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I searched for this before posting. If this topic is here somewhere I apologize...

I am 3rd genneration in the Auto Upholstery business, and 1st Generation in the Furniture Upholstery Business. We have only been doing furniture for 15 yrs or so. Cars over 50 yrs. I say we I mean my family. Being in the auto upholstery business included cars, trucks, airplanes, and boats. We did do booths and kitchen chairs at times when I was working at Grandma's Shop. A friend of mine is a dental supply salesman and asked me to recover some dental exam chairs. I priced them like exotic car seats and did very well. Long srory short I have 6 full time in my furniture upholstery shop as well as 6 in my auto upholstery and trim shop. I have been pricing sofa's at $450-$500 labor, Recliners $350. I was told today by one of my favorite supplier that I should charge $75 per yard. I am in the process of putting in a fabric show room. Have all my samples displayed in theis very nice big room. He brought me one of those huge fabric books.

WE did a complete interior on a 1969 ford galaxy 2 dr hard top a little over a year ago. The customer brought it back a few months ago. The recycled leather had millions of little cracks all over it on the seats and door panels. I got it from Charlotte Fabrics. I contacted Steve at Charlotte. He gave me some vinyl to replace it. Well that was nice of him but I had to eat the labor to redo all the seats and door panels. I defiantly will never use that stuff again.

I have been using QB since 1999. Im using 2009 now. I had to upgrade my office managers computer to windows xp. she does all the bookeeping on it. Intuit was a racket going on, but so does the rest of the computer industry. I have to pay $600 a yr for my auto glass program, so QB isnt so hight to upgrade IMHO. I have an older version of QB at the front counter we use to look up prices and estimate jobs. I love QB. My office manager is a QB expert. We use it for banking, payroll, statements, and point of sale.  When this one quits working ill get the latest version.

Haartz used to call thier Sonnendecke, Stayfast G, stayfast with the lil chicken foot pattern on the back side of the material.

Sonnenland is genuine german twill weave cloth top material. Sonnendecke is Haartz superior quality Twillfast with German backing to simulate original German canvas. Stayfast is also made by Haartz.  There is no German stayfast. GAHH price for the real german cloth isnt very much more than the stayfast  or Sonnendecke. They also have a lifetime warrentee on thier back glasses not comming unglued.

There are actually a few different German materials.  There is "German Stayfast", the higher end "Sonnenland", and the highest end "Sonnendecke".   In my opinion (I know, others will throw specs and tech data at me), they are all pretty much the same.  The only major difference is the weight.

-Andrew

Your website looks great. Im assuming those are wholesale prices. We mainly use Robbins and GAHH tops at my shop. I bought a few Key tops several years ago and liked the way they fit, which is most important to me. Monday when I got to work im gonna compare your prices and may do some business with ya.

Your website looks great. Im assuming those are wholesale prices. We mainly use Robbins and GAHH tops at my shop. I bought a few Key tops several years ago and liked the way they fit, which is most important to me. Monday when I got to work im gonna comapre your prices and may do some business with ya.

I believe the German cloth top material is called Sonnenland. Stay fast is made by hartzz in america, but hartzz imports the Sonnenland from Germany.

Yep, we sell it too.  No, it's not cheap.  For those looking for the black German Stayfast, we carry it at a VERY special price.  We have an inside deal with someone and can sell it way below going price.   Yes, it's first quality...

-Andrew

The sailcloth looks like canvas but is vinyl. Its what is on most american car tops these days.

I have a customer looking for a white cockpit top for his WW1 era bi plane. I made a black cover for him using haarts cloth convertible top material that he loves. Now I need to find a similair white cloth material to use for a second cover. Haarts doesnt make anythhing in white. It has to be thick so no boat cover material. Any leads on a supplier? thanks in advance.

I like all of it. I especially like waiting room furniture. There are usually 30 or so chairs that are excatly the same. One hospital we do has the same waiting room chairs in all thier waiting rooms. They even bring them to us by the trailor load. The most amazing thing is they usually pick out the highest priced material I show them. IMHO one of the most important things to remember is this: When a doctoor or dentist office calls, go right over there and give the bid. I cant tell you how many time I have gone to give an estimate and they would say they are waiting on 2 other guys to come give quotes. They call me the next day and say " Them other guys didnt even show up, so you got the job. I think a lot of shops owners are out in the shop working and dont have time to go give quotes sometimes. Thats all I do.

When I was 15 my dad told me. "Marc, i'm gonna give you all the motorcycle seats I take in and give you the matrial to do them and let you keep the money." Back then 40 yrs ago it cost about $10-$15 to cover a motorcycle seat. I was making 10-30 a day after school sometimes. It was fantastic money for a 9th grader.
Now the cheapest m/c seat we do is $85. When I retire and hand my buainess down to my son, I am gonna get all the motorcycle seats he takes in and hes gonna give me the material to cover them and Im gonna keep all the money, plus tractor seats and easy stuff, plus he will pay me rent on the building until I die. I will also get SS I hope if its still there plus i have a bit of cash saved in the bank.

My name is Marc, I have been in the upholstery business since I was born. I'm 3rd generation in the business. I have a shop in Lubbock Tx. Ive been in the same location 20 yrs and have 10 employees. We do any kind of upholstery. Cars, boats, airplanes, furniture, resturants, medical exam bed, dentist chairs, waiting room chairs etc....... I love my business! it has blessed me tremendously all of my life. My shop is mentioned in several magazines for the restoration work we have done on cars. I personally like the hospital upholstery business. it is definatly the most profitable part of my business. I joined this forum to see if I can learn something. lol