Hi again,
I'd like to know whether this furniture company is being unreasonable or whether, as they claim, "everyone works this way" (which still might be unreasonable, come to think of it). I like their pieces but hate their standard fabrics, so I found my own fabric, which they approved. What they want to charge me for building a sofa with the fabric I buy is exactly what they would charge me for a (cheap grade) leather version of the same sofa. That is of course more than they would charge me for the sofa if they built it in their fabric, and they don't have to pay for any fabric, so why should I pay more to get less?

I tried to get an explanation, and the best they could come up with was something about it requiring extra labor on their part to supervise the cutting and stitching of the fabric, since their workers are not used to working with it. They could not explain why this would be necessary, however. The pattern has no repeats, and it isn't some exotic material, it's a poly/cotton blend explicitly sold as upholstery fabric, and considerably more expensive than the stuff they offer (about $50/yd). So can someone explain what exactly this extra supervisory labor is needed for?

Or is this basically a scam, premised on the notion that someone who goes to the trouble of placing a COM order is likely not to give the pricing a second thought? If I go along with this I'll have a sofa in the fabric I want for about $1500 more than the same sofa in their (hideous) fabric.