National Upholstery's role, in plain terms — and what you're agreeing to.
National Upholstery is a platform that connects customers with independent, locally-owned upholstery shops. It is not an upholstery shop itself. What National Upholstery does and doesn't do depends on which tier handled your job — read both below, because the agreement and the liability are different.
01 · National Upholstery's role vs. the shop's
National Upholstery operates the website, verifies shop license and insurance information at application, generates job estimates, and routes job requests to vetted shops. National Upholstery does not perform upholstery work. The actual reupholstery, repair, or restoration of your furniture, vehicle interior, marine cushions, or RV seating is performed entirely by an independent, third-party shop that National Upholstery has listed but does not own, operate, employ, or directly supervise.
02 · Two tiers, two different agreements
Registered shops
National Upholstery's estimate is a non-binding reference figure only. Once a Registered shop responds to your job, you negotiate and agree on price directly with that shop, and your contract for the work is with the shop, not with National Upholstery. National Upholstery is not a party to that agreement and does not collect or hold your payment.
Full-Service (National Upholstery-priced) jobs
National Upholstery sets the price, collects your payment, and pays the assigned shop after a completion check. Here, National Upholstery is acting as the seller of record for the transaction, even though the shop — not National Upholstery — performs the physical work and is responsible for its quality. National Upholstery's own exposure and obligations are broader on this tier; see Section 05.
03 · Independent contractor status
Every shop listed on National Upholstery, in both tiers, is an independent business. No shop is an employee, agent, franchisee, or partner of National Upholstery. National Upholstery does not control the manner, methods, materials, or scheduling a shop uses to complete a job — only the listing standards (license, insurance on file, work-sample review, and ongoing rating) required to stay listed. Nothing on this site or in a job routed through it creates an employment, joint-venture, or agency relationship between National Upholstery and any shop.
04 · Workmanship & warranty
Any workmanship warranty on a job is provided by the shop, under the network terms every listed shop agrees to at application (a published workmanship spec and a minimum labor warranty period). National Upholstery does not independently warrant the quality of any shop's work. Before a job is marked complete, National Upholstery does review the shop's finished-work photos against that published spec and, where something looks off, works revisions with the shop in concert with you — a quality check National Upholstery performs on top of the shop's own work, not a guarantee. On Full-Service jobs, National Upholstery additionally withholds payment to the shop pending that completion check, which gives National Upholstery practical leverage to require a redo at the shop's cost — but this remains a payment-processing mechanism, not a guarantee by National Upholstery that the finished work will meet your expectations.
05 · Limitation of liability
| Tier | National Upholstery's position | Primary recourse |
|---|---|---|
| Registered | Introduction/matching service only; not a party to the service contract. | The shop directly, and the shop's own liability insurance. |
| Full-Service | Collects payment and sets price, but does not perform or supervise the work. | The shop for workmanship; National Upholstery for payment-related issues (refund of amounts National Upholstery actually collected). |
To the maximum extent permitted by law, National Upholstery disclaims liability for property damage, personal injury, delay, or loss arising from a shop's acts or omissions, and National Upholstery's own liability — where it exists at all — is limited to amounts National Upholstery actually collected on the job in question. National Upholstery is not a substitute for, and does not replace, a shop's own general liability insurance, which every listed shop is required to carry and disclose at application.
06 · Your piece while it's at the shop
National Upholstery does not offer pickup or delivery. You're responsible for dropping your piece off at, and picking it up from, the shop's own location. Once it's in a shop's physical possession, that shop — not National Upholstery — is responsible for its care, custody, and control, including loss, theft, or damage unrelated to the upholstery work itself. Confirm directly with your shop what coverage applies while your piece is on their premises.
07 · What a customer agrees to before submitting a job
Every job submission requires affirmative acknowledgment of the points below before it can be sent to a shop. This is a working mockup of that acknowledgment step:
I understand the work is performed by an independent, third-party shop — not by National Upholstery.
For a Registered-tier job, I understand National Upholstery's estimate is a reference only, and final price and the service agreement are between me and the shop directly.
For a Full-Service job, I understand National Upholstery sets the price and collects my payment, but the shop performs and is responsible for the work.
I can review a shop's license and insurance status on their listing before the job is confirmed.
I understand National Upholstery does not offer pickup or delivery — I'm responsible for dropping off and picking up my piece at the shop's location.
08 · What a shop agrees to at application
Claiming a listing or creating a shop account requires affirmative agreement to the points below before the claim can be submitted for admin review. This is a working mockup of that acknowledgment step:
I will perform the work I accept and treat the customer with care at a level that meets or exceeds the standards National Upholstery represents to buyers.
I am an independent business, not an employee, agent, or franchisee of National Upholstery, and I carry my own general liability insurance.
I will honor the published workmanship spec and minimum labor warranty for any job I accept, and won't make silent material substitutions.
I understand admin reviews every claim — no listing becomes active automatically — and that a pattern of disputes or failed quality checks can move my shop back to Qualifying or out of the member network.
09 · Disputes
For a workmanship dispute on a Registered-tier job, National Upholstery's role is to facilitate — ratings and a pattern of disputes can move a shop back to Qualifying or out of the member network, but National Upholstery does not adjudicate the dispute or refund money it never collected. For a Full-Service job, because National Upholstery held payment pending a completion check, National Upholstery has a direct operational role: reviewing the completion documentation, deciding whether to release, withhold, or partially refund payment, and requiring a redo at the shop's cost where the published workmanship spec wasn't met. [Placeholder: finalize a specific dispute-resolution and governing-law clause with counsel before publishing.]