Why Is Furniture So Expensive? (Top 10 Reasons)

 

Adding furniture to your home will give it a unique look and truly make it your own.

When it comes to furniture options, there are so many choices for the consumer.

You can spend days looking at just sofa choices.

This is both overwhelming and time-consuming, but it is just the way the furniture market is in today’s world.

When you start sourcing furniture for your home, you will likely realize that the prices are quite high.

Furniture is very expensive, and it keeps continuing to increase in price.

There are a few reasons behind these numbers, and it can help to understand why furniture is so expensive.

Sometimes if you understand why the cost is high, you can use this information to help you find a great deal.

 

Why Is Furniture So Expensive? (Top 10 Reasons)

 

1. Quality Craftsmanship

 

People who build furniture must know what they are doing.

Some people who build furniture have been doing it their entire lives and understand the detail and systems involved.

Furniture made by quality craftsmen is expensive because of the time and effort that they put into the process.

Having to spend days or even weeks working on a piece to get it just right certainly makes the furniture worth more in the end.

Of course, there is some furniture that is made in a factory, and the quality of the craftsmanship will not be anything close to the handmade furniture from smaller suppliers.

The quality of the craftsmanship is going to help keep the furniture lasting longer and make it look better as well.

Most of the time, people spend a lot of money on their home, and the way that it is decorated and cared for will mean something to them.

This is why furniture that looks good and performs well over time is worth the extra money that people will pay.

 

2. One-of-a-Kind Pieces

 

Of course, you can go on Wayfair and purchase a sofa that has been sold thousands of times that week to people all over the country.

Or you can find a company that is offering one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture.

Most of these one-of-a-kind pieces are more like accent pieces around the home, something that will stand out and be a conversation piece when you have company over to your home.

The thing about one-of-a-kind pieces is that they are rare and hard to find.

If you have something like this and you know that you are the only one with that exact piece, it is a nice feature in the home.

Certainly, when something is the only one of its kind, it is rarer and the price will go up.

Some local furniture builders will put a unique touch into some of their pieces so that they can sell more one-of-a-kind pieces.

This way, if your friend loves the furniture that you just bought, they can get themselves something similar, but it won’t be exactly the same.

Anytime you deviate from the norm or the traditional, you should expect the price to go up.

In addition, if you are a person who is not just shopping for a one-of-a-kind piece but wants to have an active part in the design and build, the price will go even higher.

As nice as a one-of-a-kind piece of furniture can be, prepare yourself for a hefty price tag.

 

3. Imported

 

Where is the furniture you are purchasing from?

Although some of the cheap furniture is imported from other countries, so is much of the expensive furniture.

Anytime a product has to go through customs and spend time coming into the United States, the pricing goes up.

In addition, if you are purchasing American-made furniture, you will likely pay more because of the labor prices for products in America.

There is no way to make products as cheaply in the United States as it is to make it in other countries.

This is where you will get stuck with a bit higher of a furniture cost.

There is just really no good solution for finding inexpensive furniture because imported furniture is high in price and so is American-made.

Sometimes you will find quality differences depending on where the furniture is made as well.

If you want to ensure that the quality of the products stays high, look for recommendations from friends and other purchasers to see where they are sourcing furniture from.

As we have mentioned, it’s not hard to find furniture, but it can be hard to find something that is higher in quality and built to last.

Always consider the source of what you are purchasing, even if it makes the end price a bit more money.

 

4. Drawers And Features

 

Furniture can have a lot of different features.

Depending on the piece you are purchasing, there are things like drawers, cabinet pulls, even options to recline the furniture.

Whatever it is you are adding to your home, most people want to know what the features are and how it is going to impact their use of the furniture.

If you look at a high-quality dresser, for instance, the drawers and the pulls are essential to consider.

Pulling the drawers in and out should be easy, and the drawers will likely feel heavy.

These dressers are built to be able to open and close several times of day for fifty or more years.

The cheaper quality dressers are made with very lightweight and flimsy materials.

You can tell when you open and close these drawers that they are going to get off their track and sometimes start to fall apart.

The drawers and features of furniture will add to the total amount that you pay as a consumer.

If you want to keep the cost down, look for something that has slightly fewer features but is still made with better quality.

If you can skip things like quiet-close drawers or a recliner with 22 different settings, you will likely save a bit of money.

 

5. Materials And Fabrics

 

The materials and fabrics that furniture is made of are going to impact the price that you pay for it.

This comes into play especially with sofas and chairs both for indoors and out.

If you are looking at outdoor furniture, you will quickly see that it can be just as expensive as indoor furniture.

In fact, some people will tell you that outdoor furniture is even more expensive.

Outdoor furniture incorporates materials that are weather-resistant and can stay in good shape through a variety of weather conditions.

These types of materials are much more expensive and will require you to spend a lot more money upfront.

Indoors, the materials and fabrics need to be high enough in quality that they won’t fade, and they will hold up against issues over time.

For instance, when a family uses a couch, there could be areas that start to sag, or the fabric starts to pill or fade.

The materials used in this furniture must be superior so that the customer does not experience these issues soon after their purchase.

You also have to consider things like leather furniture.

