Guide · upholstery in Melbourne
You have two quotes on the desk. One is to have new seating built and installed. One is to rebuild and recover the seating already in the room. They are not the same job, they do not cover the same work, and neither quote explains how to compare it to the other.
Last updated: July 2026
Get a free quoteCall 0425 832 619We are an upholstery and re-upholstery workshop in Eltham North, and our usual commercial job is bringing seating that is already installed back to as-new: stripping it down, sorting the frame, replacing the foam and springs, and recovering it. A lot of what comes up when you search for banquette seating in Melbourne is new-build manufacturing. Those businesses build new seating from scratch, to drawings, and install it. That is a real trade, and a venue genuinely needs it sometimes. We build new and custom pieces too, so this is not an argument that rebuilding always wins. It is the framework we talk through with operators, including the cases where we tell them to have new seating made.
A manufacturer prices new seating: new frames, new everything, built off site and installed. A re-upholstery workshop prices work on what you already own: repair the structure, replace the comfort, renew the cover. The second usually keeps your existing footprint and your existing frames, which is the whole difference.
Neither is wrong, but comparing them without knowing which is which is how venues end up replacing sound seating, or recovering seating that belonged in a skip.
Wear lands on the cover, the foam and the hand detail, and the full account of what goes first on a run of banquettes is on our banquette re-upholstery page. What matters for this decision is the consequence. On well built seating the frame is the asset and the cover and foam are consumables, so the same run can be rebuilt more than once. Renew the consumables and you get the seating back. Lose the frame and you are buying new seating, whoever does the work.
Rebuilding tends to be right when all of these are true.
A rebuild is also your chance to specify better than the original. If a seat was always too soft, or went flat in its first season, that was a foam decision and you can change it now. We use Dunlop HR35 high resilience foam in 165 medium or 200 firm. Medium suits a dining banquette, where people sit upright and slide in and out and want some give under them. Firm suits a deep lounge booth or bar seating, anywhere people settle in for hours, because that is where a soft seat dishes first. Fire-grade foam is standard on our commercial and venue seating, and available on any job when it is specified, so what is inside the seat is settled before anyone asks. The foam carries its own 10-year Dunlop manufacturer warranty. Seats are sprung with 9-way hand-tied springs where the build calls for it, or webbed when that suits the piece better. For covers we recommend at least 25,000 Martindale rubs, and Austex commercial-grade vinyl where you want leather-look that wipes down between sittings. Read leather versus vinyl first, because leather is sold by the whole hide, around five square metres minimum, while vinyl is sold by the metre.
Sometimes it is, and we will say so. In each of these the seating is the smaller half of the problem, so it is worth knowing what else each one drags in with it.
New seating also has a front end that a rebuild does not: drawings, approvals and a build slot before anything is made, then the install. If that is your situation you want new seating built, and we do that too: see commercial banquette and booth seating. Either way, do not pay to recover something that will be replaced in two years.
The cover comes off first, and that is when the piece tells you the truth. Joints get re-glued and re-blocked, webbing or springs are replaced or re-tied, and anything soft in the timber is cut out. Foam is cut to the original profile, or firmer if the seat was always too soft. The cover then goes back on with the detail matched to the original: pattern matching across a run, piping, buttoning set out evenly, fluting kept straight. Show-wood goes to our French polisher rather than being painted over.
Three trades sit under one roof here: a restorer and French polisher of 50 years, a machinist of 30 years and an upholsterer of 22 years, so around 100 years of combined craft. That matters most on curved buttoned work that has to match the runs either side.
Timing is agreed at quote stage, and venue work is staged around your trading hours. Fixed seating usually comes out in runs so a section of the room stays open. Drop-in dining seats and loose pads are the fastest part of any job and can often go out the same or next day with notice. The part outside anyone's control is fabric lead time, so choosing your cover early is the best thing you can do for the schedule.
Three questions get most venues to an answer.
