National average yearly salary of an upholsterer

[christwo]

http://www.cbsalary.com/salary-calculator/chart/Upholsterer?usd=1&uas=&kw=Upholsterer&ujt=&jn=&tid=220297&ns=1

sound about right?

[kodydog]

I don't know about the national average, but I punched in the little town I live in and it came up with $46,000. Then I compared with Washington DC and it said $45,000. I'd like to see where they get their stats from.

[sofadoc]

Since most upholsterers are self-employed, does that stat only apply to those who are employed by someone else? I mean, is there a difference between "Upholsterer" and "Upholstery shop owner"?
Looks like a pretty generic graph that could apply to most any trade.
Since my house would go for 3X's as much on the east coast, or California, I don't put much stock in those "National averages".
Another problem is that it is difficult to verify the income of many self-employed people.

[christwo]

Yeah I wondered the same thing. I did a search for upholstery buisness owner, and nothing but upholsterer came up.

[baileyuph]

The numbers come from the IRS, tax returns.  The graph shows a range from approximately $40k to $60K and it would include anyone with that job description.

The numbers should be representative of IRS returns, my understanding.

It would not include part timers or anyone who works under the radar.

Doyle

[kodydog]

Since most upholsterers are self-employed, does that stat only apply to those who are employed by someone else?

I wonder what the ratio of employed to self-employed upholsterers is? That would be a neat stat to look up.

[baileyuph]

Yes, there are a lot of variables and that should influence the wide range in the statistics and a major player in this issue is in a family owned business there might only be one tax return filed but that return is assisted by other members of the family.  In that case, the person filing will likely have a higher number.

Too many variables to guess, skill level, the particular dimension, location and on and on will influence statistics.

The numberof owner/operators has to be represently heavily in the numbers we are reading.  Also, the percentage of part timers is another number that would not surprise me.  The percentage working in their homes is significant, I would think.

Like we all see, there are many varying factors that influence any statistic presented.

Good subject Christwo,

Doyle

[gene]

I don't know for sure, but I would doubt that these numbers come from IRS tax returns.

I did read something a few months ago about how HR (Human Resource) people who do the hiring for big companies hate these kind of web sites. They say that the numbers are made up and are over-inflated. People looking for specific jobs expect to be paid what these sites say. This, I guess, is the other side of the story.

gene

[206RB]

I hope my boss doesn't see this! :)

[baileyuph]

This type of information did come up a few years ago and indeed it was traced back to IRS data.

In dealing with statistics they have to be sorted out for specific jobs if that is what you want.  For instance, upholsterers in aircraft work ranked much higher than furniture people.

If there is a specific you want to know, look for those statistics.

Doyle

[sofadoc]

After factoring in overhead, how does the $100hr. labor (Rich's "Hourly rate" post) jibe with this national average yearly salary stat?

[MTupguy]

I think they must've looked at my paystubs for the upholsterer helper salary... only a few hundred off what I made each of the  last two years... guess I had a little Anakin Skywalker syndrome for nothing...

[Ihavenoname]

Is anyone paying $20 to $30 an hour for a full time well experienced upholsterer?

Last time I worked for a shop, not my own, was  in 1995.

I got $10.50 an hour and no benefits at all.

This was with 10 years in furniture upholstery and antique restoration. I was there number one upholsterer with more knowledge and experience then the owner.

I'd close my shop in a heart beat for $60,000 a year with none of the risk of ownership. I wish. Sounds like the job I have been wishing for.

I applied for an upholstery job about 6 years ago, with over 20 years under my belt,  and the best they could do for me was $15 an hour and a 3 hour commute. I was better off staying with my own shop and they admitted to that.

[kodydog]

Is anyone paying $20 to $30 an hour for a full time well experienced upholsterer?

Last time I worked for a shop, not my own, was  in 1995.

I got $10.50 an hour and no benefits at all.

This was with 10 years in furniture upholstery and antique restoration. I was there number one upholsterer with more knowledge and experience then the owner.

I'd close my shop in a heart beat for $60,000 a year with none of the risk of ownership. I wish. Sounds like the job I have been wishing for.

I applied for an upholstery job about 6 years ago, with over 20 years under my belt,  and the best they could do for me was $15 an hour and a 3 hour commute. I was better off staying with my own shop and they admitted to that.

In the Jacksonville / St Augustine I was offered $12 to $15 an hr. Go 4 hours south and their offering $18 to $25 an hour. Of course a lot of that gets eaten up by cost of living. It all depends on where you want to live. Like you I decided to figure how to make it myself.

[sofadoc]

In the Jacksonville / St Augustine I was offered $12 to $15 an hr. Go 4 hours south and their offering $18 to $25 an hour.

I had a guy come in last year from the Boca Raton area looking for a job.
The wage that he was expecting me to pay him, was more than the final price that I charge to the customer.
I've said it before here on this forum. I really don't understand why any upholsterer who is any good would want to work for someone else, when they can make more money working part time out of their own garage.
You might say "Well, he's a good upholsterer, BUT he doesn't have a good head for business".
There are a lot of trades that require a good business sense. I don't think that a "one-man" upholstery shop is necessarily one of them.
I don't consider myself to be business savvy, but I know how to use a calculator, and figure myself a profit on every job. The business end of things just seems to take care of itself.