Upholsterers
Upholsterers upholster vehicle, aircraft and other seating, fix trimmings to the interiors of vehicles and aircraft, upholster furniture such as chairs and sofas, and make mattresses, curtains and other soft furnishings.
- Employees (UK)
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- Median annual pay
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- Exposure score ?
- 1.4/10 Minimal 3.2/10 Low strict reading, with tools is 3.2/10 with-tools reading, strict is 1.4/10
- Wage exposure
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Higher exposure than 66% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
A few tasks in this role are within reach of AI, mostly paperwork, scheduling and routine writing. The shape of the role stays the same, and some parts get faster.
If you are in this role
Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try a model on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT already does with admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the gain.
Where the work usually starts.
These are the most important tasks a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around them, so they stop eating the team's time.
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Read work orders, and apply knowledge and experience with materials to determine types and amounts of materials required to cover workpieces.
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Maintain records of time required to perform each job.
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Discuss upholstery fabrics, colors, and styles with customers, and provide cost estimates.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Read work orders, and apply knowledge and experience with materials to determine types and amounts of materials required to cover workpieces.
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Draw cutting lines on material following patterns, templates, sketches, or blueprints, using chalk, pencils, paint, or other methods.
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Examine furniture frames, upholstery, springs, and webbing to locate defects.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Upholsterers" (51-6093.00).
What AI can already do
3 of 22 tasks, unaided
Read work orders, and apply knowledge and experience with materials to determine types and amounts of materials required to cover workpieces.
Maintain records of time required to perform each job.
Discuss upholstery fabrics, colors, and styles with customers, and provide cost estimates.
What still needs a person
19 of 22 tasks
Fit, install, and secure material on frames, using hand tools, power tools, glue, cement, or staples.
Measure and cut new covering materials, using patterns and measuring and cutting instruments, following sketches and design specifications.
Build furniture up with loose fiber stuffing, cotton, felt, or foam padding to form smooth, rounded surfaces.
Make, restore, or create custom upholstered furniture, using hand tools and knowledge of fabrics and upholstery methods.
Draw cutting lines on material following patterns, templates, sketches, or blueprints, using chalk, pencils, paint, or other methods.
Stretch webbing and fabric, using webbing stretchers.
Operate sewing machines or sew upholstery by hand to seam cushions and join various sections of covering material.
Examine furniture frames, upholstery, springs, and webbing to locate defects.
Adjust or replace webbing, padding, or springs, and secure them in place.
Sew rips or tears in material, or create tufting, using needles and thread.
Design upholstery cover patterns and cutting plans, based on sketches, customer descriptions, or blueprints.
Remove covering, webbing, padding, or defective springs from workpieces, using hand tools such as hammers and tack pullers.
Attach fasteners, grommets, buttons, buckles, ornamental trim, and other accessories to covers or frames, using hand tools.
Pick up and deliver furniture.
Repair furniture frames and refinish exposed wood.
Attach bindings or apply solutions to edges of cut material to prevent raveling.
Interweave and fasten strips of webbing to the backs and undersides of furniture, using small hand tools and fasteners.
Collaborate with interior designers to decorate rooms and coordinate furnishing fabrics.
Make, repair, or replace automobile upholstery and convertible and vinyl tops, using knowledge of fabric and upholstery methods.
Tasks via O*NET "Upholsterers" (51-6093.00).
What AI can already do
7 of 22 tasks, with tools
Read work orders, and apply knowledge and experience with materials to determine types and amounts of materials required to cover workpieces.
Draw cutting lines on material following patterns, templates, sketches, or blueprints, using chalk, pencils, paint, or other methods.
Examine furniture frames, upholstery, springs, and webbing to locate defects.
Design upholstery cover patterns and cutting plans, based on sketches, customer descriptions, or blueprints.
Maintain records of time required to perform each job.
Discuss upholstery fabrics, colors, and styles with customers, and provide cost estimates.
Collaborate with interior designers to decorate rooms and coordinate furnishing fabrics.
What still needs a person
15 of 22 tasks
Fit, install, and secure material on frames, using hand tools, power tools, glue, cement, or staples.
Measure and cut new covering materials, using patterns and measuring and cutting instruments, following sketches and design specifications.
Build furniture up with loose fiber stuffing, cotton, felt, or foam padding to form smooth, rounded surfaces.
Make, restore, or create custom upholstered furniture, using hand tools and knowledge of fabrics and upholstery methods.
Stretch webbing and fabric, using webbing stretchers.
Operate sewing machines or sew upholstery by hand to seam cushions and join various sections of covering material.
Adjust or replace webbing, padding, or springs, and secure them in place.
Sew rips or tears in material, or create tufting, using needles and thread.
Remove covering, webbing, padding, or defective springs from workpieces, using hand tools such as hammers and tack pullers.
Attach fasteners, grommets, buttons, buckles, ornamental trim, and other accessories to covers or frames, using hand tools.
Pick up and deliver furniture.
Repair furniture frames and refinish exposed wood.
Attach bindings or apply solutions to edges of cut material to prevent raveling.
Interweave and fasten strips of webbing to the backs and undersides of furniture, using small hand tools and fasteners.
Make, repair, or replace automobile upholstery and convertible and vinyl tops, using knowledge of fabric and upholstery methods.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Skilled trades occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons