The paperwork, sorted.

Every job needs the same three pieces of paper: a quote the customer can say yes to, an order that pins down the fabric before it’s bought, and an invoice that gets you paid. Most new upholstery businesses cobble these together from generic templates that don’t know a metre of fabric from a box of screws. This one does — it’s the paperwork we’d hand a student setting up on their own, free.

Download the template — free (.xlsx)
No email required. Works in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets.

What’s inside

Three tabs. Start Here is the only one you set up: business details, your logo, currency symbol, a VAT yes/no toggle, your deposit percentage, payment details and five editable terms. Quote / Order Form and Invoice then fill themselves — type the customer, the job and the line items, and subtotal, VAT, total, deposit-to-proceed and balance all calculate. Dates work too: the quote stamps today and a valid-until date thirty days out; the invoice sets its own payment-due date from your terms.

The trade-specific bones are already in it: a deposit taken before fabric is ordered, a customer’s-own-material line, fabric-is-non-returnable wording, the UK fire-safety compliance clause for domestic work, and suggested job lines from strip-and-re-web to collection and delivery. It’s the paper version of the Pricing & Quoting chapter.

Make it yours

Your logo goes in with two clicks — select the marked box on either document, then Insert → Pictures. The currency symbol is one cell on the settings sheet: change £ to $ or € and every price column re-labels itself. Every term is editable, including the small learntoupholster.com credit in the footer — delete it if you like; we’d rather you sent professional paperwork than carried our name. Print each tab straight to one A4 page, or export to PDF to email the customer.

How much deposit should an upholsterer take?

Half, before any fabric is ordered — the trade standard, and the template’s default. The deposit covers the cloth (non-returnable once ordered for a job) and books your bench time; the balance falls due on completion, before delivery. Customers who won’t pay a deposit are telling you something worth hearing early.

Do I need to charge VAT as a small upholstery business?

Only once your turnover passes the UK VAT registration threshold — many one-person workshops are under it and charge none at all. The template’s VAT toggle handles either life: set to No and the VAT line shows 0%; set to Yes and your rate applies to every document automatically, with your VAT number shown.

Does it work outside the UK?

Yes — the currency is one setting and every term is editable. Swap £ for $ and replace the UK fire-safety clause with your own local wording; dates, deposits and totals behave the same everywhere. American shops: it pairs nicely with pricing by the yard.