How much should a standard seating cost? The combination of cost and quality is useful to both those pricing the products and the customers. A good product should also be tagged with the correct price.

Most of us think that a seating is a seating, and we are willing to pay more Simoleons if the colour appeal to us, or the chair or sofa matches the coffee table. Normally the cost is not a problem for households that are well established, but to a new household the furniture cost is essential to their budget.

There are 3 aspects with a chair or sofa that make it different from other seatings. They are the function, the qualities, and the cost. In addition there is of course the design and colours etc, which is an individual value which I will not debate.

Functions - what can this item be used for?
I think there are 4 main functions to be considered; dining, relaxment, cuddling (HD), sleeping. Dining also includes the office function which is working at a desk. Unfortunately there are no seating including all these functions, but you will be able to combine 2 or 3 of them.

Especially dining chairs can be used for many things if you just move them around in your home. They can be used at the small kitchen dining table, if you get many guests they can be a temporary supplement to the finer dining furniture in your dining room, the dining chair can also be used as an office chair when playing the computer or reading, and finally it can be a supplement to the sofa when many Sims want to watch tv. In this way the one tiles dining (or office) kind of chair is a best buy, and naturally this kind of chairs cost a little more per unit. About unit, please see the left side column.

Then there is the relaxment function. Actually we Sims can relax pretty much on an expensive dining chair, but it feels a little more right to be able to sink down into a soft armchair or a soft sofa. The relaxment function is very much depending on the seating's comfort.

Next there is the cuddle function (HD) which is a good one for couples or single Sims searching for a partner.

Finally there is the sleeping possibility, as any sofa actually can be used for a bed. The quality (see below) will be essential to how well you will sleep. Sofas have the sleep (actually nap) function no matter if it's a 2- or 3 tiled furniture. If the family is poor, it is possible for a kid to sleep on the 3-tiled sofa while another Sim sits on the 3rd tile watching tv or reading. In this way a 3-tiled sofa gives what is obvious - one extra seat.

Qualities - will I like this product?
We Sims are quite conserned about quality. The main qualities when it comes to seating are comfort, energy and room score. Comfort gives the rate of relaxment, energy gives the quality of the rest when napping, and the room score is how much the seating will add to the room feeling. Generally cheap furniture does not add to the room score at all, and if your living room already includes paintings, sculptures, carpets and lamps giving a high score, there is no need to spend extra Simoleons on room scoring chairs. If the seating is rather expensive it will normally add to the room feel anyway (room score included).

So how about comfort? You will see that your guests normally choose the most comfortable seating. By sitting on a chair with high comfort, you will relax faster. If you don't need the rest, you can't actually take advantage of the comfort quality. It's smart to invest in higher comfort for the daily functions - like dining.

How about the energy quality? If you spend one night sleeping on a sofa you will most likely be fully energized when you wake up, just like in a bed. But just like with beds, the higher energy quality, the faster you will relax, and the better quality the less time you need on a sofa napping. If you plan to sleep on the coach often, or if your job is physically demanding so that you need a nap when you return back home, you should invest in a sofa with high energy quality.

Unfortunately the furniture business often tries to cheat on you by giving you wrong information in the catalogue. Quite often the catalogue description is rocking high while the actual chair is a duplicate of a very cheap seating, just remodelled or recoloured. And even more often the creator did not know that editing the catalogue description don't effect the chair's qualities at all. So, if you find a regular chair with comfort level set to 10 according to the catalogue, be aware that this mpst likely is wrong. If the chair is not that expensive you can of course still buy it, just don't expect wonders! 

Is the product worth the cost?
When pricing an imported or newly produced chair, there are certain norms to follow. Among these, is the fact that the price should match the furniture's qualities, the problem might be that many furniture producers are not familiar with these keys.

From my work wit thesting imported furniture for a long time, I've calculated what I think is a good picture of this norm. You will see the concentrate on top-left of this article. But some of it will need an explanation.

Each product's cost should reflect how many units you buy. If a sofa gives comfort=6 and energy=5 then this is 11 units. For 2-tiled sofas a standard unit should cost §37. The loveseat iof this example should cost around §37 x 11 = §407. If you find a 2-tiled sofa costing more than §37 per unit it is considered an expensive seating, and there should something extra with it's design or branch to justify the cost.

When a seating also gives room score it gets a little more complicated, because each room score point counts 2 units. If the loveseat above also gave 2 room score points, there would be a total of 11 + 4 = 15 units. The price should then be §37 x 15 = §555.

You will also see that the cost per unit is higher for a dining chair than for a 2-tiled sofa. The reason a dining chair unit cots more than a armchair unit, is that the dining chair has so many more functions. 

If you found these calculations complicated, have a look at the tables on top-left of this page, it's pretty easy as soon as you get it:)