# Why does it take so long ot build a sofa? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 12, 2017, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071 "2017-07-12T09:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![polar\_bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@polar\_bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/polar_bear)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/21 "2017-07-13T06:33:19Z")
The way I heard it, is that manufacturers can only produce one model of sofa at a time. For a different model they have to set up the production facilities differently, which is a drag and costly. So they only set up for a certain model once they have enough units ordered to make it worth the effort. Much of the waiting time is waiting for other people to order the same model sofa. If too few people do so, you might still get told the sofa is no longer made… and to pick another model. Verstuurd vanaf mijn Moto G (4) met Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/22 "2017-07-13T13:54:57Z")
But how long does it take to get a specific car that the dealership doesn’t have in stock? Every single time I’ve bought a car, the choices that I could pick up within a few days were limited. Maybe I want a Civic - and the dealership has the sedan available in four colors and the coupe available in three different colors. But I want a coupe with a manual transmission and the remote starter - and dealer only has one car with a manual transmission and a different one with a remote starter. And I hate the colors of both of them. How long will I have to wait to get the color I want with the exact features I want? I remember being told it would take about 6-8 weeks, maybe a little more or less depending upon exactly when the dealer would be submitting their next order to Honda. “Customization” doesn’t only refer to having the couch, etc made in fabric/color that is not normally offered. It means it was made to the customers specifications rather than being a stock item. And customization always takes longer- I can go into a bakery and walk out with a cake in 10 minutes if the only customization I want is “Happy Birthday” written on the top. But if their stock cakes are yellow cake with chocolate filling and white buttercream frosting and I want white cake with pineapple filling and whipped cream frosting, I’m going to have to order it in advance- usually at least two days in advance. Even though it doesn’t take two days to make a cake ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/23 "2017-07-13T14:03:56Z")
Aren’t couches hand made? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/24 "2017-07-13T14:33:09Z")
> [@polar\_bear](#): > > The way I heard it, is that manufacturers can only produce one model of sofa at a time. For a different model they have to set up the production facilities differently, which is a drag and costly. True to some extent, but a lot of different looking sofas are built on the same frame and then padded differently. Making a frame, sewing up the uphostery, and then stuffing and assembling the final piece are very different steps. Just guessing now, the upholstery pieces are probably cut by an NC machine so the sewing and stuffing wouldn’t need special set-up but the frames are likely to be assembled from some pre-cut pieces that they would wait for a production run to make. And that assumes they have that fabric available, unfortunately sometimes people have to wait forever for a custom sofa. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/25 "2017-07-13T14:58:53Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > Whenever I’ve purchased a sofa it has always been in stock at the retailers warehouse. The last two purchases I can remember were from Rooms To Go and Havertys. Am I the only one who doesn’t have custom furniture made? Is it common to have something like a sofa custom ordered? My sofa is only sort of “custom”. That is to say the store had one color in stock. Any other colors had to be ordered. It is not “custom” as if I am having them make a one-off special sofa for me. They make this sofa hundreds or thousands of times and they offer it in a variety of colors. It’d be like you seeing a car you like at the dealer but they only have it in green in stock and you want red so you order one made that is red which they also offer. As it happens it turns out buying a sofa is more difficult than I imagined. My GF and I promised ourselves we would not buy a sofa without sitting on it first. We saw many that looked great in an ad (and in person) but were decidedly uncomfortable when sitting on it. Finding a sofa that is in your price range, looks good to you and has the comfort you like (some are very hard, some squishy and some in-between; seat depth, seat height, etc.) is a chore. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/26 "2017-07-13T17:57:50Z")
No one stands around waiting to build your sofa. Work is queued up… and it’d better be queued deep enough that, when orders dip, the labor pool and all other things assigned to work/feed/ship it are kept working, without their work drying up. If your sofa came twice as early, it would cost three times as much. A queue of work that is deep enough to survive drops in demand ensures everything keeps churning. Impractical to pay people to do nothing but wait/react. Utilization of 100% would be nice. How? By having work queued up. Should things slow down, the several weeks buffer built into production might shrink to just 1-2 days of work queued up. People forecasting workloads, turn times and demand must ensure this flexibility. If people order 20000 sofas a month every month, it’d be easier to get you a sofa in two weeks. But sometimes they order 5000 one month and 30000 the next. How to keep the workforce utilized? A queue of work that is deep enough and which doesn’t jeopardize demand. Underutilized labor is expensive, disengaged, suffers from lower quality, longer training curves, etc. . ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/27 "2017-07-13T18:09:27Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > You said you haven’t shopped for a sofa in 15 years. How many cars has your family bought during that time? How many people do you know whose sofa is newer than their car? > > Does your family have as many sofas as cars? Do all your friends? > > Many teenagers have their own cars. How many teenagers have their own sofa? > > Also, **there are only 3 American car companies** , plus a handful of companies that export cars to the US. There are 41 American furniture companies listed on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Furniture_companies_of_the_United_States), and I bet there are many more that aren’t listed. > > And I bet there was a LOT more varieties of sofas available at any given furniture store than the number of car models sold at any car dealer. Bolding mine. GM, Ford, and Fiat/Chrysler are all multinational companies like these others that **manufacturer cars here** in America: Tesla, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, Honda/Acura, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan and a couple of others I’m missing. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/28 "2017-07-13T18:19:05Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > But how long does it take to get a specific car that the dealership doesn’t have in stock? Every single time I’ve bought a car, the choices that I could pick up within a few days were limited. I think this may have changed. While there are only a limited number available at your local dealer, there are an enormous variety at other dealers within a few hundred miles and these can be shipped. So the options are no longer just available at the local dealer or from the manufacturer. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/29 "2017-07-13T18:22:07Z")
