The Search For An Upholsterer

I put some time aside last week to research and meet with a few upholsters.  I've heard time and time again that if you find a good upholsterer, KEEP HIM!  I had a fab upholsterer some years ago, a soft-spoken and really nice older man, that charged an awesome price and did a few items for me.  I tried to KEEP him but he wanted to retired and for various reasons, I just hadn't looked for another one. 

Recently, I talked with three upholsterers:

(1)  A female upholsterer with 35 years experience.  Works from an in-home shop.   

(2)  A male upholsterer with a local shop.  Personal note:  his shop is always full of furniture waiting to be finished. 

(3)  A friend of a friend that "loves" to reupholster projects.  She's a professional seamstress and upholsters on the side.

I presented the same 3 projects to each one. 

(1)  A cane-back antique chair

(2)  two sitting chairs with cushions

(3)  a set of barrel chairs that have detachable a seat and back cushion.     

             

 Now I'm not really sure what people consider a "reasonable" price to pay for this kind of work in my area, but provided that I do most of the pre-work (stripping the old fabric, removing all staples and/or tacks, etc.), I expect a bit of a break in price when all they will be doing is recovering.

The outcome from each upholsterer were as follows:

(1)  Her prices are set and they are the same for everyone (I inquired about repeat customer discounts).  She offers no price adjustment for bringing in stripped pieces.  Prices seemed a bit high. 

(2)  He had a lot of work in progress displayed in his shop and I was able to see some of his work first-hand.  I like what I saw.  He offers repeat customer/commercial discounts.  Prices seemed reasonable but again, I'm not sure what is considered "reasonable".

(3)  I sent her pics via email and she responded quickly.  Unfortunately, she passed on the projects.  She felt she needed to take some refresher courses first before tackling these particular projects.  She has another friend that may be able to take on the projects and she forwarded my information to her. 

BUMMER!!
But, 1 out of 3 isn't too bad.  I think I will follow-up again with Upholsterer #2

I'll update you all soon on how this pans out and continue to keep you all posted on my plans for these 3 awesome pieces.

What has been everyones' experience with upholsterers and how did you go about finding and selecting yours?