Reupholstering a sofa

[Gruber]

So my cat took a liking to my former landlord's sofa and now it (the sofa, not the cat) needs a tidy up.

Former landlord has just sent through a quote for £350 plus fabric plus VAT (so I guess totalling the wrong side of £500) which seemed rather steep for a sofa that can be replaced like for like for £850.

Any recommendations for reupholsterers in the London area? Sofa is in SW10.

[Tampon]

Gruber said:

So my cat took a liking to my former landlord's sofa and now it (the sofa, not the cat) needs a tidy up.

Former landlord has just sent through a quote for £350 plus fabric plus VAT (so I guess totalling the wrong side of £500) which seemed rather steep for a sofa that can be replaced like for like for £850.

Any recommendations for reupholsterers in the London area? Sofa is in SW10.

Is that to repair a section or have the whole thing reupholstered ?

£350 sound about right for reupholstery, even cheap for sw10 ( I am based in west london www.thesofadoctor.co.uk ), you will be looking at min 2 days skilled labour, workshop rent, two men to pick it up, two to drop it off, diesel etc.

You can't compare reupholstery to buying a cheap new sofa. Asking a mechanic in england to strip down a BMW 5 series change every screw and bolt, respray it, change the tyres, suspension etc and be cheaper than a new fiesta that was built to be cheap on a production line.

Most sofas I reupholster cost all in around £600-£1200 (depends on style, size, condition, fabric etc ) not worth redoing anything from DFS or the like, they were never designed to be recovered. A sofa you can buy for £850 will have cost somewhere around the £120-150 to make, inc shipping from china or east europe, I can build you a sofa, hand build hardwood frame to what ever size, shape, your choice of foam feather firmness of cushions, any style, option of millions of fabric and leathers for around £1250ish, the difference being your grandkids could get it recovered in 70 years time.

[fiveoclockhero1]

We do furniture restoration and upholstery and if that price is the labour to recover the whole sofa then thats cheap.

[The real Apache]

fiveoclockhero1 said:

We do furniture restoration and upholstery and if that price is the labour to recover the whole sofa then thats cheap.

can you help me out then? I busted a couple of springs 0n my sofa and they're odd looking buggers that stretch across from fron to back

[Tampon]

The real Apache said:

can you help me out then? I busted a couple of springs 0n my sofa and they're odd looking buggers that stretch across from fron to back

Zig zag spring, also know as serpentine springs, can be fixed by your self if you have the patience to take the old staples out carefully so you can get the seat off ( pictures of it here in the photos section www.thesofadoctor.co.uk ).

Cost wise can be anything from £80-£150 depending on how easy it is to get to the springs ( ie how much of the sofa need to be undone ), the actual replacement of the springs take 5 minutes, cost comes from getting to them ( think of it like taking the engine out of a car to replace the wiper blades )

[Gruber]

Thanks all for the comments.

Tampon - I take your point and I wouldn't mind the cost if it were a decent sofa. Just a bit galling to be asked to pay that much to repair a four year old Sofa Workshop thing! (Especially as it's money I was intending to spend on a suspension refresh for the old 6 series... )

[Tampon]

Gruber said:

Thanks all for the comments.

Tampon - I take your point and I wouldn't mind the cost if it were a decent sofa. Just a bit galling to be asked to pay that much to repair a four year old Sofa Workshop thing! (Especially as it's money I was intending to spend on a suspension refresh for the old 6 series... )

No worries fella, how about looking for a second hand sofa and replacing it with that ? could easily get a much better sofa than you have for £100-£150, unless the landlord is asking you to replace like for like ? even then you should find a second hand version of what you have got if it is from the sofa workshop.

[dave_s13]

I hope you've beaten the cat to death with one of the 6'ers old top mounts.

[The real Apache]

Tampon said:

The real Apache said:

can you help me out then? I busted a couple of springs 0n my sofa and they're odd looking buggers that stretch across from fron to back

Zig zag spring, also know as serpentine springs, can be fixed by your self if you have the patience to take the old staples out carefully so you can get the seat off ( pictures of it here in the photos section www.thesofadoctor.co.uk ).

