If you are the kind of person who would like working with their hands, repairing and bringing new life to fine pieces of furniture and making a good living doing it, then owning and operating your own Upholstery Business might be what you have been looking for. You will have a limited amount of direct competition since there are fewer people going into Upholstery every year. Your main competition for the dollars a person would normally spend on furniture will come from new manufacturers.
Much of your business will come from repairing and reupholstering fine quality furniture, but you can also expect to do work for commercial enterprises as well, including hotels, restaurants, and schools. There are also a number of upholsterers who specialize by working on automobile interiors. In addition to these, some upholstery businesses also supplement their income by making and selling slipcovers and window treatments.
Training And Special Skills You will need to learn many different skills in order to do a quality job reupholstering furniture. Some of the skills you need are cutting and working with fabric, leather, and cotton batting. You will need to learn to disassemble, repair, and reassemble the wooden and steel structure of the pieces you are working on. You will also need to become proficient on machine and hand-sewing techniques. Although you may or may not decide to add wood refinishing to your list of services, you will need to know how to do this as well, since it will be required for many of the pieces you will be working with.
There are not many places to go to learn the necessary skills. This is good news and bad news for you. Good because this will limit the competition you will face once you are up and running, and bad since you might have to attend a training program away from your home. There are, however, online courses and video lessons offered. You will have to determine if these are right for you. If you are the kind of person that is inclined to start this type of business, working from textbooks, videos, and online lessons might offer enough guidance for you to get you started. The video lessons, in particular, are an excellent way to learn a lot of the skills you will need since they demonstrate exactly what you need to do. Some of the resources listed at the end of this article offer training videos.
Licensing and Insurance Like all businesses, you will need to get a business license from your local authorities (usually city hall) to operate and insurance to cover you in case of loss or damage. You will be well advised to contact an insurance agent experienced in this type of small business and go over all the details of any coverage you will need.
You are also advised to spend an hour or two speaking with a lawyer and an accountant. The money you spend might be the best investment you make because they can help you organize and setup properly and steer you away from any potential problems. You may think this is unnecessary if you only plan to start working by yourself out of your garage. But, even if that is the case, you will still have a tax liability, and there are almost certainly legal ramifications with working out of your home. Many commercial accounts will not work with you if you cannot provide sufficient insurance coverage and tax information.
Before you meet with either one of these professionals, you should already think through the type of business you intend to operate. For example, do you intend to work full-time, part-time, out of your garage or at a separate leased facility? Will you work by yourself or will you have employees? Do you intend to operate as a sole-proprietor, partnership, or corporation? What type of bookkeeping system should you use and how will you handle paying and filing your taxes? If you intend to pay someone to pickup and deliver the furniture you will be working on, are you responsible for their insurance or are you responsible for making sure they have their own?
Before you meet with either one, make sure you write down all the questions you can think of. You may desire to submit the list of questions ahead of time to give them time to prepare, but this may result in more hourly charges than you planned. Either way, it is important that you actually sit down and talk to them. You will learn much more than you think.
Equipment and Supplies, Pricing, and Earnings Some of the equipment you will need to operate will be a commercial sewing machine, a cutting table, a selection of hammers, small tools such as razors, awls, screwdrivers, and a selection of various needles, pins, and tacks. You will also want to get an air compressor, a staple gun, and a foam cutter. You can save money and time by buying many of these smaller items in a kit from an upholstery supply. Check the resources listed at the end of this article. You will need to budget between $2,000 to $3,000 for equipment and supplies to get started. You may be able to get away with less than this by purchasing equipment as you need it, but you will spend this and more, eventually.
One of the most critical items to the success of any new business is the pricing of products and services. You will want to establish an estimated price for the various pieces of furniture you will be working on. You will also want to price out any additional work your operation may take on such as slipcovers or window treatments.
Pricing your services does not have to be difficult, but it is a lot of work. Some of the things you will need to consider when setting your prices are the cost of your materials. You should only use the best of materials since this will directly affect your reputation, and your good reputation is critical to the long-term success of the business. You will also want to carefully consider the amount of time it will take to finish each job. Remember, to estimate how long it will take when you are an experienced upholsterer, not how long when you are still a novice. Another element that you will figure into your pricing will be your expenses and equipment. Once you take all this into account, you will still need to consider what your competition is charging.
You might find the best way to set your prices is to calculate the amount of time it will take to finish the job and then multiply that by an amount per hour you have determined will cover your expenses and provide a profit. You can find more guidance on pricing your services as well as some sample pricing at some of the resources listed at the end of this article.
Your earnings will depend on many factors. Some of the things that will have an impact are how much you price your services, how much business you are able to attract, and how fast you are able to complete the work. Once you have a good idea of how long each type of job will take and you have made sure to price your work so you receive a minimum per hour, you should be able to make some estimates of future earnings.
Marketing Many Upholstery Businesses seem to stick to the traditional marketing method of advertising in the yellow pages and otherwise depending on word-of-mouth to generate sales. If you intend to be a one person shop, then this method may get you all the clients you need once you are established, but it certainly will not be that effective when you are just getting started. You should consider using a combination of traditional advertising like the yellow pages and local publications. The classified section in the local paper or in the weekly church bulletin, or in the monthly city magazine, if your city has one, might be options.
You also should consider spending the time to make up a good mailing list of the people in neighborhoods that fit the demographic profile of your most likely customers. Do not buy a ready-made list if you can help it. These will have a number of names out of date and you will have to pay for it every time you use it. Expend the effort and compile your own, it will become one of your most valuable resources. You can then use your list to do a postcard or sales letter mailing as often as you like.
Some Final Thoughts Operating your own Upholstery business can be a satisfying and lucrative business, but only for the person who will enjoy this type of work. If you enjoy what you are doing, you will usually put out a better product than if you are just in it for the money. And, the quality of your work will be critical to the future success of the business since you will be depending on referrals from past customers for a large portion of your earnings.
Resources:
Upholsterer.com This is The Upholsterer! Magazine online. It offers training videos and books, lessons, and plenty of advice. This is also a great resource for equipment and supplies. A highly recommended site.
Upholsterystuff.com This is a great reource for tools and supplies.
The Foley-Belsaw Institute This site offers training courses in Upholstery and other careers.
The Best Home Cushions This site offers a resource for foam cushions and fabric.