Re-cover furniture, car seats and boat interiors. No licence, learned in a shop, and a craft with more work than people to do it.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Experienced upholsterer
$47,000
Shop helper
$37,000
Custom or auto specialist, or owner
$64,000
Job Bank's national median is $22.46 an hour, about $47,000 a year full time. The low is $17.99 and the high is $31 an hour. Auto, marine and aircraft interior work pays at the top. Owners of a busy custom shop can earn more, with the usual small-business risk.
$18 to $20 an hour
Helper in an upholstery shop or on a furniture factory line
Stripping old fabric, cutting foam, stapling. Factory jobs in Quebec and Ontario, where most Canadian furniture is made, start near the bottom and rise with speed.
$28 to $31 an hour
Custom furniture, auto trim, boat and aircraft interiors
Classic car interiors, yacht cushions and restaurant booths are priced by the job. A skilled upholsterer with a full calendar can bill well above the hourly figures.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The common route is learning on the job in a shop, paid from the first day, so the low end is nothing. The high end is a short college or continuing education course at a few thousand dollars plus your own kit: a staple gun, compressor, shears and hand tools at 500 to 2,000. Quebec has a public vocational diploma in upholstery that takes about a year at low tuition. This is not a Red Seal trade, so the federal Canada Apprentice Loan does not apply, and most upholsterers finish training with no debt.
Upholsterer is not a Red Seal trade, so the federal Canada Apprentice Loan does not apply. Most upholsterers finish training with no debt.
Union membership
At some furniture factories and transit or aircraft seat shops.
Health and dental
At larger factories and manufacturers, rare at small shops.
Steady work
Old furniture and worn seats never stop coming in.
Work from a home shop
Common once you have clients.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
Almost everyone learns at the bench. Job Bank says a college course, an apprenticeship or extensive experience as a helper are the usual routes.
High school
Grades 10 to 12
Shop and tech classes. Sewing classes help more than you would think. Re-cover a chair at home.
Helper in a shop or factory
6 to 12 months
Stripping, cutting foam, stapling, learning fabrics. Furniture factories hire with no experience.
Course or vocational diploma (optional)
Months to 1 year
Quebec runs a vocational diploma in upholstery. Elsewhere, upholstery is mostly continuing-education courses and short private classes.
Full upholsterer
2 to 4 years
Pattern cutting, sewing welts and pleats, spring tying, frame repair, estimating fabric. Speed and clean corners take years.
Specialize or open a shop
5 years and up
Auto and marine trim, antiques, commercial seating, or your own custom shop.
Shop or technology
Tools, frames, working to a plan.
Sewing or textiles
Industrial sewing is half the job.
Math
Estimating fabric yardage and pricing.
Art
Pattern matching, colour, proportion.
Job Bank lists upholsterer as unregulated across Canada. No licence, no exam. Quebec offers a voluntary trade certificate, and its public vocational centres run a diploma in upholstery. Everywhere else your credential is your work: bring a chair you re-covered to the interview.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Auto trim
Car seats, headliners, convertible tops. Classic car restoration shops pay well.
Marine and aircraft interiors
Boat cushions and seats with weather-proof materials; aircraft seats have strict standards.
Antique restoration
Hand-tied springs and horsehair. Few people can do it.
Commercial seating
Restaurant booths, theatre and transit seats in volume.
Industrial sewing
Fast, straight seams on heavy fabric and leather.
Woodworking basics
Frames need repair before fabric goes on.
A strong back and good knees
Sofas are heavy and you work bent over.
An eye for fabric
Customers ask what will wear well.
A pickup or van
Furniture pickups and deliveries.
Most upholsterers who stay in the trade end up self-employed. A garage or small industrial unit, a compressor, a sewing machine and a cutting table is enough to start. Word of mouth and interior designers bring the work. Quoting is the hard part: underestimate fabric or hours and you eat the loss.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Shop opens at 8am. Strip a wingback chair down to the frame, pulling hundreds of staples. Repair a loose joint, retie springs, cut new foam. Measure and cut fabric, matching the pattern. Sew welting and cushion covers at the industrial machine. Stretch, staple, tack, trim. Quote a sofa for a customer who walks in, then load a finished loveseat into the van. Dusty, loud with the compressor, satisfying at the end.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Job Bank lists upholsterer as not regulated in any province or territory. Quebec is the only place with a voluntary trade certificate.
Job Bank gives upholsterers a good outlook in British Columbia and a moderate one in Quebec and Alberta, while Ontario and Manitoba are rated limited. Marine work along the coast helps BC.
Stripping one old sofa can mean pulling well over a thousand staples and tacks by hand before any new fabric goes on. It is the least glamorous and most common part of the job.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.