What is the cost of reupholstery? How much will it cost to reupholster my Chesterfield or Parker Knoll sofa? Do you know the cost of reupholstering a chair?

In this blogpost, we give you all the answers and approximate prices to help you renovate your sofa. Hopefully you’ll be make the most informed decision about whether to get your sofa reupholsted, or slipcovered!

A sofa is always a big investment and when you buy one, you are expecting to use it for a long period of time. That’s why it’s good to know the cost of reupholstery before taking the plunge.

Sometimes the fabrics of the sofa can seem old or outdated. Also, the sentimental value of a sofa can’t be replaced. Our sofas have seen us grow, sleep, work, share great moments with friends. And yes, it’s very difficult to say goodbye to these lovely pieces of furniture. If that happens to you I’m sure you have thought about re-upholstery or sofa covers which is probably why you’re here reading this today.

Cost of reupholstery

We contacted many upholstery providers to know a little bit more about how they work and their prices (mostly USA and Australia). There were a few upholstery stores who were contacted in the UK as well, but majority of the calls were made specifically in the United States as a simple case study.

These included upholstery stores near New York, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco and Las Vegas just to get a good sense of each city’s cost of reupholstery.

To dive deeper into this aspect and understand the reupholstery process we have separated all the parts of the process. That’ll make easy to understand the what’s included in the cost of reupholstery:

1. Transport: not many people consider this cost when they are calculating the cost of reupholstery but you have to pay the transportation of your sofa to the Upholstery Studio and also, the transportation back to your home. IKEA delivery fees START at $59 – one way. Most of the time, upholsterers charge about $100 for return shipping if they’re nice.
2. Fabrics: the fabrics to upholster are one of the most expensive costs of this process. Upholstery fabric can go from about $30 to $200 per yard. And on average, it takes about 14-16 yards of fabric to reupholster a standard sofa and about 7 yards of fabric to reupholster a standard armchair.
3. Workmanship: most of the time you’ll need to contact some of your local upholsterers and ask them for prices as this varies from store to store. The general range is between $800 (minimum) to about $1600 as far as we’ve found. This is the bulk of the work after all including pattern-making, restuffing cushions, stapling fabrics and adding final touches.

Here’s a tabulated breakdown of couch/sofa re-upholstery prices (inclusive of fabrics and workmanship):

Source: JH Conklin & Co

Cost of a sofa cover

As we said before, the costs involved in a sofa cover are way cheaper than a new sofa or upholstery. That’s the reason why we started this company! But this doesn’t mean that the quality is different. What happens with sofa covers is that they are more affordable (with us) is because of 3 key differences:

• No irreversible changes – it’s a cover only, so we don’t fix padding or cushions
• We don’t outsource – everything from fabrics to final product is done in-house
• No middlemen – we represent ourselves from sales to manufacturing

This is apparent in our highly flexible and customisable work style and process:

• Fabrics: in Comfort Works we have many customizations options and more than sixty types of fabrics. The price of the slipcover varies depending on what you choose.
• Labour price: when we started in 2007 we were just a small team (well there were only Rachel and Henry, our founders). And since then, we have grown a little bit every day, till suddenly being the little family business that we are today. So during all these years, we have accumulated a lot of know-how about how to make sofa covers, doing them in the best and most efficient way. Always prioritizing quality rather than speed. Also, when you buy a sofa cover, all labour and fabric prices are included in the final price.
• Shipping and delivery: all Comfort Works orders have free shipping as long as cart values are over US$150 or equivalent in other currencies. So, that’s one less thing to worry about 😉

If you want to discover more about how a sofa cover is done, you can visit our official website and check The Making Of a Comfort Works Slipcover.

Prices Comparison between Upholstery and Sofa Covers

Finally, we’ll be able to see the cost of reupholstery vs slipcovers and compare them side by side. Slipcover prices are for covers with corner pleats and matching piping and are taken from our website. For the upholstery prices source, you just need to click on the Upholster prices.

When is it better to reupholster and when is better to buy a sofa cover?

After analyzing the prices of each option and learning a little bit more about the differences between upholstering and the sofa covers, it’s safe to say which is the more affordable option.

But there are other factors besides price that can sway the decision making, let’s see what they are.

When should I buy a new slipcover?

You will need a new slipcover when:

• Your sofa fabrics seem old or outdated but your sofa it’s still comfy.
• You’ve just bought a new sofa and want it to last many years.
• You have kids or pets and need to wash your slipcovers frequently.
• You love your sofa and it has a lot of sentimental value for you. (Who doesn’t?) 🙂

When do I need to upholster?

It’s recommended to upholster your sofa when:

• Your sofa isn’t comfy and its cushions are very difficult to change.
• The couch cushions have little holes or perforations.
• Your sofa has a design which doesn’t allow you to create a slipcover.

Sometimes the batting or foam of your cushions are completely worn or flat, you just might have to change it completely and an upholsterer can help with that.

In terms of pricing you’ll be looking at about $40 for a seat cushion (made of foam and dacron batting) and $70 for a back cushion (made of polyfill usually).

A slipcover for your upholstered sofa!

Imagine that you have a sofa that comes upholstered from the factory. Can you buy a cover for your upholstered sofa? Very possibly so!

At Comfort Works we can create a customized cover for your upholstered sofa. Of course, there are a few limitations and we can’t manufacture covers for all the sofas in the world (yet). But you can definitely send us an email to info@comfortworks.com.au with a picture of your sofa and we’ll tell you if your sofa is slipcoverable.

Alternatively, you can check out this infographic if your sofa can be slipcovered here.

Buy a sofa? Buy a sofa cover? Or Reupholster my sofa?

And here comes the big question. After all the information we’ve shared with you about the cost of reupholstery and the sofa covers, it’s time to face the question we have been wondering: What’s better? Buying a new sofa? Upholstering it? Or get a new slipcover? Which has better value for money?

Hopefully this final table we made makes it easy to understand our conclusions. We have added 4 main topics to evaluate each option:

• Best price: the cheapest option.
• Machine washable: is it possible to wash the covers?
• Eco-friendly: sometimes it’s better to keep what we have (if it’s in a good condition) and helps our environment.
• Quality: is it durable?

We hope that this article has helped you. You can read more about this topic in another one of our articles: Slipcovers Vs Upholstery – Best Way to Recover your sofa?

We really love and enjoy to answer all your questions. So, if you have any doubt or need help with anything you can contact us on info@comfortworks.com.au or through our social media. We have accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.