> [@obbn](#): > > Whenever I’ve purchased a sofa it has always been in stock at the retailers warehouse. The last two purchases I can remember were from Rooms To Go and Havertys. Am I the only one who doesn’t have custom furniture made? Is it common to have something like a sofa custom ordered? No, and in fact we almost never buy anything retail. When we moved most furniture buying was done at a consignment store or similar. New furniture is crap quality and over priced. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/30 "2017-07-13T18:24:28Z")
Having just shopped for furniture. We ordered a sofa. We had the choice of hundreds of different fabrics. The store had two or three sofas in stock naturally they did not have the fabric my wife and I preferred so we had or order it. That took a few months. There are some furniture stores that don’t carry a lot of inventory because people that shop there want to choose from a lot of different fabrics. There are others that have a lot of furniture in stock but with only a small range of choices so people can have them in the next day or two. There are a couple of chains here in San Diego that advertise same day delivery. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/31 "2017-07-13T18:28:07Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Also, there are only 3 American car companies, plus a handful of companies that export cars to the US. There are 41 American furniture companies listed on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Furniture_companies_of_the_United_States), and I bet there are many more that aren’t listed. I used to work for a company that makes and sells furniture (including couches) and they aren’t tiny; they sell furniture all over the US. They aren’t in that list. I imagine that list is a tiny fraction of the number of manufacturers. By the way, I have no idea how long it takes to make a couch. Where I worked they only made mattresses on the premises. Other furniture was made in SE Asia then shipped overseas. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/32 "2017-07-13T18:29:04Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > I think this may have changed. While there are only a limited number available at your local dealer, there are an enormous variety at other dealers within a few hundred miles and these can be shipped. So the options are no longer just available at the local dealer or from the manufacturer. Sure, but they are all going to have the most popular combinations. Which means that you will see a lot of silver Civics with automatic transmissions , but maybe no burgundy manuals ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/33 "2017-07-13T18:32:22Z")
Note also-\* they have your money\*, they are in no hurry. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/34 "2017-07-13T19:02:55Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Note also-\* they have your money\*, they are in no hurry. Not in my case. At least, not completely. They took a 30% deposit and get the balance upon delivery. No idea if that is normal or just what this store does. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/35 "2017-07-13T19:22:26Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Not in my case. At least, not completely. > > They took a 30% deposit and get the balance upon delivery. > > No idea if that is normal or just what this store does. Well, yes a deposit. But they still have some of your money, without any outlays on their part. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/36 "2017-07-13T19:34:52Z")
I wasn’t aware furniture stores no longer keep a large inventory. We’ve always selected something from the showroom, arranged delivery and paid. Nearly every item in the showroom was in inventory. Or they’d sell the floor model if you were in a rush. I’ll warn my wife that’s no longer the case. You say it takes several months now to get furniture? ---
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/37 "2017-07-13T19:35:43Z")
Why does it take so long? The containers from China take that much time by sea. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/38 "2017-07-13T19:52:17Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I wasn’t aware furniture stores no longer keep a large inventory. > > We’ve always selected something from the showroom, arranged delivery and paid. > > Nearly every item in the showroom was in inventory. Or they’d sell the floor model if you were in a rush. > > I’ll warn my wife that’s no longer the case. > > You say it takes several months now to get furniture? No, you can still get furniture in a couple of days - but at stores that give you a very limited choice of color/fabric for each piece, like Bobs or Raymour and Flanagan. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/39 "2017-07-13T19:57:47Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > No, you can still get furniture in a couple of days - but at stores that give you a very limited choice of color/fabric for each piece, like Bobs or Raymour and Flanagan. Which of course is spelled out in the OP so I am not quite sure why aceplace57 is coming away with the idea that furniture stores don’t stock furniture for immediate delivery. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071/40 "2017-07-13T20:08:33Z")
Cars and custom sofas are not a fair comaprison. I’d guess custom sofas are manufacured in a [Job Shop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_shop) style. Various machines, materials, and skilled labor working a carefully crafted workflow schedule to optimize the use of all of them. Everything from lead time on materials to machine setup times to batch quantites is all figured in nowdays and fed to sophisticated workflow software that will figure out a schedule for you. If you want a type X sofa with type AA fabric and and nobody else wants either of those at the moment you may be at the end of their queue a while. Autos, unless some custom made Bentley, are build in a mass or batch style of manufacturing. Make lots of the same thing or similar batches and build up an inventory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-it-take-so-long-ot-build-a-sofa/791071.md?page=1)