UU's role, in plain terms — and what you're agreeing to.
Upholsterers United is a platform that connects customers with independent, locally-owned upholstery shops. It is not an upholstery shop itself. What UU does and doesn't do depends on which tier handled your job — read both below, because the agreement and the liability are different.
01 · UU's role vs. the shop's
UU operates the website, verifies shop license and insurance information at application, generates job estimates, and routes job requests to vetted shops. UU 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 UU has listed but does not own, operate, employ, or directly supervise.
02 · Two tiers, two different agreements
Registered shops
UU'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 UU. UU is not a party to that agreement and does not collect or hold your payment.
Full-Service (UU-priced) jobs
UU sets the price, collects your payment, and pays the assigned shop after a completion check. Here, UU is acting as the seller of record for the transaction, even though the shop — not UU — performs the physical work and is responsible for its quality. UU's own exposure and obligations are broader on this tier; see Section 05.
03 · Independent contractor status
Every shop listed on UU, in both tiers, is an independent business. No shop is an employee, agent, franchisee, or partner of UU. UU 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 UU 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). UU does not independently warrant the quality of any shop's work. Before a job is marked complete, UU 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 UU performs on top of the shop's own work, not a guarantee. On Full-Service jobs, UU additionally withholds payment to the shop pending that completion check, which gives UU practical leverage to require a redo at the shop's cost — but this remains a payment-processing mechanism, not a guarantee by UU that the finished work will meet your expectations.
05 · Limitation of liability
| Tier | UU'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; UU for payment-related issues (refund of amounts UU actually collected). |
To the maximum extent permitted by law, UU disclaims liability for property damage, personal injury, delay, or loss arising from a shop's acts or omissions, and UU's own liability — where it exists at all — is limited to amounts UU actually collected on the job in question. UU 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
UU 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 UU — 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 Upholsterers United.
For a Registered-tier job, I understand UU'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 UU 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 UU does not offer pickup or delivery — I'm responsible for dropping off and picking up my piece at the shop's location.
08 · Disputes
For a workmanship dispute on a Registered-tier job, UU'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 UU does not adjudicate the dispute or refund money it never collected. For a Full-Service job, because UU held payment pending a completion check, UU 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.]
This page is a working draft prepared for internal planning. It is not legal advice, has not been reviewed by an attorney or insurance professional, and should not be published or relied on as binding terms until it has been.