Tailored Living Garage Cabinets: What You Get and Whether It's Worth the Cost

Tailored Living is a franchise-based custom organization company that installs garage cabinets, closet systems, and home office storage. Their garage cabinet systems are fully customized to your specific dimensions and needs, professionally installed, and priced significantly higher than retail box store alternatives. Expect to pay $3,000 to $8,000 or more for a full garage cabinet system from Tailored Living, depending on the size of your garage and the materials you choose.

Whether that's worth it depends on what you need. If you want a system designed exactly for your walls, installed in a day without you lifting a finger, and backed by a professional company with a warranty, Tailored Living makes sense. If you're comfortable with DIY assembly and care primarily about function over aesthetics, you can get very similar storage capacity from Husky, Gladiator, or Craftsman for a fraction of the cost.

What Tailored Living Actually Offers

Tailored Living's garage storage starts with an in-home consultation where a designer measures your space and discusses how you use your garage. They then design a system specific to your walls, ceiling height, and storage needs.

Cabinet Materials

Tailored Living offers cabinets in two primary material categories:

Steel cabinets: Powder-coated steel construction, similar to what you'd find from Gladiator or Husky but built to custom dimensions. Steel holds up well in garages that see temperature extremes and is easy to wipe down.

Melamine or laminate wood cabinets: These look more like kitchen cabinets, with a clean finished appearance and a wider range of color and door style options. They're lighter than steel and don't handle moisture as well in very humid garages, but they create a high-end look that steel can't match.

Typical System Components

A typical Tailored Living garage setup includes: - Base cabinets (floor-standing, with doors and sometimes drawers) - Wall-mounted upper cabinets - A garage flooring system (epoxy or interlocking tiles, optional but frequently bundled) - Custom overhead storage if requested - Sometimes a workbench section integrated into the cabinet run

The whole system is designed as a unit, so the heights align, the finishes match, and the result looks like a built-in rather than a collection of individual pieces.

How Tailored Living Compares to DIY Alternatives

The honest comparison here is not just about price. It's about value for your specific situation.

What You Pay For

With Tailored Living you're paying for: 1. Custom sizing (cabinets built to your exact dimensions, filling your walls without gaps) 2. Professional installation (typically takes one day for a full garage) 3. Design expertise (someone who does this for a living can spot problems and suggest solutions you wouldn't think of) 4. Warranty and service (Tailored Living franchises typically offer installation warranties and will come back to fix problems)

What DIY Gives You

A Husky, Gladiator, or Craftsman system from Home Depot or Lowe's gives you: 1. Standard cabinet sizes (24-inch, 28-inch, 36-inch widths) that may leave gaps or require awkward arrangements 2. Self-installation, which takes a weekend but is genuinely manageable 3. Significantly lower cost: a comparable amount of storage might run $1,500 to $2,500 DIY versus $5,000+ through Tailored Living

For most homeowners who have a weekend afternoon and can operate a drill, the DIY route provides 90% of the benefit for 30% to 40% of the cost.

But if your garage has irregular walls, sloped sections, around-the-door-trim situations, or you simply don't want to spend the time, Tailored Living's value proposition is real.

For a side-by-side look at the best DIY garage cabinet options, the Best Garage Cabinets roundup covers Gladiator, Husky, Craftsman, and others with current pricing.

Getting a Quote from Tailored Living

The process starts on Tailored Living's website (tailoredliving.com). You enter your zip code, and it connects you to your local franchise. You schedule a free in-home consultation, which takes about an hour. The designer brings samples of cabinet materials and door styles, measures your space, and produces a design.

You don't get a price online before the consultation. This is standard practice for custom installation companies because the cost varies so much by system size and material choice.

What to Do Before the Appointment

Come prepared with: - Photos of your current garage and problem areas - A rough list of what you need to store (bikes, tools, sports equipment, holiday bins) - A sense of whether you want a utilitarian steel system or a more finished look - Your approximate budget, so the designer doesn't spec a $7,000 system if you were thinking $3,000

The consultation is no-obligation, and the designers aren't high-pressure. But having a budget in mind prevents a situation where you fall in love with a system you can't afford.

Alternative: Tailored Living's Competitors

If you want professional installation but want to compare prices, a few other companies operate in the same space.

Closet Factory: Similar franchise model, offers garage storage in addition to closets. Comparable pricing to Tailored Living.

California Closets: More closet-focused but does garage storage. Higher-end pricing, more design options.

Garage Living: Specifically focused on garages, often more competitive on price than Tailored Living for steel cabinet systems. Worth getting a quote from both.

NewAge Products: Sells flat-pack garage cabinet systems online that look very similar to professional installs but you assemble and install yourself. A complete 9-piece set runs $2,000 to $3,000. Quality is genuinely good.

The Best Cheap Garage Cabinets guide covers lower-cost starting points if Tailored Living's pricing is out of range.

Is Tailored Living Worth It?

Here's how I'd think about the decision:

Worth it if: - You have a complex space with lots of corners, angles, or door clearance challenges - You'll use the garage heavily and want the storage to look truly finished - You have the budget and value your time enough to pay to skip a weekend of DIY work - You're planning to sell the house in a few years and want the garage to photograph well

Not worth it if: - You have a standard rectangular garage with flat walls and no unusual obstacles - You're comfortable with basic tool use and can assemble IKEA-style furniture - Your primary concern is function rather than appearance - You're on a tight budget and need that $3,000 to $5,000 for other things

FAQ

Does Tailored Living offer financing? Yes, most Tailored Living franchises offer financing options, typically through third-party lenders like GreenSky. Terms vary, and you'll discuss them at the consultation or follow-up quote meeting.

How long does Tailored Living take to install a garage system? Installation typically takes one day for a full two-car garage system. The lead time from signing a contract to installation is usually 3 to 6 weeks, depending on the franchise's schedule and whether custom materials need to be ordered.

Does Tailored Living also do garage flooring? Yes, they offer epoxy garage floor coatings and interlocking tile systems. These are frequently bundled with cabinet systems. The floor is usually done first (one day), then the cabinets go in on a second visit a few days later after the floor cures.

What warranty does Tailored Living offer? Warranties vary by franchise. Typically you get a one-year installation warranty plus any manufacturer warranty on cabinet components. Ask specifically about the warranty terms before signing a contract.

Tailored Living produces high-quality custom garage storage and the installation experience is smooth. The price is real, and so is the value for the right situation. If you have the budget and a garage that would genuinely benefit from custom-fit storage, get the quote. If you're primarily cost-conscious and have a standard rectangular space, the DIY alternatives give you nearly as much functional storage for substantially less money.