb, a strike plate moved a few millimetres, or a hinge shimmed. That is a short visit and it is much cheaper than a replacement, and we will always try it first.
Should I get insert windows or full-frame replacement?
An insert if the existing frame and sill are sound, full-frame if they are not. An insert fits inside the existing frame: quicker, cheaper, less disruptive, keeps your trim inside and out, and loses a little glass area. A full-frame replacement takes everything back to the rough opening, costs more and means new trim, and it is the only way to get the flashing detail properly right. If the sill is soft, an insert is a way of hiding a problem rather than fixing one.
What will I find under the carpet on my stairs?
It is genuinely a gamble, and worth knowing before you commit. In many Triangle houses, particularly builder-grade ones from the 1980s onward, the treads under carpet were never intended to be seen: construction-grade softwood, often with a plywood riser, held down with staples and adhesive, and gouged. Sometimes what comes up is beautiful and needs sanding and finishing; often it needs new treads. We survey first and price both outcomes separately so you can decide with the information.
My banister is loose. Is that a big job?
Usually smaller than it feels, and the cause is nearly always the newel post rather than the balusters. A newel fixed only to the tread has nothing to resist a sideways push, and once it moves the whole run feels unsafe. Fixing it properly means anchoring into the framing, which sometimes means opening the skirt board or working from below. That fixing is what our five year joinery warranty is really about, because a balustrade that feels solid on handover and loose in two years was fixed to the wrong thing.
Can rotten trim be repaired, or does it need replacing?
Three options, and choosing between them is most of the skill. A splice cuts the rotten section back to sound timber and scarfs a new piece in, which is cheaper than replacement and keeps the original profile. Epoxy consolidation hardens softened fibre and is right for something irreplaceable like an original turned column, and wrong for a length of stock casing. Full replacement is right when more than about a third has gone or the piece carries load.
Will the rot come back after you repair it?
It will if the water is still getting in, which is why our quote names the cause rather than just the repair. Timber does not rot on its own: something is keeping it wet, usually a gutter overflowing or discharging behind a fascia, a roof detail with no flashing, a sill with no drip edge, or a paint film that failed years ago. Where the cause is ours to fix we quote it alongside. Our two year warranty assumes the water has been dealt with, and we will not warrant a splice under a still-leaking gutter.
Common questions
How long is the arrival window?
Most visits carry a two hour arrival window, and roofing and construction visits carry three. We quote a window rather than an exact time because a trades crew genuinely cannot promise a minute, and we would rather be accurate than optimistic. We text you when the crew is on the way.
Is the diagnostic fee waived if I go ahead with the repair?
Yes. The diagnostic fee covers the technician's time and a written fault report, and it is waived when you approve the repair. Installation and replacement quotes carry no diagnostic fee at all, because nothing is being diagnosed on an estimate visit.
Is a slot confirmed as soon as I request it?
Not quite. A request is not a held slot. We confirm within 30 minutes during dispatch hours, and first thing the next dispatch day if you request outside them. The availability shown on the site reflects how full a day usually is rather than a live view of the dispatch board.
How can I pay?
We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, ACH bank transfer, and financing on qualifying projects. Payment is due on completion for service work, and on a staged schedule set out in the quote for larger projects. There are two payment methods we cannot take, which are covered in our billing questions.
What happens if I need to cancel?
Give us 24 hours notice and there is no charge. One call or one text is enough to reschedule, and we would much rather move you than charge you. Cancelling inside that window, or nobody being home when the crew arrives, carries a no-show fee.
What happens if nobody is home when the crew arrives?
There is a no-show fee, and it is the same figure as the late cancellation fee. It covers the slot another customer could have used and the crew's drive. If you are running late rather than absent, call us and we will usually wait or come back later the same day at no charge.
What actually happens on a service call?
A technician arrives inside the arrival window, diagnoses the fault, tells you the repair price before touching anything, and completes the work if you approve it. You get a written report either way. Nothing is added to the invoice without your approval first, and we do not carry out extra work while you are out of the room.
What are your hours?
The office is open Monday to Friday from 07:30, and Saturday mornings. Crews dispatch on a wider window, from 07:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and 08:00 to 16:00 on Saturday. There is no scheduled dispatch on Sunday. Emergency coverage runs 24 hours a day, every day, including holidays.
Do you cover my area?
We cover Raleigh, Durham, Cary and the wider Triangle, with coverage recorded city by city because it is not uniform. Most cities have every trade and no travel fee, two have a limited set of trades and a travel fee, one is emergency coverage only, and some adjacent zip codes are outside the service radius entirely. Enter your zip code on our service areas page for a definitive answer.
