Specify a standard, not one company.
This page is for architects, designers, and spec writers who want to set a real quality bar for custom upholstery, draperies, rugs, or shade structures in a bid document — without naming a single fabricator as the sole basis of design. Four CSI three-part guide specifications below are built on National Upholstery's own shared qualification model instead: any shop currently registered in the relevant trade category qualifies to bid and perform the work.
What “National Upholstery Registered Shop” means as a basis of design
Specifying “a current National Upholstery Registered Shop” in place of a named fabricator means any shop listed as registered in the applicable trade category on the National Upholstery member directory as of the bid date qualifies — not one company. There's no formal substitution petition to run: registration status is a public, checkable fact, verifiable by any bidder before submitting and independently by the Architect or Owner at any point in the project.
“Registered” status is earned and can be lost — it requires, in objective and documented terms:
Registration isn't a one-time credential: a shop that stops meeting insurance, licensing, or network-terms requirements is removable from the directory, and a removed shop no longer qualifies regardless of past registration. Each spec below requires the awarded shop to furnish current proof of registration at bid and again at award, and requires written notice — plus a cure period, or completion by another registered shop at the lapsed shop's expense — if registration lapses mid-project.
Verify any shop's current registration status in the member directory →
Four sections, ready to drop into a bid document.
Custom Upholstery
Shop/field custom upholstery of loose and fixed seating, cushions, and upholstered panels — residential and commercial/institutional contract work, reupholstery of existing frames or shop-built/rebuilt frames.
View full specification →Curtains and Drapes
Field-measured, shop-fabricated custom window treatments — draperies, sheers, blackout/dimout panels, decorative curtains, and healthcare privacy/cubicle curtains, plus their track, rods, and motorized hardware.
View full specification →Rugs and Mats
Shop-fabricated custom area rugs and mats cut, bound/serged, and seamed from broadloom carpet or rug goods — explicitly not wall-to-wall carpet installation.
View full specification →Tensioned Fabric Shade Structures
Shop-fabricated, structurally engineered, field-erected shade sails, fabric canopies, and small-to-mid-scale tensioned-membrane structures on steel or aluminum frames — below stadium-scale tensile roofs.
View full specification →Before this goes into a real bid
Not legal advice. A few of the citations below cite a real standard or code correctly but need a current check by whoever handles your fire-code or testing-lab relationships — or a specifier — before an architect relies on them in an actual bid document.
- Code section numbers (IBC/IFC “Decorative Materials,” NFPA 101 cubicle-curtain sections, membrane-structure code chapters) are edition- and jurisdiction-dependent — confirm against the IBC/IFC edition the local AHJ has actually adopted.
- ACT fabric performance thresholds (abrasion, colorfastness, crocking, seam slippage, used in both the curtains and upholstery specs) are drawn from general industry guidance, not confirmed against ACT's own current Voluntary Performance Guidelines document — verify before issuing.
- Full-scale flammability testing (CAL 133/NFPA 266) is materially more expensive than the baseline test and doesn't apply by default — confirm whether it's actually required for the specific public-occupancy, healthcare, or detention project before assuming it is.
- State “law label” requirements for upholstered-furniture filling-material disclosure vary by state and by reupholstery-vs-new-construction — check the destination state's current requirement.
- The shade-structure placeholder numbers (the 5:1 cable/rigging factor, snow-load design-or-exemption) are common rules of thumb, not verified code minimums — the project's structural engineer of record should govern with sealed, project-specific calculations.
- One correction worth checking elsewhere on this site: CRI Green Label Plus is a carpet/rug/adhesive IAQ program only — it does not apply to upholstery fabric, foam, or furniture. UL GREENGUARD Gold and CertiPUR-US are the applicable programs there.