63221 Upholsterers

What this occupation covers

Upholsterers cover furniture, fixtures and similar items with fabric, leather or other upholstery materials. They are employed by furniture, aircraft, motor vehicle and other manufacturing companies, furniture retail outlets and repair shops or they may be self-employed.

Official main duties

The NOC profile lists 10 main duties for this code.

• Discuss upholstery fabric, colour, and style with customers and provide cost estimate for upholstering furniture or other items
• Lay out, measure and cut upholstery materials according to sketches or design specifications
• Replace worn-out webbing, springs and other furniture parts using hand and power tools
• Operate sewing machines or sew upholstery materials by hand to seam cushions and join sections of covering materials
• Install padding and underlays and fasten covering materials to furniture frames
• Tack, glue or sew ornamental trim, braids or buttons on upholstered items
• Lay out, cut, fabricate and install upholstery in aircrafts, motor vehicles, railway cars, boats and ships
• May repair furniture frames and refinish wood surfaces
• May make upholstery patterns from sketches, customer descriptions or blueprints
• May install, fabricate, maintain and repair interior components of aircraft, such as seats, coverings, drapes, cargo nets, flooring, closets, bins and panels.

Do not copy these lines into your reference letter. The letter has to describe what you actually did, in your employer’s words. DUTYPROOF flags wording lifted from the NOC as something to review, and an officer reading a letter that mirrors the NOC reads it the same way.

What DUTYPROOF screens for

This is DUTYPROOF’s screening threshold, not IRCC’s decision. For this NOC, screening requires at least 2 of its 10 official duties to be evidenced in your own words, plus the required letter elements. IRCC asks that you performed the actions in the occupation’s lead statement and a substantial number of its main duties — so treat the duty coverage as the number that matters, not the badge.

Codes this one is confused with

The NOC profile names these itself. Choosing the wrong code of a look-alike pair is the most common way genuine work experience fails to establish eligibility.

• 94210 Furniture and fixture assemblers, finishers, refinishers and inspectors
• 62029 Other services supervisors
• 95105 Labourers in textile processing and cutting

Excluded from this code

• Furniture and fixture assemblers, finishers, refinishers and inspectors (See 94210 Furniture and fixture assemblers, finishers, refinishers and inspectors)
• Upholsterers supervisor (See 62029 Other services supervisors)
• Upholstery marker and cutter (See 95105 Labourers in textile processing and cutting)

Job titles filed under this code

A title on this list does not by itself put your experience in this code — the duties in your letter decide that.

aircraft custom upholsterer · aircraft furnishing technician · aircraft patternmaker and upholsterer · aircraft upholsterer · automobile upholsterer · automotive upholsterer · casket upholsterer · chair upholsterer · custom upholsterer · furniture upholsterer · industrial upholsterer · patternmaker-upholsterer · preparation upholsterer · production upholsterer · railway car upholsterer · re-upholsterer · upholsterer · upholstery mechanic · upholstery repairer · vehicle upholstery repairer

Employment requirements

• Completion of secondary school is usually required.
• Completion of college or other specialized courses or an apprenticeship program in furniture upholstering and repair or Several years of on-the-job training, including working as an upholsterer helper are usually required.
• Trade certification is available, but voluntary, in Quebec.