We charge as a separate item, normally flat rate unless its over or it its a big job we just write "exact shipping charges charged at the end".
No need for you to eat anything. Every place is so different anymore. Trivantage/3rivers kill me on shipping, sailrite/albright/albany are very very cheap.. so it all depends.. try and lump sum alot of orders together to help customers though

Had heard from the grapevine the military was buying up alot of supplies of zippers and fasteners. possibly what couldbe going on

I have one and its a baddass rig providing you have an aircompressor lol I hated the electric one, would always burn up and bog down.

Have some grandparents in the Villages next to you, wouldnt mind being a snowbird from Ohio to Florida but dont think that would work well with the kids.. shoot

I would think you would be okay, we have people in the area that make boat covers out of nylon, ofcourse were in ohio and takes years to really degrade but depends on what the customer is scrubbing their cover with. you should be fine IMO

Sounds like every other shop trying to hire right now, no one is working or wanting to work since the pandemic hit. Most jobs can be done at home which i think is keeping people at home sitting on their computer.
Also when employees see that you are charging 100$++ an hour, they think that is going straight into your pocket without the thought of overhead and everything else in between, when they see that, they also will just open a shop of their own..

Try active foam?

Silver space pens is the only one we use.. we just dont let it sit on the face of the material for a long time, some vinyls/leathers its hard to get off..

I feel the pain haha. But lately since ive been so busy, Ive changed all of my hours online to closed, will even lock the doors and don't answer calls until I have time to return voicemails. Sounds like bad business model to some, but in order for me to get things done, this works best. I have enough work on the board, i dont need someone calling around low balling and asking for a price on a seat roughly 2' by 9' and want me to come up with pricing on the fly then never to come anyways..
No solicitation sign might help keep those unwanted sales people out. But its best to be very blunt and straight to the point when they come in, No im not interested and leave it at that..

I just use a cheapo from the supply distributors for 30-40$, some people get their guns from harbor freight.. they all work fine unless youre doing something super precise or use a gluepot.. no reason to buy something expensive when they get ruined pretty quickly with glue or falling over IMO

best bet would be to glue and or use a combination of small stainless screws or alum rivets depending on the locations. We have a couple BEA guns that wont do fiberglass, even the biggest bea gun wont touch it. usually bends the staples around..
Can also adhere firm velcro sticks by glue/screws, then sew velcro to the backside of the cover and wrap around with that for a more uniform finish.

Typically for cutting welt cord strips depending on what size cord you run and seam allowances..

I think we have some laying around but what is easier is taking a 2" one and having a machine shop chop it down for you

We have one and dont use it, majority of the time, the vinyl picked is some offbrand stuff that I cant seem to put my name on. Our eyes have been good for the last 11 years being in business, we'll continue that way.. I was hoping that scanner would have more options

Pretty sure you can buy attachments for your sewing machine but you'll need a double needle spaced to what the attachment is.

lol Thanks for the laugh. Business was insane for us here. Still is insane, which i had a minute to sit back and work on my own crap or spring clean.

Also, they tried shutting us down to "nonessential" but F*** them, they aren't paying my bills and putting a roof over my family..

Bump

I would remove the cover and foam, cut out the center section and replace with webbing. On his cost ofcourse. The little breather holes just keep the vinyl/leather from poofing when sat on until the air escapes.

Just got an email today from Active foam saying a 6-8% price increase. And then well be getting another round in the near future, that price increase was not stated yet..

In the United States btw

Hi grant
Tons of options
Miami, albright, hydes are vendors on here

3rivers supply and active foam are our most used vendors but depends what you are looking for. Trivantage, sailrite, etc etc for marine stuff.

if youre doing panel replacements on seat covers, I found its cheaper and easier to buy covers straight from Mercedes. Although those years are a little older than the 2013 I did recently.

Have you tried Relicate?https://relicate.com/

Bea 71 series all day.. long nose

Whatever you think your time is worth. Some guys on here can charge over $150 an hour vs some shops will charge $50. Keep track of your time and bill accordingly.
Some shops have thousands and thousands of dollars in overhead. Some work out of their garage. Ask other shops in your area what their hourly rate is and go from there.

holy crap, thats a lot of material