Spencer, you make a good point of using OEM. We all get used to calling up Robbins or GAHH when ordering a convertible top or convertible headliner, but sometimes on newer cars the dealership has the part and at a reasonable price. Dealerships aren't always the best option, but it is good to check.

Hi Teresa, looks like you posted 4 months ago. Did you guys end up relocating? I hope everything has turned out well.

Jesse, I have to agree, some customers are just hard to please. For some reason, cheaper prices tend to attract these types of customers. At the same time, people who pay higher prices tend to be more easygoing. Though this isn't always the case. But, at the end of the day, I try to remind myself that the really picky, hard to please customers, are the minority and the majority of our customers are great to do business with.

-Ryan Estrada
Sonny's Upholstery

Every upholstery shop is different and you know your shop best, but the way I see it is that we have to remind ourselves that we are not a mechanic shop. Mechanic shops have computer systems with estimated hours for every job and up-to-date pricing on parts and availability. They also have certifications in place for their employees that tell you a decent amount about their skills and ability. For these reasons, a mechanic shop can simply break down a job by hours, parts, shop supplies, everything.

Upholstery shops have none of this! Upholstery is also an art, for a million different reasons every job is different. For this reason, I feel we need to stop estimating hours and prices on materials. Like any artist in the world, we should charge based on our experience, what WE think the job is worth, and the level of detail for that job. Even with step-by-step instructions, no one can make a job look like it would when done by someone with experience. If you look at any type of artist in the world they don't charge based on materials, they charge based on how good the finished product looks. Plus there are way more mechanic shops than upholstery shops, so we can definitely do things a bit different than they do.

Obviously, every shop is a little different. There is a balance to this type of thinking, but I think we may need to adjust our viewpoint a little bit. We also may have to take into account our workload, if we are low on work we can charge less and vice versa.

-Ryan Estrada
Sonny's Upholstery

I believe 745 and 321 are the same. Not 100% sure though.

-Ryan Estrada

I went with their gravity system and their gun. It works really great.

-Ryan Estrada
Sonny's Upholstery
Tempe, AZ, USA

As an adhesive, it works great! I've used it for a couple of dashboards and headliners. It is different to work with than Weldwood. So, there is a bit of a learning curve as you understand how to work with it. Each glue has its advantages and drawbacks. On the headliners, it bled through a little bit. It ended up being in an inconspicuous area so it wasn't a big deal. I'm guessing since it is water-based it bled through a little easier; I probably sprayed a little too heavy in those areas.

I mainly use it for gluing vinyl to scrim and repairing foam. I like that you can attach the pieces right away instead of waiting for the glue to dry a bit as you do with Weldwood. Saves a few minutes of time.

I can't say that Weldwood is better or Simalfa is better, they are different. It is nice to have another tool in the arsenal depending on what I am doing. \

-Ryan Estrada
Sonny's Upholstery
Tempe, AZ, USA

You could look into using Simalfa745 glue. It is water-based versus Weldwood which is a solvent-based glue. I still use Weldwood for certain things including headliners, which I do outside, but Simalfa works really well for most things. You can contact Jay for questions. Phone number: 973.423.9266 x122

I had a Binks also that I really liked. I had a hard time finding an equally good spray gun when mine broke. I ended up finding the Binks 2100 at https://www.perfectfit.com/.

We purchased a $100 OBD reader, it resets SRS lights for the models that don't reset themselves such as Mercedes. The best feature is that in a situation like this it will usually tell you what seat is tripping the light, this way you know exactly where to check for bad connections.

Same thing here. 50% deposit to cover materials. Sometimes we may ask the customer to prepay the entire job. Reason being if they are dropping off something with no resale value and the job is completed and they never show up again, you don't get paid for your labor.

Some customers complain that their mechanic never asks for any deposit. I just help them see that when you drop off an entire car for work they don't ask for a deposit because they'll just sell your car if they don't hear back from you. It's called a mechanics lien.

Markets and overhead can vary which will affect your price. My advice is to calculate the cost of materials and add your markup to it (you have to remember that it takes time and organization to order those materials). We really hurt our trade when we give away materials for our wholesale cost.

Then calculate the amount of time the job will take and how much you must make per hour for it to be worth your time. Anything less, simply isn't worth our time and in the end hurts ourselves and our trade.

In the upholstery business we don't have automated computer systems that calculate all these things and we end up calculating a price on the top of our head. In turn we tend to think of jobs in a grand total sort of way instead of breaking down all of our business costs. But if we take time to calculate these things then we come to a price that is fair for our customers, but also fair for us.

Those quotes are great, I think I might frame them and put them on my wall next to the samples

I just ordered Simalfa 321 water based glue. I'll see how it works. Anyone else ever used it? It has a good heat resistance rating.

Sorry, it's MASS backing. Its a rubber backing that keeps out sound, but the backing itself gives the carpet a better shape and makes the carpet look a lot better.

ACC is the only aftermarket supplier for molded carpets. I tried searching for another place once and couldn't find anyone else, then later on by chance my sales rep told me that when competition pops up they always buy out the company.
I recommend always buying the carpet with the MAS backing, it makes it looks way better and cuts down on sound. Also as Fred said request that the carpet padding loose and not glued.

You also have to take into consideration that half way thru the installation there may be a problem with the top that prevents you from finishing the installation. Its rare, but has happened. Then you have to charge the customer for hours spent on a job that can't even be finished.