Furniture Assembly in NYC
Send me a photo of the boxes, get a flat price before I ring your buzzer, and yes, I work Sundays.
· often next day · exact quote from a photo, before the visit · minimum $130
What’s included in every assembly visit
We’re two independent handymen, Konstantin and Diana, so the person you text is the person who shows up with the tools. You book one of us by name. No dispatcher, no “a technician will contact you.” Here’s how a typical visit goes:
- You send photos of the boxes (or a link to the item). I reply with a flat price.
- We pick a time, including 7 PM on a Tuesday or Sunday morning. Sunday slots are the easiest ones to get from me.
- I assemble the piece level, square, and tight. I check every drawer slide and door hinge before I call it done.
- I break down all the cardboard and packaging and haul it to your building’s recycling. Cleanup is part of the job, not an upsell.
One thing I push on every dresser, bookcase, and wardrobe: anchoring to the wall. Tall furniture tips, and in an apartment with kids or pets that’s not a theoretical problem. It’s why IKEA ships tip-restraint kits in the box. Anchoring starts at $130, and I’ll match the hardware to your actual wall, not just fire a screw into whatever’s behind the paint. More on that kind of work on my shelving and storage page.
- IKEA dresser / bookcase assembly from $130
- Bed frame assembly from $130
- PAX / large wardrobe assembly from $180
- Childproofing (furniture anchoring) from $130
Flat rates, quoted exactly from a photo before the visit. Minimum visit $130, materials extra. Full rate card →
Quick answers
How much does furniture assembly cost in NYC?
My published flat rates start at $130 for an IKEA dresser, $130 for a bed frame, and $180 for a PAX wardrobe. Minimum visit is $130, hourly work runs $75–95. You get an exact flat quote from photos before I arrive.
Do you assemble furniture on Sundays or in the evening?
Yes. I take evening and Sunday appointments, which is when most people are actually home. Most assembly-only companies in NYC are closed on Sundays.
Can you anchor furniture to the wall in a rental?
Yes. Anchoring starts at $130, and I have renter-friendly options for drywall, plaster, brick, and concrete. Small anchor holes are easy to patch when you move out, much easier than explaining a tipped-over dresser.
How much does it cost to secure a dresser to the wall in NYC?
Anchoring starts at $130. No evaluation fee and no consultation to book first: send a photo of the piece and the wall it goes against, and you get a flat number back. If I'm already assembling that dresser, the anchoring goes on the same visit instead of costing you a second trip.
Are the anti-tip straps that come in the IKEA box enough?
The bracket and strap in the box are fine. What's missing is the wall fastener: IKEA leaves those out on purpose, because a wood stud, hollow drywall, plaster over lath, and brick each take a different one. I find the stud or set the right anchor for your wall, and I carry the hardware for all four.
What if my walls are plaster or brick instead of drywall?
Normal for NYC. It changes the hardware and sometimes the time on site, not whether it can be done. Prewar plaster over wood lath takes a longer fastener into the lath or the framing behind it; brick, block, and concrete take a hammer drill and a sleeve anchor, which I carry. Tell me the age of the building when you send photos and the quote accounts for it.
Do you take away the boxes and packaging?
I break down all cardboard and packaging and bring it to your building's recycling area as part of the job. Cleanup is included: you keep the furniture, not the mess.
What if a part is missing or damaged?
I'll tell you right away, assemble everything that can be assembled, and walk you through getting the replacement part from the retailer. If a second short visit is needed, we work out a fair price up front.
The full guide: Furniture Assembly in NYC
Furniture assembly in NYC starts at a flat $130 with me: that’s an IKEA dresser, done, boxes gone. A bed frame is from $130, a PAX wardrobe from $180. Send photos of the boxes and I’ll send you an exact flat quote before I ever show up. I work evenings and Sundays.
IKEA assembly in NYC apartments: the honest version
NYC apartments add their own flavor to flat-pack furniture, and a good furniture assembler plans for it:
Walls. A prewar building might have plaster over brick. A newer condo might be concrete. A renovated walk-up is often standard drywall with surprises inside. Each one needs different anchors, and I carry all of them, including a hammer drill for brick and concrete. This matters for anchoring furniture and for anything wall-mounted, like floating shelves or a TV.
Stairs and layout. Fourth-floor walk-up with a tight turn on the landing? Sometimes the smart move is carrying the flat boxes up and assembling in the room, which is exactly what flat-pack is for. If a fully built wardrobe won’t clear your hallway, I’ll tell you before we start, not after.
Building rules. Many co-ops and condos have their own paperwork and restricted work hours for outside workers. Tell me what your building requires and when it allows work, and I’ll plan the visit around it.
Renters. Everything I anchor or mount can be done damage-free or easy-patch. You get safe furniture now and your security deposit later.
