How come it is

FarmboyBill · #1 11/26/14, 12:23 PM

You can buy a new sofa for under $500 but you cant get an old one reapolstered fior a grand?

frogmammy · #2 11/26/14, 12:54 PM

Because the $500 sofa is a $500 sofa, and will wear about that long. The one you get reupholstered for 1K will last just about forever.

Mon

SkizzlePig · #3 11/26/14, 01:03 PM

... as long as the original sofa was a $1,000 sofa.

7thswan · #4 11/26/14, 01:12 PM

Because the insides of an old sofa are made of wood. The new sofa is made of some wood,mostly a soft wood, fiberboard and cardboard. The foam in new sofas is not a high density foam, the price goes up with the density of the foam.Old sofas sometimes need the cushions replaced. Old sofas usally need to have the springs retied; that is done by redoing the burlap and the springs are attached to that by hand with hog rings and then hand tied-in 8 places.Old sofas were covered in cotton before the fabric was added. Now we use Dacron to put over the cotton in the old sofa. Redoing an old sofa by 1 person in a dieing art, you needed many skills. To buy one from a factory,is done on an assembly line,high speed by many. Huge diffrence. Reupholstering is very hard on the body,esp the hands.

Danaus29 · #5 11/26/14, 01:42 PM

Because a craftsman does reupholstery. 12 year old children in foreign countries make the components for diy furniture kits which are imported into the US. Craftsmen charge more per hour.

watcher · #6 11/26/14, 02:46 PM

The same reason it would cost $150K to have a shop completely rebuild a $20K car or $100K to have a $50K added on room remodeled. Its a LOT easier to build something from scratch then to have to take something already built apart the put it back together.

Use Less · #7 11/27/14, 08:57 AM

Old furniture is generally better-built, so it's worth paying someone to reupholster. Mostly you're paying for a craftsman running a small business.

Fire-Man · #8 11/27/14, 09:53 AM

Alot Of Correct answers!!! Having reupholstered for 30 years. When I bring in a Good Built sofa to reupholster---I have to "tear" it down, check and repair the frame if needed, retie the springs, pad it back up and custom make a pattern out of the new material, to sew, reupholster the piece back to new looking with a better quality workmanship.

The factories, have patterns for everything. They stack layers and layers of material---cut out 10/ 20/ 30 pieces at a time with a electric "slicer", throw it together in the cheaper furniture by min wage workers. Fast!

I use to build new furniture---small scale, just myself and one experienced worker could Completely build, and finish 2 completed higher end Sofa/sleepers per day because I had patterns made out of cardboard for each piece of material that needed to be cut. If I brought in a sofa similiar to reupholster, but not the same as I made---it would take me and the same helper a Long day to tear it down and reupholster it.

PLUS the Big Factories Can Buy Large amounts Of "Everything" Needed to do the Job for way Less than the average reupholstery shop.

frogmammy · #9 11/27/14, 10:33 AM

Several years ago, we bought a higher-end (Lazy boy) recliner for DH. Three months later it was coming apart in several places where it was sewn together. Before it was a year old, it was not working right and a couple bolts had fallen out.

A few years before that, at an estate sale, I bought a late 1940's-early 1950's reclining chaise with massage function for $10. It had a REALLY ratty worn leather upholstery but the electrics worked. I had it recovered in industrial grade leather-like material for one thousand dollars, and the electrical cord was cut because I didn't want to use that. DH always called that his "ten thousand dollar chaise".

The chaise is *STILL* in the same condition it was when I picked it up from the upholstery shop 15 years ago. Looks brand new, everything is tight, and as comfortable as can be AND it has had a LOT of use....nothing better for when your back aches!

Point being, if you want to get off cheap, do so. But don't complain because it isn't comfortable, or doesn't last "like the old stuff".

Mon

Sawmill Jim · #10 11/27/14, 01:10 PM

Don't leave much hope for the wife's $25.00 yard sale sofa does it

frogmammy · #11 11/27/14, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sawmill Jim

Don't leave much hope for the wife's $25.00 yard sale sofa does it

I've got a "something"...mahogany veneer (maybe a hutch?) with a leather inlaid top, with two drawers on each side and under that four doors...the two middle plain mahogany wood and the ones on each side curved mahogany with wire design.

I have used it as a china/crystal/silverware cabinet since I picked it out of someone's roadside trash in the Spring of 1979. I can probably get $10 when I'm ready to sell it....for sure, I could get $5.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for Mahogany.

Mon

simi-steading · #12 11/27/14, 07:12 PM

I had all my living-room furniture custom built.. You think having something reupholstered is expensive, have someone build you a sofa from a pile of Mahogany...

I can sit on my couch and it doesn't squeak and groan... There's something about American made heirloom furniture that you just can't beat. It makes the cost of reupholstering well worth the cost..