Upholstery Quote Generator
An upholstery quote is more than a price. It is the document that defines the scope of work, sets the customer's expectations, specifies the materials being used, and protects both the shop and the customer if questions arise later. Generating quotes quickly, accurately, and consistently is one of the highest-value operational improvements an upholstery shop can make.
What an Accurate Quote Requires
A complete upholstery quote requires four inputs that must all be accurate:
1. Labor hours: estimated time to complete the job, multiplied by your labor rate. For common piece types, you should have solid historical data. For unusual pieces, estimate conservatively and build in contingency.
2. Fabric cost: yardage required, multiplied by fabric cost per yard, plus your markup. Yardage must be calculated per piece, not estimated from a generic table. Pattern repeat, pile direction, and fabric width all affect the number. See the fabric yardage calculator for the calculation method.
3. Secondary materials: foam, batting, webbing, thread, staples, welt, cambric, frame repair materials. These are easy to underestimate if you do not have a standard allowance built into your template for each piece type.
4. Overhead and margin: your quote must recover overhead beyond direct labor cost, and must include a profit margin above break-even.
A quote that is missing any of these elements is incomplete and will produce incorrect pricing.
The Speed vs Accuracy Trade-off
Rapid verbal quotes are a customer service convenience that costs shops money. When you quote from memory without calculating, you are more likely to underbid than overbid, because estimates skew toward the best-case scenario. The fastest quote that is also accurate is one generated from a template that includes all required inputs with your standard rates pre-filled.
Software-generated quotes using StitchDesk reduce quote preparation time to minutes for standard jobs while maintaining complete calculation accuracy. The trade-off between speed and accuracy is eliminated: you get both.
What StitchDesk's Quote Generator Does
StitchDesk generates upholstery quotes from a structured template:
- Select the piece type (sofa, chair, ottoman, headboard, bench, etc.)
- Enter the fabric selection (supplier, pattern, yardage, cost per yard)
- Confirm foam and secondary materials
- Apply your labor rate and markup settings
- Generate a professional PDF quote for the customer
When the customer approves the quote, it converts directly to a job record with all the fabric, material, and labor information attached. There is no re-entry. The fabric order can be placed from the job record. The deposit is tracked against the quote total. The final invoice is generated from the same record.
What a Professional Quote Looks Like
A customer-facing upholstery quote should include:
- Your shop name, address, and contact information
- Customer name and contact information
- Quote date and validity period (typically 30 days)
- Piece description with detail: not "sofa" but "three-cushion sofa, rolled arms, three loose seat cushions"
- Fabric specification: manufacturer, pattern, colorway, price per yard, yardage required
- Labor description and amount
- Materials line items: foam, batting, welt, etc.
- Any frame repair or structural work as a separate line item
- Total price
- Deposit required to book
- Deposit refund policy
- Estimated completion timeframe
The level of detail in the piece description and scope of work is what protects you from scope creep. "New foam in seat cushions, ILD 35" is a scope statement. "Reupholstery" is not.
Quote Conversion and Follow-Up
A quote that is not followed up on is a missed opportunity. Most customers who do not respond to a quote are not actively choosing another shop; they are simply not getting around to committing. A follow-up message or call 5-7 days after sending a quote captures a meaningful portion of these uncommitted prospects.
StitchDesk tracks which quotes are pending and when they were sent, so follow-up can be managed systematically. Shops that follow up consistently on quotes report higher conversion rates without any change to pricing.
Revising Quotes
Customers frequently ask to change the fabric selection or add scope after receiving an initial quote. With manual quotes, revisions require rebuilding the calculation. With StitchDesk, a fabric change recalculates the quote instantly: new yardage, new fabric cost, revised total. The customer receives a revised PDF. The revision is logged with the original quote for reference.
For a guide to building quotes that win jobs and set clear expectations, see the building a winning upholstery quote guide. For the pricing framework behind accurate quote calculations, see the how to price upholstery jobs guide.