In the limited research, I've done this is what I've found.
Bucket seat front and back 45sq ft... x2=90
Small Bench seat 115sq ft... x1=115
1/2 door panels 25 sq ft... x2=50
Full rear quarter panels 35 sq ft... x2=70
Front dash 10 sq ft... x1=10
TOTAL SQ FT = 335 give yourself some extra sooo 350
Let's say you choose Dakota's Saddlebag that's $285 for a hide at avg size of 65 sq ft per hide
If you order 6 hides that's 390 sq ft total (extra 55 sq ft) @ $1700
That's for 100% leather and no cloth or different material done in the center (body)
Bestop Trailmax II seats front and back are about $1160
So without hogclips, shipping, and the actual labor, you're at $2,860
$12,000 (starting price)
-$2,860 (leather and seats)
------------
$9,140 in labor???
This is the starting price and most of the work seems to not be 100% leather and have some sort of other material in the center of seats that could change this pricing. Not trying to start an argument just trying to educate myself and currently have limited knowledge. Does this seem about right? What am I missing?
Well, like you said, you've left out shipping and actual labor.
If you're shipping it, you're going to wrap them HEAVILY, mount them on a pallet and fully enclose the box. It's not a $20 anything goes USPS shipment. Let's say you have the seats shipped to the shop AND the shop ships them to you? Minimum $700-1000 since there's materials, labor to construct the box, and the actual shipping of a heavy, odd box to a unloading site.
So now we're down to ~$8k. At $100 an hour (specialist minimum going rate for anything [body/elec/eng/etc]) That's 80 man hours to properly disassemble the seats (saving the foam and original material unsewn/unstitched for patterning), prep and cut the leather, assemble the pieces, then fit (install, stretch, steam, stretch, wrestle, steam, pound, push, pull) them perfectly back on the foam.
Yeah. That's about right.
