Recovering a Seat

Be wary of using someone without referrals from satified customers and seeing examples of their work for yourself. Don't forget to ask them how they were treated and how they feel about the experience.
I took a pair of buckets to a well established shop in the area thinking that because they had been around a long time that I would get a good job, and got a "rough" estimate. BIG MISTAKE. After agreeing on the price, accepting the job, and stripping my seats, they informed me the job would cost twice as much as I was originally told and that before they started putting the seats back together I would need to supply them with new spring assemblies. At that point I went to get my seats. It cost me over half of the original estimate to get them back and the shop managed to loose some of the original hardware (it was loose in a paper bag).

In addition to replacing old worn and compressed padding with new, don't forget the springs. If the springs are bad, no amount of padding will hide it for long, if at all. Depending on your skill level, it might be worth it to carefully strip the old covers and refurbish the spring bases yourself (replacing broken springs, retying, and media blasting if necessary). At least that way you'll KNOW the foundation is solid under the padding and covers.