Delivery Blues

[kodydog]

Do you ever get nervous when making a delivery? When we picked this sectional the wife was not there. so I pointed out to the husband the cushions stuck out too far and over the years the fabric had stretch and was baggy. I told him I would fix this and make it look nice and tailored but still soft. He said yeah, whatever. The next day the wife called and said, DON"T CHANGE A THING. She said the last time she had something upholstered it came back looking totally different than when it left. All righty then.

So we upholstered the sectional and snapped a picture and sent it to her. She wrote back and said, you know maybe we should take some off the cushions and tighten everything up a little. And she wanted to know if there was something we could do about the "dog eared" look of the back cushions. Okay.

So I took 2" off the back of the 1st seat cushion and stuffed it. It still stuck out. Hardly made a dent. I took another inch off and it fit perfect. I took 3" off the back of all the seat cushions and 1 inch off the sides of all the cushions, seats and backs. And I changed the back cushions from pointy corners to a more squared look.

Now I'm getting nervous wondering if I over did it. Yesterday we loaded it up and delivered it. She met us at the driveway and couldn't wait to peek inside the van. She started to smile. And as the husband and I were unloading the van he told me, you guys did really well, my wife is real picky. (Ya think). I told him that's alright most of our customers are. Then I told him that's why they use us. We set it all up inside the house and she loved it. Wants us to do 2 more sofa's. Yee ha.

Before


After

[sofadoc]

It's funny that the husband "thinks" that his wife is picky. Yet for years, she tolerated the cushions hanging way too far off the front, and the loose covers.

Sometimes the ones who profess to be picky really aren't. And conversely, it's the ones who say "Whatever you do will be fine with me" that end up nitpicking you to death.

I think we all get a few butterflies when making a big delivery. But I love the feeling of total euphoria while driving away with a big fat check in my front pocket.

As a general rule, I don't point out too many things that were previously wrong with the piece when I pick it up. I don't want to give them too much to think about. If I think the cushions need 3" cut off the front, I just do it.

The average customer really isn't as discerning as they think they are.

[SteveA]

Do they realize your job won't stretch out like the original covering did - given they keep it for the same amount of years.

SA

[Mike]

It's funny that the husband "thinks" that his wife is picky. Yet for years, she tolerated the cushions hanging way too far off the front, and the loose covers

I think we all get a few butterflies when making a big delivery.

I think they looks great! Ed  what kind of fabric is that? 

sofa I find it the same with boats , when someone buys a whole boat they accept the entire package even the losy canvas job. But when they come to me for a new canvas  then they can get picky on stuff they lived with on the "NEW JOB"

[baileyuph]

Yes, I wondered about the type of material, my picture scale could have been bigger to tell.  Then, maybe not.  Good job.

So you reused the foam, cut down, on bottoms (I guess it was the four, or five counting the corner bottom.  Then, the filler for the backs was the spun dacron type in a sack that was put in the cover?

What did it take around 18 or 19 yards.

Did it take about 20 hours?

Nice work, glad the customer turned out easy to deal with, she will spread the word which should make you happy.

Doyle

[kodydog]

The fabric is a cut Ultra Suede or micro fiber. The old fabric was stretched out so much it was falling apart. We treated the fabric like a solid. No matching very little waste. We used 25 yards which included two extra casings for the back cushions and two large arm covers.

I had 30 hours in it till she made the change order which added another 8 hours including picking the liner apart on the seat cushions and wrapping the foam and re-stuffing back into the liner and hand sewing it closed.

Her house is very cool. She lives in an area that hes grown in leaps and bounds over the last 15 years. She use to live at the end of a long dirt road. A developer bought all the property around her except her 7 acres. They literately built the sub-division around her. High class place.  

[Mojo]

Ed:

If you picked up my sofa, chair or whatever and made a dozen changes I probably wouldn't even notice. Seriously. I do not live at the Biltmore. The piece leaves the house and is gone for a couple weeks. Hell I probably couldn't even remember what color it was. lol........ You have an amazing eye and are a master at what you do so maybe consider doing what Dennis does and just make the changes according to your own thought process. I have seen your work up close and personal and you know what looks right and what doesn't. As long as your not drastically changing things and only making small changes then go for it. If your doing an heirloom piece then yes I would be concerned about changes.

I sometimes get the willy's when a customer with a 1/2 mil dollar bus calls and wants a complete awning change out. I ask them what color fabric, binding, etc. and they say " your the expert - you decide. I will be happy with whatever you come up with. I immediately think " oh shit ". I have never had an unhappy customer yet.

Now this raises a question for you and the others. Have any of you ever had a customer come in and drop a chair or sofa down and say do whatever you want and " surprise me " ?

Great job Ed. Your work is always exceptional.

Chris

[Darren Henry]

Nice work Ed, and very diplomatic dealing with the "changes".

[Mike]

when I do boat cushion there always snug fitting and canvas we strive to ake it tight wrinkle free . how do you make the sofa cushions losse baggy  but still fit well how much larger do you cut the fabric then the foam

[kodydog]

I don't do boats and I imagine the materials you use and look your going for are a little different than cushions for an interior sofa. The stiff nature of canvas makes it tough to work with. Especially when adding a nice crown to it. The higher the crown the more wrinkles there will be. Sometimes I'll bow out the sides like on a down filled cushion to releave the stress.

This customer we are dealing with has an antique sofa. She wants to change it from 3 cushions to 1 cushion. And she wants it to be super soft. We suggested down which would look awesome and she thought this would be a good idea. Until we quoted the price. We told her nothing can replace the look of down but we will start off by using a high quality soft foam and wrap it several times with dacron.

Normally when fabricating a cushion I start by patterning it to the cavity of the piece I'm working on. And I use this pattern to cut the foam. Usually I cut the foam !/2" bigger all around. But on this piece I'll make the foam a little smaller so there is not so much push. The more push you add the harder the foam becomes.

Side note: this antique sofa has 8-way tied springs with a spring edge on the front. As with most antiques the springs need to be completely redone. She asked if she could do this part herself. She asked, how hard could it be? I explained tying springs is an art in itself. I told her if you don't get those springs nice and tight you will bounce several times every time you sit on it. I told her a lot of upholsterers really don't know the correct procedures. I then started to explain the step by step of 8-way tying but she stopped me and said she'll have me do it.

[SteveA]

Many times when folks ask me can they do the prep work ? I say sure - "call me when you're done"   
Feels like a bluff I go with it.  Folks think they can minimize costs by acting as if anyone can do this work but maybe they'll let me have a crack at it. 

One weekend a customer wanted to do his own sanding + staining and bring me the chairs for top coats.  He asked what should he use and I told him alcohol based anilines - the chairs were maple and he wanted the blond color.  He stained the chairs without gloves and called me in a panic.  His guests were coming over for a barbeque and he was the cook - the yellow hands weren't too appetizing ?  You know the devil in me let this fester a while so I told him try alcohol or turps and see if it helps. 

SA

[gene]

this antique sofa has 8-way tied springs with a spring edge on the front. As with most antiques the springs need to be completely redone. She asked if she could do this part herself.

Anytime a homeowner wants to do any prep work or some part(s) of the entire process themselves, and then have the professional do the rest, I think they are either not seeing the value of the work, or worse, they are trying to got professional custom work at a Walmart price.

And when they do a sh$tty job they always expect the professional to make everything look awesome anyway. And certainly at no additional cost for fixing the mess they made.
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If someone wanted to pay me to do the beginning of the work, and they would finish it, that could be OK.

I would never agree to someone getting a discount if they took off the old fabric and then brought me the furniture piece. But I could see agreeing to someone paying me to take off the old fabric and then giving them back the furiture piece so they could reupholster it.
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Leave the fiddle playing to the fiddle player, I say.

gene

[sofadoc]

I don't really mind if the customer does some prep work. But it doesn't affect my price in a way that will benefit them. The best they can hope for is that my price won't go any higher for straightening the mess they made.

This always reminds me of a lady that called me once.
"How much would you charge to recover my La-Z-Boy? I've already stripped it down........and that seemed like the hardest part".