Hey, it happens. Sometimes we buy our furniture used, or it just needs some updating. Sofas, beds, chairs, and loveseats – all of our furniture should be comfortable and stylish. Offer a refurnishing service where you fix your customer's furniture, update, and possibly add new fabric that they could choose. Obviously, you would charge one fee for refurnishing, one for updating, and another for adding new fabric to customize. You can also charge a fee for picking up the item(s).
Furniture is something that naturally undergoes wear and tear over the years. The look of the furniture gets worse because of this wear and tear. However, not everyone will be able to afford new furniture every year; though they would like their furniture to look comfortable and stylish at all times. This is where you can offer your services as a furniture recovery service.
As a furniture recovery service, you make your customer's furniture attractive by updating them and adding new fabrics when necessary. You could cater to update all types of furniture; let it be sofas, beds, loveseats, or chairs. Of course, you will have to charge for all these services. Set up different charges for refurnishing, a different set of prices for updating and of course for the fabrics that you use on the furniture.
You will need some investment for a furniture recovery service. First, you need some space to work with this furniture. Invest in some tools that will help you in updating furniture. You will also need furniture glue, catalogs of different fabrics to offer, and if you can afford it, you could invest in some fabrics to be stored in your work place, so that customers can get a feel of the texture of the fabrics offered for their furniture. You may also need to invest in a vehicle to pick up and collect furniture. Adding this incentive of picking up and delivering furniture brings added customers to your services. Of course, this service of picking up and delivering furniture is paid by the customer, and is not free!
Having a skill in carpentry is of course, an added benefit for your furniture recovery service. If you have no knowledge of this, but have the necessary finances for financing it, then you could consider hiring someone, or merging services with someone to offer furniture recovery services. Invest in some furniture magazines to get an idea of the latest designs and fabrics being incorporated in furniture.
Once you have set up your furniture recovery service, you will have to do some marketing to get your services known by people. Have a few business cards printed for distribution to potential clients. Create a few pamphlets to place in family places; like the shopping mall and church. People visiting these places are bound to have some furniture that needs updating; so these spots bring in the most customers for you. You could also place a few ads in the local newspaper, placing information about your services, contact information, and the important point of offering to pick up and deliver furniture.
Once you develop a fair sized clientele in the furniture recovery service, you are bound to find customers and clients approaching you for more help with their furniture. So, aim to provide good service to all clients and the good service will bring more customers to your business!
Resources:
http://www.sba.gov/
http://nymag.com/nymetro/shopping/asknewyork/n_10122/
http://thefurnituredoctor.net/t3.htm
February 23, 2009
