Upholstery cost question

[rip2174]

I've only had one bench seat recovered 20 years ago and it cost me 250 and was a nice job. I'm fully restoring my 84 and wanting to update all the interior. I really like the looks of the TMI stuff. But, after getting brackets and such and trying different seats in my truck. I really don't like the ride height of those seats. I went through junkyard sitting in all style of vehicles till I found a seat I liked to put in my truck. They are buckets out of an early 90s Camry. I welded brackets to the frame to bolt in my truck. Gives me the driving profile I want in my C10. So I'm new to my area and started looking for a person to do a full custom interior. Couple local guys turned me to this guy that's leaving a shop to start his own. Went to his shop and very nice work. Asked him today what it would cost for said interior. Thought his price was somewhat OK for full interior, but I looked at buying pieces from TMI and him redoing just seats. He quoted what I felt a very large price for just redoing seats in vinyl and suede. What you all think is a fair going price to upgrade my buckets to something like below?

[Max1775]

$800

[rip2174]

That's what I thought was a fair price as well!

[rip2174]

i really want some advice here!

[andyh1956]

about 15 yrs ago I had two Toyota Truck Cloth Buckets redon by a local boy in Blue Vinyl. He charged me $400 for the pair. At the time I thought that was bad high but I paid him & went on. Those seats are now in their third truck & other than a white paint mark on them they look & sit as good as when I 1st had them done.
Quality work is not cheap, just be sure you're gonna keep your truck & drive it long enough to get the benefit from your upholstery investment.
Having said that I took a seat bottom from my Forklift to a local guy & he quoted $100 to cover it. I bought a whole new seat for $10 less than that.
There are some nice buckets out there that cost less than what you're gonna spend to have yours done.
These Procars look like what you got from that Camry & are very affordable.
http://procarbyscat.com/seats/pro-90 - $218 smaller size
https://www.streetsideauto.com/p/pro...SABEgJ5D_D_BwE - $272 larger size

[mickeykreg]

I had a local shop do my blazer seats (out of a '99 Tahoe) using the Katskin program for $1300. Did them in leather with a couple custom pockets in front and back. Something about the quantity of material that Katskin cuts makes it less expensive for the leather and less time consuming/expensive for the installer. I've yet to get a decade of testing on them, but they sure look good to me.

[TKCR]

Originally Posted by rip2174

i really want some advice here!

$800 to $1000 is more than fair. I recover bench seats, it takes time and it's tedious. Granted I don't do custom work, but custom only adds more $$ because there is definitely more work involved.
But if I may suggest, because this is the big thing I do with my seats I restore. Have your frame removed of any rust, especially the tracks. That is a big PET PEEVE of mine. Why spend all that money to have a your seats recovered and put it over a rusty frame, and is what a Upholstery shop WILL DO. They are only getting paid for the upholstery work.
I'm working on a pair of GTO Buckets for a friend. And he came to me because of the rusty frame issue. He said no local upholstery shop would touch them. So far I only got the tracks done, which were 100% seized up. They slide like butter now.
You can check out my thread link at the bottom.

[RedBed]

If you are able to install it yourself, this guys does some nice work, and for a very reasonable price.

https://www.ricksupholstery.com/

[rip2174]

Thank you all the input.