A millwork bid built off the casework schedule alone is a bid that prices the boxes and misses the two things that actually move the number: the finish grade clause, and the coordination duty that sits on millwork whether the spec says so plainly or not. Two casework packages with identical box counts can be 30% apart once one calls for AWMAC Premium Grade with sequence-matched veneer and the other doesn't — and that clause is often a single line, easy to read past on the way to the elevations.
This is a working list of where millwork scope actually gets decided, built from what shows up across real Canadian ICI tenders. Not a catalogue of casework types — a list of the specific clauses worth hunting down before the number leaves the office.
What's reliably yours
- Architectural casework, supply and installation — cabinets, shelving, reception desks and feature units per the casework schedules and interior elevations. Count them per elevation, not per plan; the plan shows a box, the elevation shows what's actually inside it.
- Finish carpentry — standing and running trim, window stools, wood bases, panelling and wall features. Unglamorous linear footage that adds up fast across a full floor of corridors and offices.
- Countertops — plastic laminate and solid surface tops with cutouts. Stone and quartz tops get extracted with the supply route named specifically, because they're routinely a separate supplier with a separate delivery schedule that this trade still has to coordinate around.
- Casework hardware — hinges, slides, pulls, locks and accessory hardware per the schedule or a specified series. A named hardware series (soft-close, a specific pull profile) is a real cost delta from "standard," and it's worth confirming the series matches across every elevation, not just the first one.
- Shop finishing to the specified grade — AWMAC/AWI grade, veneer species and cut, transparent versus opaque finish. This single clause is the biggest price driver in the entire section, bigger than box count.
Where the fight actually happens
Install-only casework: whose units, whose install
Owner-supplied or vendor-supplied units — a specialty reception desk, a branded fixture package — sometimes land on millwork for installation only, with the unit itself arriving from elsewhere. What needs extracting isn't just the install assignment; it's the receiving and storage duty that comes with it. A unit that shows up three weeks before the wall it installs into is framed becomes a site logistics problem with millwork's name on it, whether or not anyone priced storage.
Feature and specialty items — priced by system, not by square foot
Slat ceilings, acoustic wood systems, upholstered banquettes and similar feature work show up in millwork sections often enough to expect, but each is really its own system with its own labour model — not a variation on standard casework. Extract these with the actual system name attached, because pricing a slat ceiling like panelling is how a feature item quietly loses money against a box count that never accounted for it.
The other half: what isn't yours, even when it looks close
- Rough blocking and backing — the material and installation belong to rough carpentry or drywall, not millwork. The catch is that the locations for that backing come from millwork's own shop drawings, so the coordination duty is real even though the work itself isn't. Late shop drawings mean late backing locations, which means backing framed to a guess.
- Appliances and fixtures in casework — the appliance or fixture itself is supplied by others, but the cutout and grommet for it is millwork's. Extract the cutout responsibility language specifically; "appliances by owner" says nothing about who's cutting the hole for one.
Four things that hide outside the casework schedule
- Certification programs. An AWMAC Quality Standards (GIS) or equivalent inspection and certification requirement carries real fees and a shop-audit obligation — a compliance cost that has nothing to do with box count and everything to do with a single line in the general notes.
- Veneer matching and sequencing. Sequence-matched or blueprint-matched panels multiply veneer cost several times over compared to standard matching, and the difference is a spec word, not a visible drawing change.
- Site conditions for installation. A stated humidity range or acclimatization period as a precondition for installation is a schedule dependency as much as a quality one — wood casework installed outside spec'd conditions is a warranty problem waiting to happen.
- Attic stock and spares. An obligation to leave spare hardware and finished material on site is a real supply line, and it's easy to price the installed quantity and forget the extra.
Who you're actually sharing the elevation with
| Trade | What to reconcile before you price |
|---|---|
| Plumbing & electrical | Sink and device cutouts, grommet locations and under-cabinet fixtures — confirmed against the shop drawings, not just the elevations. |
| Rough carpentry & drywall | Backing locations and heights, issued from millwork's shop drawings — a sequencing dependency, not just a scope split. |
| Flooring | Base-before-or-after decisions and toe-kick heights, which change the finished dimension millwork installs against. |
| General contractor | Protection of finished work, delivery windows and elevator access — casework is expensive to damage twice. |
The pass that catches most of this
Read the grade clause before the elevations — it decides more of the price than any individual box does. Then read for the two coordination duties that don't show up as scope items at all: backing locations that only exist once shop drawings are issued, and receiving/storage obligations attached to anything installed but not supplied. The casework schedule tells you what to build; the clauses around it tell you what building it is actually going to cost.