Do you work on commercial buildings?
No. We are residential only, including multifamily buildings up to four units. A four-unit building is the ceiling and it is a real one rather than a preference: our crews, our insurance and our licences are all sized for residential work. For anything larger, or for any commercial or industrial property, you need a commercial general contractor.
Do you install pool heaters, septic systems, or solar?
No to all three, and we will point you at the right trade for each. Pool and spa equipment sits under a separate licence, so you need a pool service company. Septic systems need a licensed septic contractor, and Wake County keeps a list of permitted installers. Solar needs a solar installer, though we will happily reroof around an existing array. We publish the full list of work we do not take on rather than making you ask.
Do you have Spanish-speaking technicians?
Yes, Monday through Friday. We do not staff Spanish-speaking crews at weekends. If you need one, ask when you book and we will schedule you on a weekday rather than send someone who cannot explain the work to you.
Are you licensed and insured?
Yes. We hold five North Carolina licences covering HVAC, general contracting, roofing, plumbing and electrical, and every licence number is published on our site rather than available on request. We carry general liability cover and workers compensation cover, and we are bonded. Certificates go to your adjuster or your HOA the same day you ask.
What warranty do you give?
Twelve months on labour and parts is the standard, and several services carry considerably longer. Roof replacements carry ten years on workmanship, repiping ten years, structural repair five years, and cabinetry five years. Manufacturer warranties on equipment run separately and are often longer still, and we register them in your name before we leave.
What if I am not happy with the work?
We come back and put it right at no charge. There is no time limit on a workmanship complaint about a repair we performed. Call the office rather than the crew directly, so it gets logged and scheduled rather than depending on one person remembering.
What should I do with my pets?
Secure them away from the work area before we arrive. This is genuinely for their safety rather than ours: crews prop doors open, carry sharp and heavy things through the house, and use tools that frighten animals. Tell us when you book if you have a dog that needs handling carefully, and we will note it on the job.
Do I need to be home?
For most visits, no, provided we can get in and reach the work. Inspections, maintenance visits and outdoor work frequently happen with nobody home. You do need to be there for anything where we will be quoting work, making decisions with you, or entering occupied rooms. We will tell you which yours is when you book.
What access do you need?
A clear path to the work area, clear parking for a van near the house, and unlocked side gates where the job is round the back. Roofing and outdoor work need the driveway, sometimes for a skip. If parking is difficult where you are, tell us when you book, because a crew circling for twenty minutes is time on your job.
What is the difference between emergency and scheduled work?
Two separate operations with separate rules. Scheduled work runs inside published dispatch hours, is booked into an arrival window, and carries the ordinary diagnostic fee. Emergency work runs around the clock on a fixed shortlist of eight services, targets a 90 minute response, and carries a call-out fee on top. Ringing the emergency line about something outside that shortlist does not upgrade it; you get booked into the next ordinary window instead. Our emergency questions list exactly which eight services qualify and set out what to do while you wait.
How long is a written quote valid?
Thirty days from the date on it. Beyond that we will re-price rather than honour a figure that no longer covers the materials, and material prices on roofing and lumber in particular move enough that a quarter-old quote is not meaningful. Re-pricing an expired quote is quick, because the survey work is already done.
Is a maintenance plan worth it?
It depends on how much work you expect to need. The plans bundle seasonal visits with priority dispatch and a standing discount on repairs, billed monthly, and the discount alone pays for the cheapest tier if you have one significant repair a year. If you rarely call anyone out, paying per visit is the better arithmetic and we will say so.
Is Cedarline Home Services a real company?
No. Cedarline Home Services is a fictional company used for demos. Every price, policy, licence number and phone number on this site is invented for that purpose, and none of it should be relied on as a real quotation or a real business record.
Related services
- Custom CabinetryCabinetry designed for your room, built in our shop and fitted on site, with a six to ten week fabrication lead time.
- Interior Trim and MoldingCrown molding, skirting, architrave, wainscoting and panelling, acclimatised in the house before it is cut and scribed to walls as built.
- Stair and Railing WorkStair rebuilds, tread and riser replacement, and balustrade work, built to the code dimensions an inspector will measure.
- Wood Repair and RestorationRepair of rotten or damaged timber, inside and out, with the water that caused it dealt with rather than painted over.
How to get a price
A built-in is made to the room rather than bought to a size, so it has to be measured and the walls checked for square before anything can be priced. Run length, whether it has doors, and how far out of plumb the walls are all change the work substantially. Book a free measure and design visit and you will have a fixed written quote.