Furniture anchoring: the childproofing job I actually do
Dedicated childproofing services in NYC do the whole apartment and start with a paid evaluation. I do one piece of that work, the heavy piece: bolting furniture and TVs to the wall so a climbing two-year-old can’t bring them down. Dressers, bookcases, shelving units, tall wardrobes, media consoles, and the TV itself. Anti-tip straps and brackets, set into something that will actually hold. Gates, latches, and outlet covers are somebody else’s trade, and I’ll tell you that on the phone instead of selling you a package I don’t do.
What it costs. Furniture anchoring starts at $130, with no evaluation fee and nothing to book ahead of it: text a photo of the piece and the wall it’s going against, and you get a flat number back. Childproofing companies here usually run it the other way around, an assessment visit of roughly $75 to $180 that often gets credited toward the work, then a whole-apartment package that commonly starts around $500. That math is fair if you want the entire place done. But if you’re pricing babyproofing in NYC and the only thing on your list is furniture that can tip, my number is $130 and you have it before I show up.
The strap in the box is only half the hardware. IKEA ships a tip-restraint kit with its dressers and tall units, and then deliberately leaves out the wall screws, because a wood stud, a hollow drywall bay, plaster over lath, and solid brick each need a different fastener. IKEA can’t know what’s behind your paint. That’s where DIY anchoring quietly fails: a plastic cone plug pushed into eighty-year-old plaster will hold a picture frame, not a loaded dresser with a kid hanging off the open drawers. NYC gives you all four wall types, often in the same apartment:
- Drywall with a stud where you need one. Lag screw straight into the framing. Strongest option, smallest patch later.
- Drywall with no stud in the right spot. A rated toggle bolt, not the cone plug from the checkout aisle.
- Prewar plaster over wood lath. A longer fastener into the lath or the framing behind it, drilled slowly so the plaster face doesn’t blow out.
- Brick, block, or concrete. Hammer drill and a sleeve anchor. In a prewar building the hammer drill comes with me by default.
TVs. A flat screen sitting on a dresser is the classic tip-over: the kid pulls on the screen and the screen takes the furniture with it. I’ll strap the set to the stand and the stand to the wall. If you ask me, the better fix is getting the TV off the furniture entirely: wall mounting runs from $130 on drywall and from $160 on brick or concrete, and it clears the top of the dresser for good. Details on the TV mounting page.
Do it while I’m already there. Anchoring a piece I just built takes minutes, so it rides along on the same visit instead of costing you a second trip. The easiest moment to anchor anything is while it’s still empty and standing away from the wall. Ordering a PAX (from $180) or a bookcase (from $130)? Say so when you ask for the quote and I’ll fold the anchoring in.
Renters. Two small holes per piece, and when you move out they’re a ten-minute patch. I do those too: see drywall repair. A dresser that came down is a much longer conversation with a landlord than a spackled screw hole.
The rule people keep citing. Congress passed the STURDY Act, and since September 1, 2023 the federal stability standard for clothing storage units (ASTM F2057, enforced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission) has applied to new dressers. Two things it doesn’t do: it doesn’t reach the dresser already standing in your bedroom, and it says nothing about the wall behind it. For those, CPSC has been repeating the same two words since 2015: anchor it.
What I can promise is narrow and real. Hardware matched to what’s actually behind your paint, set into something that holds, and pulled on by hand before I leave. Not peace of mind sold by the room.
What I don’t do
Straight talk: I assemble and install furniture, I don’t do everything adjacent to it.
- I don’t move furniture between apartments. That’s a moving company.
- I don’t do the rest of childproofing: no baby gates, no cabinet latches, no outlet covers. Anchoring furniture and TVs is where my end of it stops.
- I don’t do structural work or open up walls.
- If your new vanity needs plumbing hooked up beyond a simple faucet swap, or your built-in needs new wiring run, I’ll say so and point you to a licensed plumber or electrician. Small jobs like a faucet or a light fixture I do handle. See minor plumbing and minor electrical.
- If a piece arrives damaged, I won’t bolt it together and hope. You’ll know before I build it.
Furniture assembly prices
Flat “from” rates, quoted exactly by photo before the visit. Materials extra.
- IKEA dresser: from $130
- Bed frame: from $130
- PAX wardrobe: from $180
- Floating shelf: from $130 each
- Furniture anchoring, anti-tip (dresser, bookcase, TV stand): from $130
- Curtain rod or blinds while I’m there: from $130
Minimum visit is $130; anything hourly runs $75–95/hour. Full list on the pricing page, and there’s a deeper cost breakdown in my post on furniture assembly costs in NYC.
Why booking direct beats a platform
Book through an app and you get whoever accepted the ping: different person every time, price that “adjusts” on site, and boxes left in your hallway. With us: published prices, a flat quote you see before booking, the same person every visit, our 5.0★ across 67 Google reviews, and answers from the person actually holding the Allen key. I cover Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Evenings and Sundays included.
Curious how the finished pieces look? 48 assembly jobs sit in the work gallery.
Send the photos, get the number, pick a time. Contact me here.