Messages

I don't even give my customers the option of the commercial vinyl as opposed to the cheap vinyl anymore.  When we were first getting our feet wet in the medical/dental upholstering field, we had done some jobs using the same automotive and marine grade vinyl we were used to using and we were back on the same equipment within 5 to 6 years.   I was lucky enough to talk to someone with Midmark (a major manufacturer of medical tables and dental chairs) and he clued me in to the problems to be had using the incorrect vinyls.

Off the top of my head a Adec 1040 dental chair might use 3 yards of material.  The difference between the commercial vinyl ($40 retail / yard) vs the cheap vinyl ($20 retail/yard) is $60.  I get $650 to do the chair.  When I tell the Dentist he will probably get 12 to 15 years with the commercial vinyl as opposed to maybe 5 years with the cheap vinyl under normal disinfecting protocol they would never pick the cheap vinyl.  Been doing medical/dental for about 25 years and am on the vendor's list for all 3 major hospital systems in the area.  Because of this I have had the ability to see many of the jobs we have done over the years and how they have held up to the wear and tear and the cleaning.  There is a noticeable difference between the appropriate commercial vinyl and  the so called cheap vinyl.

If one plans on doing a lot of this type of work over the long term as opposed to just getting it done it i worth using the proper vinyl.

   

The only problem I see with using Allsport in a Chiropractor's office might be the type of cleaning and disinfecting they may be required to do.  75% of my business is made up of Medical and Dental office upholstering, and the Chiropractor's offices I have done work for use some fairly harsh disinfectants such as PDI Sani-Cloth Plus.  Commercial vinyls such as Spirit Millennium, Color Guard, Olympus etc. have vinyl coatings such as Prefixx , Color Gard and PermaBlok3 as a protective coating.  If you look at the back of many of these commercial vinyls they say for use in Healthcare among others.  The Allsport may not hold up well long term, especially if anything alcohol based is used.  You might want to contact Morbern who manufactures Allsport and get their opinion on it's use in a medical setting.

http://www.morbern.com/index.php

I have a customer who wants 1950's era dining room chairs redone but keep the vintage look.  Anyone know any suppliers who still supply that type of vinyl.

Jim

Sofadoc,

If someone in a factory setting is getting $1600 for the job I can imagine that the amount of work involved is monumental.  I figured a large amount of skivving would be involved.  We will see how much money she is willing to pay, and go from there.

Jim

Thanks for the input so far.  Unfortunately all she has is the framework and no original cushions.  I was looking at the following website

http://www.modernfurnitureclassics.com/index.php/main_page/editorial/title/Title%207

It said the following:

Barcelona Style Replacement Cushions:

"Creating replica Barcelona cushions is a challenge for even the most skilled upholstery experts. There are 16 layers of leather to sew through at each junction point. Therefore, seaming the button-tufted intersecting welts that crisscross each cushion requires patience and precision."

They get $1600 for bottom and back.  Of course she found a place on eBay that does a knock off for less then $200, though she is understandably skeptical of the quality.  My question would be, how does one sew through 16 layers of leather?  Would seem like a lot.

Hello

Has anyone ever sewn cushions for a Barcelona Chair?  I have a customer coming in this week that needs cushions for one of these and I believe she is going to want them sewn in the traditional style in leather.  I have never actually seen cushions of this type, but was looking online at pictures of them.  It would appear that each square is a separate piece with welts criss- crossing each other.  Looks like a nightmare of a sewing job from a labor standpoint.  Any information or advice is appreciated.

Jim

Nora,

I have done vinyl and leather repairs for going on 26 years.  Over the years we have moved mostly to upholstering, but I still do enough to keep the skill level up.  Was involved in a franchise for the first 19 of the years and unless you are planning on making it the main part of your business, or having employees do it full time, it is not the way to go.  To purchase a franchise will cost you a 5 figure sum, and the monthly franchise fees can be confiscatory.

There are companies that sell the repair products and have training seminars.  Fitzgerald's Restoration has been around for a long time, and sells every product you would need to do vinyl, leather and cloth repairs.

http://www.fitzgeraldsrestoration.com/

Probably the best product that I have found over the years to do leather and vinyl is produced by Refinish Coating.

http://www.refinishcoatings.com/aboutus.html

They are probably the priciest product out there, but hands down the best.  The owner of the company and the distributor both bend over backwards to help the customer in the use of the product.

If you are serious about adding this facet to your business, the best place to find the added work is by marketing to furniture stores and moving companies.

Remember one thing though, like anything else you will only become good at it the more you do it.

Hope this helps.

You may want to look at the 2012 MFA Time Standard Manual.  You will probably take longer then the times stated, and it won't tell you how much to charge per hour, but it might be a good starting point. 
         
http://marinefabricatormag.com/repository/6/13031/0112mf_timestandardsmanual12.pdf

Well I would have to say $45 per cushion would not pay my overhead long term.  I will work on the assumption that this price was given so that the sewer has something to do.  There are a lot of upholsterers around here who have residential upholstering as their primary focus, and word is, business has been moderate to slow.   If not, and this is the normal amount received for sewing a cushion, I will stay away from the residential, and keep doing what I specialize in.  Thanks for all the input.

Thanks for the responses so far.  I was curious what others would charge without giving out to much information on the other upholstery shop.  The other shop has been in business roughly 60 years.  I am familiar with their work and it is quality.  I priced the job out at $160 for both.  Between the shop rate ($60/hour), cutting fee on the customer supplied material ($15/yard), a modest amount on my supplies, and the fact that she needs it done in under a weeks time, that this was fair.  I was told that the other shop included a cutting fee in the $90 for both price. 

Now I will admit I don't do a lot of residential upholstering, most of my work is medical and dental offices, but $45 each seems a bit on the cheap side.  I was curious if anyone else would do these cushions with customer supplied material a that kind of price.  That is short of someone needing work to keep their sewer busy.

Hello all,

Had a customer call me about sewing 2 cushions for her.  The dimensions are 25x21x4 and 21x21x4.  They have welt on both sides and are both zippered.  She is supplying the material (big surprise now days), and we have to supply the welt cord and zipper.  How much time would you take to cut and sew these cushions (I was figuring around 50 minutes a cushion), and what would you charge the customer?  She ended up calling around and another upholstery shop in the area told her $45 each.  Is it just me, or with cutting fees, material (zipper and welt cord) and labor time does this seem like a discount rate.  I will admit I don't do much residential stuff, but this seems kind of inexpensive.  I am curious to hear your opinions.  Thanks.