Projects Upholstery Costs

Hello Hambers. I have a question. I recently traded my 56 Cadillac Sedan Deville ( avatar) for a 1965 Cadillac. This car has 70,000 original miles, and has been garaged most of it's life. Runs great and it has a straight body. I had the front end rebuilt, new shocks, and brakes done.
I am now at the interior and have gotten 4 bids to re-do the 2 seats and carpet. The dash, door panels, headliner and package tray are all in great condition. The quotes that I received were from 2800.00 to 4300.00, to do 2 seats (vinyl and cloth inserts) and replace the carpet. Is it just me or does that seem high? I haven't done this in a while and I know that everything costs more nowadays. It just seems a little pricey.BTW, I am going with vinyl and cloth- not SMS cloth at 150 a yard. Something similar to keep it as original as I can. Thoughts?

 

The carpet is on the kick panels, door panels and rear quarter trim panels. Was that part of the bid too.

 

Yes. I received quotes on materials and it comes to about 800. I'm being quoted anywhere from 2000-3500 for labor.

 

Seems pretty reasonable to me. I would guess a modest to low shop rate would be in the $60-70 range. At $2000 that only gives them about 30 hours to dis***emble, fix any issues, pattern, sew, fit and reinstall. That's a lot of work to complete in that time frame.

 

Sounds about right to me. The custom interior in my '62 Merc Wagon (floor to headliner and everything in between) was a bit over twice that amount 5 years ago and you seem to be doing about half the amount work. I also just put in new carpet and headliner (no seats or door panel work) on a OT 4 door F350 and had right around $1500 into that job.

 

Seems in the ball park $$$$ to have it done now days.
Not the type of car I'd say too jump in ,with both feet,to do it your self ,with out ever doing it before.
I think the older we get,,,,the now day cost of things is kind of shocking.
If your the handy type,that likes, Do It Your Self;
My way of getting around cost,has always been,OK,maybe I should give it a try my self,may even be fun to learn !!!
I had a great buddy Nuwt that did the work many times for me,he p***ed on some years ago! RIP
I used what I could remember of his work an jumped in on my Son'snew "T" at the time, then my own old hot rod restore.
I did a HAMB Tech on how an what I did on low bucks .
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/tech-sew-at-home-upholsrety-hot-rod.604077/

 

Boy does this bring back a nightmare. Back in the late 60s, I had a 55 Chevy, trying to make a clone to look like Ed Ruth's 55, without the Ford engine. Got everything completed, 283, 3 speed on the floor,

 

Boy does this bring back a nightmare. Back in the late 60s, I had a 55 Chevy, trying to make a clone to look like Ed Ruth's 55, without the Ford engine. Got everything completed, 283, 3 speed on the floor, new orange lacquer paint job, tinted windows. Now for the interior, went to the guy that did the best work over in Kittery, Maine. Wanted the seats and door panels tuck and rolled, new carpet and headliner doing this all on a gas pump jockey paycheck. Push the guy by going over every other day and checking everything out. He was also working on other jobs, which I could not understand. When everything was completed and installed he gave me a bill for 400 dollars, well the car sat in his garage for the next two months while after school I went over and work for him, sanding his big boat down to bare wood. All of the time I was thinking he was getting a deal of the century .

 

The Zipper in my avatar was $2000 for seat back and bottom and Mercedes carpet 6 years ago. Would be more today.

 

Somewhere around $3500 sounds sensible. That front seat isn't going to be just a covering. Looks like the seat may need a lot of work, new cushion, maybe more before it gets covered. Is your man going to have to sew up all new fabric or can some of it be bought as reproduction pieces? It all figures in and labor ain't cheap anymore. Any sound deadener or heat reducer like Dynamat going in?

 

Being an upholsterer and having done one of these (mine was the complete interior back to near orginal) it sounds low. Just to do the head liner and door panels took several weeks to take apart, repair and reasemable. These sedans are a nightmire. I think the guy might not complete the job.

 

Where do you live in Calif?

 

I am in Palm Springs. I think it may be less expensive if I go up to Riverside or L.A. I realize that cheap isn't good, just haven't done this in a while and kinda want an idea of what is a reasonable price.

 

You should definite go with zebra like mine!


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I use a guy in Garden Grove. Juan’s Upholstery, he’s done dozens of friends cars, hot rods, etc. I had him redo the front and rear seats plus pleating a rear package tray in my 56. I did take them to him and I did buy the SMS cloth because I wanted it. Vinyl is all marine grade from him. All new padding and horsehair, plus some spring enforcement under the driver. $800. Done about 2-2-1/2 years ago.
Carpet is not a kit and was done when I had the headliner done after total strip and paint. That was at a different shop. And about the same.
I realize it's not a Caddie with more bells and whistles

 

If you ever tried doing your own upholstery then I think you might find the prices in the ball park with the amount of labor involved.

