Dental Exam Chairs

[crosjn]

Anyone do these as a business and if so, would you care to talk method and prices?

I'll go first.  We're doing one that we just bid at $500.  I'm planning to go onsite, pull all the panels off, bring them back to the shop and upholster.  Then go back onsite and reinstall.  Figure it'll take about $100 in vinyl.  I'm thinking I charged too little but I'll see soon!

But, the thing that got me thinking is the client will be without a chair for a week.  This time it's okay, but does anyone do these without taking a chair out of service?  Is there a better method?  I've done a little research and there seem to be a few guys doing these things who have patterns all premade and will ship you new upholstery/foam/backing so all you do is screw on new panels.  But I'm guessing that's pretty impressively expensive!

Anyway, just curious.

[sofadoc]

I've done several where all the pieces are fairly plain, and they are attached to the chair with either screws or Velcro. Since many dentists don't work Fridays, I'll pick the pieces up Thursday evening, and have them back Monday morning. Of course, this system doesn't work out with more complex exam chairs that might take longer.

I recently had one local dentist bring me the whole 9 million pound exam chair in the back of a cattle trailer. Imagine his surprise when I showed him that all the upholstered pieces simply lifted right out.

Hard to say whether or not $500 is enough without seeing it. Some dental exam chairs are plain and simple. Others look like a shirt for Siamese twins. If it's a fairly simple one, I think that you're doing OK at $500.

[crosjn]

Holy cow, how in the world did he move the thing!?  I've looked at moving them when a client one time asked if we could refurbish all the metal work too.  I quickly decided I wanted no part of it.  They were in a second floor clinic and I seriously wondered if the elevator was load-rated for as much as that thing weighed!

Thanks for the response.   I really appreciate the insight.  These odd-ball items I always wonder if I'm in the right "neck of the woods" on pricing.

Jeff

[kodydog]

Last year we did 6 orthodontist chairs in one very long weekend. Picked them up late Friday and had them all back early Tuesday morning. They were all screw out seats, backs, arms and head rests. I think you will be surprised how fast it will go.

[Upholstery Clinic]

We probably do about 15  dental chairs a year.  Once you are used to them the Adec's, Midmarks and the Pelton & Cranes can be done in a full day or less.  If the chair is not in use on a Wednesday, we pick up at the end of Tuesday and return on Thursday morning.  Now the DentalEZ J chairs I like to give myself 2 days to do.  They are heavy and require a lot of dis-assembly to re-upholster.  In my area, depending on the make and style of chair we get between $500 to $700, except for the J chairs.  I get a minimum of $1000 for those because of the work involved.

[Rich]

We probably do about 15  dental chairs a year.  Once you are used to them the Adec's, Midmarks and the Pelton & Cranes can be done in a full day or less.  If the chair is not in use on a Wednesday, we pick up at the end of Tuesday and return on Thursday morning.  Now the DentalEZ J chairs I like to give myself 2 days to do.  They are heavy and require a lot of dis-assembly to re-upholster.  In my area, depending on the make and style of chair we get between $500 to $700, except for the J chairs.  I get a minimum of $1000 for those because of the work involved.

Is that J or Js?
Rich

[Upholstery Clinic]

As to the DentalEZ I mean the chair pictured in the link below:

http://www.cascade-dental.net/images/Chairs/PC/DentalEZ_Chair_TealBlueUpholstery_$1350ea.jpg

I don't get asked to do them as often as in the past, and I am probably going to pass on any in the future.  I have 4 herniated discs in my back, and the chair is just too heavy to mess with without needing a couple days to recuperate.  Most the chairs I see now are Adec 1005 and 1040's and Pelton & Crane Chairman's.  Have had a couple P&C 3000's come in with the UltraLeather peeling off the backing and P&C refusing to do anything about it so they had the entire chairs redone in commercial vinyl.

Luckily, most chairs, no matter who the manufacturer is disassemble very easily.

[sofadoc]

Used dental chairs are also popular in the ink biz (Tattoo parlors). I've probably done as many for THEM as I have dentists.

Tattoo parlors tend to buy VERY old dental chairs that are way more time consuming to disassemble. I remember one where I had to disconnect about 40 wires from a J-box just to  access the upholstery. On more than one occasion, the motor went out soon after getting it recovered.

I'd say that I've done 25-30 of them in the last 10 years. I've never paid the slightest bit of attention to the brand of chair, but I didn't recognize any of those on the Cascade, or P & C websites.

[Upholstery Clinic]

I think the reason I see so many P&C and Adec's is that there are 2 or 3 companies in the area that set up and service dental offices and I believe those brands of chairs are the ones they push.

Honestly I have never come across a dental chair that I could not figure out how to disassemble, though way back in the beginning we did drop a dental light on a DentalEz when we didn't realize that it was attached to the chair frame instead of the chair base like most of them are.  That got expensive.