Re-assessing time, effort...

[cajunpedaler]

I have been doing upholstery for nearly 30 years.  I love the craft.  I like having the knack for doing upholstery.  When I first started, I was the poster girl for "Scared, broke and hungry".  I honestly don't know how I survived. 
For the most part, upholstery (mine anyway) is not the be all end all money maker.  Employees are expensive, they are barely useful if you can find one that stays off the damn phone.  Supplies and shipping are outrageous.  One thing that's changed for me, for the good is I get more estimates over email and that at least saves me the first one or two dead, time wasting trips to a customer's house..whilst they figure out what they want..(and I'm muttering and praying for patience)
I have never had a wealthier customer base than I do now.  They pay whatever I quote.  But I am, I fear, entering burnout.  My hands are shot, my enthusiasm is not what it used to be.  Maybe it's partly winter doldrums.
Brings me to point...I'm not ready to throw in the towel..I want to do some spec work..I do want to upholster things that *I* think are interesting. And hopefully sell them.  I have a couple of items in mind.  Mostly wingbacks and small ottomans. (not as sets) I have a couple of outlets. 
Any thoughts?
Any experience with such a wild notion?
Perry

[MinUph]

I ran my shop for 30 years, and too ran into burnout. Just got tired of the business. Always told myself if I ever have to cut corners I'd close the doors. It got to that point so I did. Stayed away for a good 10 years doing other things. Got back into it a few years ago and am enjoying it again.
  Your idea is worth a shot. It is tuff to sell furniture unless they are antique. Finding the right fram and the right fabric to fill someones need is the hard part.
  But you never know unless you try.

[Mike]

You must have started young paul. Ive been working 37 years started with other things for 15 years the. This for the last 22

[mike802]

It's all in the clientele.  You have to have access to the right people, if you don't have that access you will have to build your clientele and that could take years. One possibility that I have used in the past is to upholster something up in muslin and let the customer choose the final fabric.  In my area antiques and used furniture usually get upholstered out of an emotional attachment, someone without this attachment will rarely spend the extra money and just buy new, occasionally someone will come along looking for quality, but they are not common, at least not the locals in my area.  I would think your biggest hurdle would be getting people to not compare your pieces with new ones, you need to get them comparing apples to apples so to speak.  The next hurdle is your reupholstered antiques will probably end up selling you more reupholstering work.  If you don't want more of the same business you might want to set up a separate business that only sells "reconditioned" or "restored" antiques.  and not let it get out that you also reupholster and stick to your guns when asked if you could also reupholster grandmothers sofa.  For me that would be difficult, because after 31 years in the business turning down a paying job is very hard, especially after being  "Scared, broke and hungry".  in those first years.  Even if you don't necessarily need the money today, yesterdays conditioning is hard to break.

[gene]

I see specialty upholstery work (antiques, custom, unique, etc.), as being similar to custom woodworking. There just aren't a lot of folks out there making a living off of it.

The main reason is that there just aren't a lot of customers for either.

I think custom upholstery (reupholstery) is going the way of the buggy whip. There will always be folks who drive buggies, but there are fewer and fewer folks each year who are buying buggy whips.

I have said since I started my business 11 years ago that my main competitor is 'new furniture'. The only exception is custom work that someone has a specific reason to have reupholstered.

I mentioned on a post a few weeks ago that I am going to try Perry's idea this year. I'm reupholstering several chairs from the frame up and then covering with muslin. I'll take pictures to show the progress and to show the materials that I use. I will use down/foam cushion inserts for the seats. It adds cost but it also adds a unique factor. I'll advertise the chair for something like "$$$ plus 6 yards of your fabric".

I agree with mike802 on his overall assessment of the situation.

To quote Zig Zigler, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak."

Best of luck Perry.

gene

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

If you don't need the steady income:  "Follow your heart" -- if it doesn't work out and it has given you a much needed break, perhaps you will be ready to jump back in with both feet so to speak.


Virginia

[sofadoc]

For lack of a better term, I'll refer to this idea as "Consignment work" or simply CW. Although I know this term isn't exactly accurate.

The problem that I always had with CW, was mainly that business was never slow enough to warrant stopping down and working on non-customer jobs.

I also found CW to be less profitable than regular work. With regular work, the customer is already emotionally vested, so they are willing to pay more than they would for a CW piece.

Also, when I displayed a CW piece with my business name on it in a consignment store, it only served to create more customer work from people who saw it. So then, I had even less time to spend on CW pieces. 

For these reasons, I just never could find the proper motivation to do CW.

I guess I'm just a slave to my current business model.

[MinUph]

You must have started young paul. Ive been working 37 years started with other things for 15 years the. This for the last 22

Mike, I started learning this when I was 17. Some 46 years later I'm still at it. Learning things that is LOL.