[Matt Lindus]

After all this talk of leather repair and colour change by you guys, me and the wife have decided to have our leather three seater sofa that sits in our conservatory (one that is very comfortable) re-spayed another colour.
We understand that the job is quite complex and were by no means expecting a miracle, but were willing to spend around the £450-600 mark for one of the professional franchises to do the job for us.

So the wife rang my office this morning requesting I go online, sort it out and make a booking (She knows what I'm like for home improvements)

Just been on Furniture Clinics web site to find a franchise and guess what!! , they are selling direct to the consumer, colorant kits to change the colour of leather sofa's or car seats etc.

http://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk/Leather_Colourant_Kit.htm 
Scroll right down to the bottom of the page. Be sure to read the bit about DIY SOS.

For £85.00 I can get all I need to do this the job myself, including detailed instructions.

500ml Leather Prep Cleaner
500ml Alcohol Cleaner
1500ml Leather Colourant
250ml super seal + 500ml Leather Spray Finish
Spray Gun + 4 x propellant cans
Sponges & Accessories

What a result, £515 less that we predicted just by looking on line!!
According to their site, DIY SOS with Nick Knowles did a sofa using this kit.

And there’s me and the wife thinking it's a process for the highly trained! : Saying that I would be a bit p**d off if I was one of their franchises that had shelled out however many thousands, only to find out that they are encouraging people to do repair jobs themselves!
Either way, it’s a good deal and I will recommend this to others.
They also sell full repair kits and offer full instructions (guides) on how to do this type of work.


Matt

[Amethyst]

This should be a very interesting thread! Seconds out! Ding-ding!

[Matt Lindus]

Forgot to mention, they even match a PU colour for you and send it with the colourant kit. So no guessing game when it comes to matching.

Matt

[Neil Mc Anulty]

Its not as easy as it sounds (not for me anyway) I have done the courses with LTT and FC and still have problems.

[derek west]

ive just been on line and you can clean carpets yourself with a rug doctor. if i'd of known that i wouldn't of set up a cc business. and its only 25 quid for a day,
also been on line and theres this step by step guide to building your own exstension on the side of your house for a fraction of the cost.

what i'm trying to say is, you can do anything you want to now adays, but do you want to. and will it be as good as a trained pro, maybe it will, but at the end of the day you still have to do it.

diy is nothing new matt.

derek

[davep]

Saying that I would be a bit p**d off if I was one of their franchises that had shelled out however many thousands, only to find out that they are encouraging people to do repair jobs themselves!

Is this your way of thanking FC for saving you money?

[Mike Roper]

When I was cleaning a carpet for one of my customers I noticed the leather suite had tell tale signs of re colour so asked .
He had been on line and done exactly that ,ordered the stuff and done it himself.
Not a bad job actually but you could tell it was diy.

As he admitted though it took a lot of time and effort . To some its worth it others its not , but we have to charge for our time hence the difference between product cost and having to do it as a job.
Mike
















 

[derek west]

just been on line and apparantly you buy this cloth and a bucket and a squeegee type thing and clean your own windows. don't tell the window cleaning guys, they'll poo there pants.

right i'm back on google search to see what other amazing things you can do yourself with professional results.
derek

ps... can anyone find a diy tooth filling kit, i need a filling and i'm not paying them prices. i'll do it me bloody self.

[Matt Lindus]

Derek, I understand what you are saying. Yes carpet cleaning can be DIY'ed as can windows etc, but my first impression, and I’m sure the impression of any customer is that leather and leather repair is specialist and delicate task not for DIY and this means paying a premium for any service to be carried out.

In my eyes it’s completely lost its credibility as a specialist service, I once would have paid big money to have someone do the work for me. Just as you say Derek in regards to the bucket and sponge, carpet cleaner etc, I can now do my own leather repair work myself now, as can my colleagues friends and family.

Matt

[derek west]

maybe you should save your judgement till after you've attempted it matt.
and even then, 6 months after youve been sitting on it.
good luck
derek

[davep]

Lets have a before and after pic 

[gwrightson]

now would you believe this !!!!!

their is actualy books explaining how to fly a plane,

its so easy , their is books how to fly a rotory( helicopter)  not a scrubber 

guess what i,ve done both  , but i needed more than a book and some instructions

.

seems to me furniture clinic are just making money the easy way, after all they are a business selling leather products

geoff

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I think they started selling DIY kits and then moved into professional dye and repairs, Andy from LTT was an upholsterer that didn't automatically make him a leather expert, I am a cleaner that doesn't make me a leather expert we all have to start somewhere, I sell spray bottles doesn't mean customers are going to clean as good as me but I still sell them.

Shaun