Letting an Upholstery Client Help

Occasionally some clients, who are on tight budgets, think that they can somehow help in the upholstery process to cut down the cost of upholstery.

Upholstery is a very specialized and skilled trade. While some of the upholstery basics can be learned in a relatively short time, it takes years of practices and learning to become proficient at the upholstery trade. Every step of the upholstery process has to be done precisely because each following step builds upon the previous steps. If one step is done incorrectly, it affects or slows down the rest of the job.

From time to time I have let a client help in part of the process to try to save them some money. However, typically, saving them some money has usually cost me extra time and money. Let me give a couple of examples. 

One lady brought in a wing chair for me to recover. However, the frame was quite wobbly. Frame repairs (disassembly, cleaning, regluing, clamping, adding blocks) can sometimes add a sizeable cost to the upholstery project. From time to time I've sent out the frames to a furniture repair shop for repairs. But some repairs I do myself. I don't mind if someone else does the frame work. So, after I learned that the client's husband was "handy" with woodworking, I agreed to let him repair the chair frame (after I removed the cover, padding, and springs.) When the client brought the chair frame back to us, the frame was much more solid than before. However, in bracing the frame, the client's husband had blocked the fabric pull-through openings. This means I will have to go through extra work of either altering his repairs, OR doing more hand work in hand-sewing the fabric in places where I normally staple the fabric in place. In other words, trying to save her money has cost me probably as much money as I saved her.

In another example a client brought ins some cushions for me to repair. She just wanted all the welting fabric replaced, but leave the rest of the old fabric in place. To accomplish this meant having to carefully take all the seams apart, remove all the thread from the seams, iron the old fabric flat, trim all the boxing fabric to the right width, and resew the cushion. However, on this particular job the welting fabric was part of boxing fabric. To take apart this type of cushion includes having to trim the boxing down to normal size after the cushion has been taken apart. Because the client was having tight money problems, I decided to let her take the old cushions apart. I showed her how to rip loose the fabrics without damaging the fabric. The client did take the cushions apart, but the old fabric had numberous cuts in it, where her hands (holding the razor blade) must have accentally slipped and caused damage. The result is that before continue to repair the cushions,  I had to go through much of the old cover and patch numerous holes in the fabric. Here, again, trying to save the client money cost me probably as much money as I saved her.

 In order for a client to be of any real help to the upholsterer, the client must be instructed, and trained, to do the jobs in a way that flows with the upholsterer's work process. To have the client do the work correctly, the upholsterer must either be there to watch over the process, or the upholsterer must right out step by step instructions (If the client would even read it.) Without this necessary training, the client's efforts will often be more hindering than helpful. AND if the upholsterer agrees to train the client how to do the job properly, the upholsterer will loose more time (and money) than just doing it himself.

So this is why upholsterer's are reluctant to let clients help in the process.