Upholsterer Job Description, Duties, and Responsibilities

This post provides detailed information on the upholsterer job description, including the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities they commonly perform.

It also highlights the major requirements you may be expected to fulfill to be hired for the upholsterer role by most recruiters/employers.

What Does an Upholsterer Do?

Upholsterers construct or repair upholstered furniture by covering with materials such as leather, cotton or suede.

The upholsterer job description entails building or rebuilding furniture such as sofas, mattresses, and chairs by replacing damaged frames and padding with fabrics.

Upholsterers in performing their duties remove worn coverings, padding, and webbings from furniture.

Usually, they pull off anchoring tacks prior to removing coverings to allow for material reuse.

They also remove the burlap which covers the springs in order to replace broken or worn springs in a piece of furniture.

Upholsterers conduct repairs on broken or defective wooden frame, they may use glue to bind a damaged frame or they may replace it altogether using a hammer, a saw, and nails.

Their role usually involves stripping upholstered furniture down to its wooden frame in order to identify defects and conduct repairs.

Also, they conduct repairs in automobile upholstery as well as produce coverings/materials for furniture.

As part of their responsibilities, upholsterers take measurements and accurately cut materials required for furniture upholstery.

They use webbing stretchers to extend webbings and fabrics to be used as covers. They lace the surface of wooden frames with felt pads, cottons, fiber stuffing or foam to form a soft, rounded surface.

Their work description also entails liaising with interior designers to decorate and coordinate room furnishing.

Upholsterers as part of their duties trace out cutting lines on fabrics using chalks, pencils, paint, or other markers.

They manually sew upholstery or operate sewing machines to seam cushions and join various ends of a fabric.

They also maintain up-to-date knowledge of upholstery techniques by monitoring the upholstery industry to identify trends.

In fulfilling their description, upholsterers interact with clients to discuss preferences such as upholstery color, fabric, and style.

They carry out cost estimates to determine the requirements for a project and also ensure that projects are completed within set time constraints.

Upholsterers may attach on a finished piece buttons, buckles and other ornamental accessories to enhance appearance.

To get into a career in upholstery requires a high school diploma and some training in a vocational school.

Some of the qualities you will need to succeed on the job include communication, dexterity, and creative skills.

Upholsterer Job Description Example/Template

Upholsterers perform various functions; below is a job description example that highlights major duties, tasks, and responsibilities that commonly make up the work activities of upholsterers:

• Study work orders to determine the amount and type of materials required to cover work pieces
• Follow sketches, patterns or blueprints to indicate cutting lines on fabrics using chalks, pencils or paint
• Measure and cut materials using manual or automated cutting instruments
• Confer with customers prior to upholstery to determine their color, style, and fabric preferences
• Remove anchoring tacks and strip upholstered furniture down to its wooden frame
• Examine furniture frames, springs, and webbings to identify defects
• Apply their knowledge of upholstery to build or repair upholstered furniture using a variety of hand or power tools
• Ensure projects are completed and delivered before set deadline
• Cover wooden frame with soft materials such as cotton, felt pad, fiber or foam to improve texture and appearance
• Work with tools and materials such as glue, staples, saw, cement, tacks and nail guns
• Secure work pieces and materials onto production equipment
• Conduct routine maintenance of work tools and upholstery machine
• Finish upholstered furniture by attaching ornament trims, buttons, buckles, and grommets
• Operate sewing machine to sew upholstery and join various sections of covering fabric
• Replace defective or worn upholstery spring, webbing or wooden frame.

Requirements – Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge – for Upholsterer Job

If you are interested in working as an upholsterer, the following are typical requirements you might be expected to satisfy by most firms to be granted an interview:

• Education and Training: To become an upholsterer, you require at least a high school diploma and training in a vocational school that offers upholstery courses. Another route to becoming an upholsterer is through apprenticeship. You can work as an upholsterer apprentice for about 3-4 years to gain work knowledge and experience
• Communication Skill: Upholsterers are able to interact with clients to identify their upholstery preferences
• Dexterity: They are able to manually strip and re-cover furniture with little to no implements
• Creative Skill: They are well versed in repairing and finishing furniture to improve appearance.

Conclusion

If you are hiring for the upholsterer job and need to make a work description for the process, you can make use of the sample description given in this post.

You can be sure of creating a great job description that gets you the best candidates for the position.

The information provided in this post is also useful to individuals interested in the upholstery career. It provides in-depth knowledge of the duties and responsibilities of upholsterers for them to decide if it is the career they want to go into.