Leather furniture will cost quite a bit more money than other types of furniture.

We have talked about this before that the process of manufacturing and then applying leather is a much different experience than using something like cotton, microfiber, or polyester.

 

6. Heavy Shipping

 

Some of the heaviest items in your home are likely pieces of furniture.

To get these pieces of furniture in the door, it is essential to ship them with quality suppliers and people who understand the importance of maintaining the craftsmanship of the piece of furniture.

Let’s take, for example, a $1,000 dresser that you may have had your eye on.

When you go to purchase the dresser, you will find out that there are costs for shipping, handling, and even tax.

Adding all of these to the price of the dresser will likely increase your total by $200 or more.

Certainly, this is a lot of extra money to add when you are not getting any increased functionality from the higher price.

In addition, many furniture buyers are kind of stuck in this situation.

With the high weight and large size of the furniture, most people don’t have the ability to go and pick up the furniture on their own.

This leaves you sort of stuck with having to purchase and pay for the delivery of the furniture.

Overall, the shipping costs get higher because of weight, and the more your furniture weighs, the more expensive it will be to get in the doors of your home.

 

7. Longevity

 

When people buy furniture, they expect it to last for a long time.

Anytime you purchase something for the home that is intended to last for a long time, the pricing will increase.

Furniture manufacturers understand that you are only going to be a customer for a short period of time, and then it will likely be ten or fifteen years before they see you again.

At the time of the purchase, the manufacturer needs to make as much money as possible from you as a customer.

They will want their piece to be higher in quality and better looking so that they earn your business.

After all, it’s going to be a long time before you make it back to the market for more.

In addition to the financial side of this for a furniture manufacturer, there are also material and fabric choices that must be made to increase the longevity of a piece.

If you are spending $5,000 on a leather sofa, you are going to expect to have that in the house for quite some time.

Therefore, the pricing has to match the quality of the fabrics and materials used to make it.

Buying long-lasting and good furniture is going to increase the price significantly.

 

8. Durability

 

Typically speaking, people are not easy on their furniture.

Consumers tend to enjoy flopping onto their couch after a day of work.

In addition, you will likely be searching through your dresser at 6 a.m. and then slamming the drawer shut.

How many times have you spilled a drink on your nightstand?

The durability of the furniture is a key component in the cost that you will pay for the furniture.

All furniture needs to be made with a certain amount of durability to help protect against day-to-day use.

However, other furniture brands will take this even more seriously and ensure that you have durability against wear and tear from people and animals of all ages.

Typically, more durable furniture is also easy to clean, and you can keep it looking good for years to come.

Nobody wants to purchase a piece of furniture only to have it look terrible after a few years.

It’s hard to find durable furniture for a fair price.

This is why it is important to consider the value in addition to the overall price.

If you pay $4,000 for a piece of furniture that will last 40 years, it is a much better deal than a $400 piece of furniture that only makes it for one or two seasons.

 

9. Custom Furniture

 

As soon as you start talking about custom colors, custom fabrics, and custom sizing, you are going to significantly increase the price that you pay for furniture.

The customization factor can be very appealing.

If you have a certain style to your home and you want to ensure that the style stays looking great for years to come, you will need to get some custom furniture to match the style.

The problem with custom-made furniture is that it requires the time and attention of a person.

As soon as you add labor costs into the furniture that you are purchasing, the pricing will get even higher.

When someone has to design your specific piece and work on a plan for putting it together and getting it all finished and delivered to your home, the pricing will increase tremendously.

When most furniture is made, there are settings on a machine in a factory that will help produce it faster.

As soon as you step away from this factory-made design, the labor costs increase significantly, and those have to be added to the overall cost of the piece you purchase.

 

10. Sustainably Made Furniture

 

Lastly, there is the concept of sustainably made furniture.

Sustainably made furniture is put together with materials that will not create more waste in our world.

With these materials, there can be more difficulty in sourcing them, and therefore, the pricing will continue to rise.

Unfortunately, there is also an increase in the pricing of sustainable furniture simply because the furniture is being sold to a specific buyer.

People who want to make things better for the environment and increase the longevity of the planet are typically willing to pay for it.

Since the pricing of these types of products is considerably higher than it is for the standard materials that are not eco-friendly, you can see that there is indeed a markup.

This is very similar to the markup that we see for organic food or sustainable products that can be used around the home.

There is also a limited number of suppliers who offer sustainably made furniture.

These suppliers tend to charge quite a bit because they know that they have a product that you cannot purchase in other areas.

Having something that is in great demand allows these manufacturers to charge a bit more.

In the end, people do not seem to have a problem paying more for sustainable products, and that does not seem to be stopping anytime soon.

 

Conclusion

Hopefully, you now feel as though you can understand why furniture is so expensive.

These prices are not simply made up, and there are plenty of legitimate reasons behind them.

However, this can make it hard to furnish your home affordably.

Look for sales on pieces and try to buy in bulk when possible.

If you need one piece for your bedroom, think about a bedroom set.

Chances are a furniture manufacturer will put together a package set for you that can save you quite a bit of money.

Overall, furniture is what will make your home feel like home, so expect to pay a bit more but know you will be getting your money’s worth from the pieces you purchase.