Cost wise can be anything from £80-£150 depending on how easy it is to get to the springs ( ie how much of the sofa need to be undone ), the actual replacement of the springs take 5 minutes, cost comes from getting to them ( think of it like taking the engine out of a car to replace the wiper blades )

yeah, they're like that but the ends split into 2 and attach at the top and side of the wooden cross peice....getting to is is a doddle

[Simpo Two]

dave_s13 said:

I hope you've beaten the cat to death with one of the 6'ers old top mounts.

Don't waste it - make it into a handy furry cushion!

[Tampon]

The real Apache said:

yeah, they're like that but the ends split into 2 and attach at the top and side of the wooden cross peice....getting to is is a doddle

I think you mean there is one spring on top of the main spring at the front ? if so this is to create a "sprung front edge". it should be attached with some heavy duty clips, the main spring will have snapped rather than the extension on the front part so replacing it is simple and then you just reattach the extra top part afterwards.

You said access is easy, if you are thinking of doing it from underneath, you won't be able to, the clips they sit in are on top of the frame and are nailed or screwed down, you might get the old part out but with the strength of the spring you will never get it in, doing it from above take a fair old amount of strength and I know customers who have tried to save money by just buying the spring cut to size and then claiming it doesn;t fit, it does they just can't pull it hard enough to stretch it across the span.

You measure the spring you need by the amount of curves on each side of the spring, so you may need a 14 by 14 spring or a 14 by 15 etc etc, get it bigger and then trim it afterwards with bolt croppers, again another reason you won;t be able to do it from underneath.

[The real Apache]

Tampon said:

The real Apache said:

yeah, they're like that but the ends split into 2 and attach at the top and side of the wooden cross peice....getting to is is a doddle

I think you mean there is one spring on top of the main spring at the front ? if so this is to create a "sprung front edge". it should be attached with some heavy duty clips, the main spring will have snapped rather than the extension on the front part so replacing it is simple and then you just reattach the extra top part afterwards.

You said access is easy, if you are thinking of doing it from underneath, you won't be able to, the clips they sit in are on top of the frame and are nailed or screwed down, you might get the old part out but with the strength of the spring you will never get it in, doing it from above take a fair old amount of strength and I know customers who have tried to save money by just buying the spring cut to size and then claiming it doesn;t fit, it does they just can't pull it hard enough to stretch it across the span.

You measure the spring you need by the amount of curves on each side of the spring, so you may need a 14 by 14 spring or a 14 by 15 etc etc, get it bigger and then trim it afterwards with bolt croppers, again another reason you won;t be able to do it from underneath.

yep, that's what I'd thought.......bugger

[missMxxx]

Tampon,

I really want a new sofa made, can you help me out? Are you in London?
Thanks

[missMxxx]

Tampon said:

Is that to repair a section or have the whole thing reupholstered ?

£350 sound about right for reupholstery, even cheap for sw10 ( I am based in west london www.thesofadoctor.co.uk ), you will be looking at min 2 days skilled labour, workshop rent, two men to pick it up, two to drop it off, diesel etc.

You can't compare reupholstery to buying a cheap new sofa. Asking a mechanic in england to strip down a BMW 5 series change every screw and bolt, respray it, change the tyres, suspension etc and be cheaper than a new fiesta that was built to be cheap on a production line.

Most sofas I reupholster cost all in around £600-£1200 (depends on style, size, condition, fabric etc ) not worth redoing anything from DFS or the like, they were never designed to be recovered. A sofa you can buy for £850 will have cost somewhere around the £120-150 to make, inc shipping from china or east europe, I can build you a sofa, hand build hardwood frame to what ever size, shape, your choice of foam feather firmness of cushions, any style, option of millions of fabric and leathers for around £1250ish, the difference being your grandkids could get it recovered in 70 years time.

Tampon
I would love a sofa made . Can you make one for London area? Cheers