 

Seems reasonable to me. My friend had a roadster done in San Bernardino and it was $2,500.

 

I did, and then was left wondering even more why they charged so much?
On my recent build of my '39 Chev coupe I asked local upholstery shops for a quote to just replace the center inserts on my two Pontiac bucket seats. The inserts were the base and the backrest, and I took the buckets out to take to them. I also supplied the materials since I'd done the door and side panels. Prices ran from a low of over $700 to a high of 3x that.
I decided I'd buy a used commercial machine and sew them up myself, and then sell the machine afterwards. I found an old Singer commercial machine, complete with cabinet for $250 on Craigslist, and bought it after getting a test demo. Removed my upholstery, and cut patterns off of the inserts. Laid it all out and marked up my material to cut it. Sewed it all together, and after buying a good quality hog ring pliers, and plenty of hog rings, I re***embled the seats. Toughest part was hog ringing everything down, and catching the wires in the foam.
My first attempt at upholstery work, and I had both seats done in a day. I began to wonder just how long a professional could take to do the same, with their experience? Just how much an hour do they figure if I can do it in such a short time?
Since I paid much less for the sewing machine, I've decided to keep it for any heavy sewing in the future. Not worth selling it. And I'm into my whole interior completed (including buying the machine, and buying a pre-sewn headliner) less than the low quote for just the two seat inserts.

 

FWIW. I got this quote rom a local guy to do the interior of my Model A coupe...My seat is already covered in leather and the door cards and kick panels are already made. This quote was for headliner, carpet, wrap existing panels, etc... basically everything but the seat, and not using leather. (needless to say this job is still on the wish list)
Chappy

 

I was thinking something similar. I figure a complete gut on a full size car is going to come in somewhere in somewhere around $10K. That being said, it's a joy having a beautiful interior and really enhances the driving experience for both yourself and your p***engers. It's money well spent.

 

1971BB427 then you are a fortunate individual as not many folks will buy their own machine and right out the gate produce a product that measures up to what a professional can do. Especially if your doing something like tuck and roll... Good for you.

 

I don't know anything about upholstery costs, but that is a beautiful car. Congrats!

 

I had a local guy install a carpet kit (I already had it) cover the kick panels, package tray and build a tonneau style cover for the rear seat area for $400. I dropped it off one day and picked it up the next. Your quote seems way to high to me.

 

I just had the seat, side panels and package tray done in leather in my 40 Ford coupe and the labor bill was 1200.00. It was in the stock pattern so nothing fancy but he did rebuild the seat which was already in good shape. He did a really nice job. The material was around 2 grand. Good upholstery isn't cheap these days. I was happy so I guess that's what counts.

 

I'd never claim my interior is up to the level of a professional! But friends who've looked at it often ask if I'll do theirs, so I figured it's acceptable.
I had a '40 Chev coupe back in '68 that we drove to Tijuana and had it all done in diamond pattern black naugahyde for $400, and when I started building my '39 Chev coupe I wanted to copy what my '40 was over 50 years ago. So that's what I did it all in. Black diamond pattern naugahyde. It's a lot of diamonds, and almost a bit much. But it's pretty close to what my old '40 was, except maybe slightly smaller diamonds?

 

Just had my front and rear seats done in 54 Chevy car. $1400. Just the seats. I’m in mid mo. Not California though.

 

I do my own work. I'm not near good enough for a lot of what is discussed here. Many follow the idea that if you do something nobody else wants to do, you can charge accordingly and make a decent living. There is huge disparity in interior work pricing. No matter what the price is, if it's more than you feel comfortable with, you will probably be dissatisfied with the work. Until you find the right person and the right skills for your job, I think you should keep looking.

 

A lot of it comes down to people having limited idea what is involved and presenting unrealistic comparisons. Just the top of the lower portion of the the front seat of that Cadillac have 11 separate pieces not including piping, ****ons or listings. The seat Jimmy showed has 3. Each of those pieces has to be cut, perimeter sewn to foam and then sewn together. There is a fold down armrest between the seats, there is a back piece that needs to be rewrapped there is a ****oned insert that matches the front on the back. It's a lot of work and and kind of an apples to oranges comparison to something like Jimmy posted. There is probably 3 times the work involved in those Cadillac seats than the ones Jimmy showed and you are getting prices that reflect that.

 

I agree... way more hours in the Cad. My factory seats had more panels than what I have now because I wanted that way.

 

Take some things for thought. Take your DD in and ask for brake pads on front. “Bad brake will kill you “. So folks pay 300 bucks at a shop to get their pads changed.

Why, because if you could do it yourself, you wouldn’t take it in

So if the price is higher than you want to spend, you have a few choices, right?