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Didn't mean to jack your thread. Lol!
But you asked, so...
Is this in your 400?
Did he give you an idea of the time he figured to do the job?
How many yards of materials, & of what type?
Or was it just a kinda sorta edjumacated off-the-top-of-his-head approximate geusstimation?
I know that when I do those, the price is on high side. I've learned that lesson! I've given guestimates where I've been lucky to break-even when all is said & done. There's been a few where I was on the losing end.
Just becuse I didn't sit down with the customer & pick the exact materials, choose a style & design, & then crunch the numbers for an exact final cost.
The labor rate is always the same.
That's the expensive part.
The amount of materials, in cost, is minimal.
For the amount needed for a job like that, the price differences between using average materials & really good materials would hardly change the bottom line.
$200.00?
But for that you'll get materials that'll last 2 or 3x longer.
Why put out for those expensive labor costs again sooner than you have to?
I just don't 're-upholster'.
When I pull a seat apart, I go through the whole seat.
The frame, the hinge mechanisms, the tracks, the foam. Everything that needs repairs, gets 'em.
Nothing worse than having new seats, & a month down the road that missed cracked frame becomes a broken one.
Or a track jams up.
Customers have to know about this too. Sometimes there are probs that are hidden until eveything's apart.
And I gotta cover my own ass, too.
'There's never time to do it once, but there's always time to do it over.'
Problem is, I don't get paid to do it over.
And the paying ones are on hold till it's fixed.
When a project leaves the shop, I never want to see it again.
Unless it's at a show or a cruise.
For some guys on a budget, (Not all, just the occasional.) I'll give 'em a few pointers.
"Here's how to take a seat apart. Do that at home. Bring me the covers."
Same with the headliner.
"Pull it apart & I'll show you how to recover it yourself."
I think I've posted a few times here over the years how to do that. Dead simple.
So, when I've got the new covers sewn, bring in the foam & frames & we'll go over those before you learn how to install seat skins. Hehe!
The more time you spend, the less I have to. Less labor $$$ for you!
Only thing is, you buy the materials from me.
At 'The Good Guy' price, of course.
A friend wanted his HotRod '48 Chevy Sedan Delivery done.
Fitter, fabricator, millwright, machinist. (We've been known to sink more'n a few over the years!) He paid for his own materials.
"O.K. Billy. While I work on your's, there's a '62 T-Bird coupe.
Pull the seats, carpets, trim & headliner. Tear 'em down, label & mark all the parts before cutting them all apart.
Then lay 'em out on the new materials, trace 'em out & then cut it all.
Here's how.
Get it to the point where all I have to do is sew everything up. Then both of us will do the install." Which is a smaller part of the job anyhow.
Normally, I don't let anyone do my lay-outs, let alone the cutting out of all the pieces.
No matter how perfect my stitches are, if the lay-out & the cutting is poop, the whole job's poop. Great stitching will not fix a cruddy patterning job.
But with his fab skills, he can work for me anytime. Perfection!
Anyways, this way, the shop's still showing a return on the time, (The T-Bird) & buddy's getting the interior in his HotRod done in exchange for 5 or 6 days of his time & the cost of the materials.
His ALL leather, including the dash, in that "Holy Crap! That's a big F'n interior!", $10,000.00 job, only lightened his pocket by $3500.00.
Sure, that's still a fair chunk of coin. But a heck of a lot less than 10k!