1. Push and rock, and know what you are feeling. Take the base at the end of a run and push hard, then push the top of the back. A hardwood frame feels dead solid and gives you nothing. Ply and particle board flex, and you feel that as a soft give rather than a noise. A creak on its own is often just a loose joint, and loose joints in hardwood can be re-glued, re-blocked and screwed back up. What cannot be repaired economically is timber that has lost its grip on fastenings, a base that moves as a whole sheet, or a frame that was stapled together rather than jointed, because there is nothing left for a repair to hold. 2. Read the plinth line. Look along the bottom of the base where it meets the floor. Dark staining, a swollen edge or a chalky tide line is water that has been sitting, usually from cleaning rather than a leak, and it means the base has been wet over and over. A musty smell with it means it is still wet. That is the one finding that rules out a rebuild, because the structure keeps going even while it still looks square. 3. Would you keep this exact layout if you were fitting the room out tomorrow? If no, replace. If yes, rebuild.
On a rebuild, the cost drivers are fabric choice first, then the size and shape of the run, the condition of the frame, what the springs and foam need, the hand detail such as buttoning, piping and pattern matching, and whatever we find once the piece is open. The cost guide covers those in detail.
Send photos of the worst section and the whole run. Quotes are free, with no obligation, answered within 24 hours. We also do banquette re-upholstery, booth seating re-upholstery and cafe and venue seating across Melbourne, with pickup and delivery by arrangement.
Good to know
Yes, and it happens. What we look at first is the structure: how the base behaves when you push it, whether there is staining or damp along the plinth, how the thing was built underneath, and whether the layout still suits the way you trade. If the frame has gone, we say so and quote the new build instead, or tell you to have one quoted. A new cover over a failed frame is money you spend twice.
Usually, because you are not paying for new frames or a new fit-out, and keeping the existing footprint keeps other trades out of it. It is not automatic. A run with structural damage, heavy hand detail and an expensive fabric can get close to the cost of new, and we will say so when it does.
The quote is firm once the fabric is chosen, and what turns up with the cover off is one of the few things that can move it. If a section of frame is unsound we stop, show you what is there, and give you the options, usually a frame repair added to the job, a new frame for that section, or a new build for the run. You hear it before any more work goes in, not when the invoice arrives.
Yes, and fixed seating comes out in runs anyway. The catch is the cover rather than the work. Fabric and vinyl shift between production runs, so a section recovered next year may not sit perfectly beside one recovered now. The way around it is to stage the job in visually complete sections, or to buy the full metreage up front so every stage comes off the one lot. We will tell you which is realistic for the cover you choose.
At least 25,000 Martindale rubs for everyday seating. For anything wiped down between sittings, Austex commercial-grade vinyl in a leather-look gives you the appearance without the upkeep. We also work with quality Australian and imported fabrics where the room calls for a textile.
Yes. Timing is agreed at quote stage and the work is staged so a section of the room stays open where possible. Fixed seating comes out in runs rather than all at once, and loose pads and drop-in seats turn around quickly.
The hardwood frame only, on frames we build. Fabric and foam are not covered by it, and the Dunlop foam has its own separate 10-year manufacturer warranty. There is no blanket workmanship or lifetime warranty.
It depends on the size of the run and on the fabric, which is the part outside our control. Small loose items like drop-in seats can be same or next day with enough notice, and a sofa is usually about a couple of weeks once the fabric has arrived. For a venue run the timing is agreed at quote stage and the work is staged around your trading hours, section by section where that suits the room.
Both, depending on what the piece is. Fixed banquettes and booths are worked on in the room, because the carcass is not going anywhere. Anything loose, seat pads, squabs and removable backs, we collect and take to the Eltham North workshop where the bench work is better done, then bring back and refit. Pickup and delivery is by arrangement across Melbourne.
Send a photo or the dimensions of your booths, banquettes or venue seating and we'll come back with a rough price and turnaround.
Send us the drawings or details and we'll come back with a straight quote, no clout needed, just a great job.
Enquire about a job Call 0425 832 619