Reupholstery is quoted in two parts and most people only hear one of them. Labor runs $40 to $100 an hour, or is priced by the piece. Fabric is bought separately by the yard, and a sofa takes fifteen to eighteen yards at $30 to $100 each. So a labor quote of nine hundred dollars on a sofa in a sixty dollar fabric is really a two thousand dollar job, and the second half of it has not been mentioned yet.
| Service | Typical |
|---|---|
| Reupholstering a couchNational range | $600 to $2,000 per piece, small to average couch |
| Furniture repairNational range | $55 to $85 per minor repair |
Ranges last checked September 2026. They come down automatically when they are due to be rechecked.
Every figure above comes from a named source we can link to, with the date we last checked it. We publish ranges rather than single prices because a range is what a provider will actually give you: the same job moves with what is being worked on, the materials, how hard it is to get at and how busy the trade is locally. Treat these as the order of magnitude to expect before you call, not as a quote.
The figures here are national. Where a source publishes figures state by state, the state pages carry that local figure instead of this one. We do not scale a national number by a multiplier of our own invention.
Every range carries a review date. When that date passes the number comes down until it is rechecked, rather than sitting here undated.
Reupholstery has two prices and they are quoted at different moments. Labor comes first, by the hour or by the piece. Fabric comes second, by the yard, and it is usually bought through the shop, which marks it up.
The yardage is knowable in advance and it is the number that decides the bill. A small to medium sofa takes five to eighteen yards. A sectional or large couch takes eighteen to thirty-six. Fabric runs ten to a hundred dollars a yard for materials alone, cotton at the low end and silk at the top, and one guide gives a narrower working figure of thirty to a hundred with sofas needing fifteen to eighteen yards.
Do the multiplication before you choose the fabric rather than after. Twenty yards at sixty dollars is twelve hundred dollars before anyone picks up a staple gun, and that is often more than the labor.
Buying the fabric yourself avoids the shop's markup. Ask whether they will work with customer-supplied fabric and what happens to the warranty if they do, because not every shop will and the ones that do sometimes price the labor differently.
The visible job is the fabric. The job that determines the price is the frame and the springs. Spring replacement runs two hundred and twenty to four hundred dollars, frame repair a hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty, and foam a hundred to two hundred. A piece that needs all three has quietly become a different project.
One driver worth naming because it surprises people: a previous do-it-yourself repair can double the cost. Undoing someone else's glue, staples or patch takes longer than starting from a clean original.
Ask for the yardage estimate before you look at any fabric. It converts a fabric price per yard into a real number.
Ask whether the quote is labor only, and get the fabric line separately in writing.
Ask whether they will use fabric you supply, and what that does to the labor price and the warranty.
Have the frame and springs assessed before committing. A sound frame is what makes reupholstery worth doing at all, and a shop should tell you if it is not.
Ask about pickup and delivery, which runs a hundred to three hundred dollars a trip and is two trips.
If the shop came to your home and you signed there, the FTC Cooling-Off Rule gives you three business days on a sale of twenty-five dollars or more.
About $600 to $2,000 for a small to average couch and $2,000 to $4,000 for a large sectional, averaging $2,300. Labor runs $40 to $100 an hour, and the fabric is a separate purchase.
Five to eighteen yards for a small or medium sofa, and eighteen to thirty-six for a sectional or large couch. Fabric runs $10 to $100 a yard for materials alone.
Usually not. Reupholstery is quoted as labor, with fabric bought by the yard on top, generally through the shop at a markup. Get the yardage estimate before you choose a fabric.
Often, and it avoids the shop's markup. Ask first, because not every shop will work with customer-supplied fabric, and ask what it does to the labor price and the warranty.
An average of $55 to $85 for a minor repair. Regluing joints is $175 to $360, scratch and dent repair $175 to $360, and full wood refinishing $500 to $1,000.
Often because someone repaired it before. One guide notes that a previous do-it-yourself attempt can double the cost, because undoing old glue, staples or patching takes longer than starting clean.
That is what decides whether reupholstery is worth doing. Spring replacement runs $220 to $400, frame repair $150 to $250, foam $100 to $200. Have all three assessed before committing to fabric.