Same board, same day. Most rooms are a refinish, not a replacement.
The decision
It is the first question every committee asks, and it is usually asked with a replacement catalog already open. Here is how to answer it with numbers instead of instinct.
For a 40-pew sanctuary, refinishing and reupholstering runs roughly $40,000 to $85,000. New solid-wood pews for the same room start around $112,000, plus removal, disposal and floor repair, and the new pews are rarely built as well as the ones being thrown away.
Replacement is the right call for a minority of rooms — usually failed veneer or a layout the congregation has outgrown — and we will tell you when yours is one of them.
| 40-pew room, ~560 linear feet | Refinish + reupholster | Replace |
|---|---|---|
| Wood | Refresh $22,000–56,000 · full refinish $67,000–112,000 (rarely needed) | Included in pew price |
| Seats and backs | $18,000–28,000 | Included, usually 1.5 lb foam unless you specify |
| Pews | Yours, kept | From about $112,000 for solid wood; less for veneer over plywood |
| Removal, disposal, floor | None | Anchor holes, carpet patches, often a floor refinish: $5,000–20,000 |
| Room closed | Never; half at a time | Typically two to six weeks between removal and delivery |
| Typical total | $40,000–85,000 | $120,000–160,000 |
Refinish figures are our published per-foot prices multiplied out. Replacement figures are typical quotes churches have shown us; get your own.
Solid oak, ash, walnut or maple pews built before the mid-1960s are almost always worth keeping. They were built with joinery that modern production pews do not use, from lumber that is now expensive, and they carry the memory of the room. A pew that has held sixty years of Sundays and is dull, sticky and hard is a pew that needs a refresh and new foam. It is not a pew that needs to leave.
The test takes ten minutes. Look under a seat: solid wood shows continuous grain through the thickness; veneer shows a thin skin over something else. Push a pew end sideways at the top: firm means the joinery is sound. If both pass, refinish.
Two things. The foam — most new pews ship with builder-grade padding unless you specify otherwise, so the “new” seats can be less comfortable than a properly re-foamed old one within a few years. And the floor. Old anchors leave holes, old carpet has a footprint, and the sanctuary floor almost always needs work once the pews are out. Ask for it as a line item before you compare.
Questions we get asked
Sometimes. If the veneer is intact and reasonably thick, a refresh (no stripping) works well. If it has lifted, chipped or been sanded through, no. We probe it before quoting and tell you which you have.
Repair or replace those and refinish the rest. We mill replacement ends and seat boards to match. A room does not have to be all one or the other.
They will look cared for. Grain, patina and small marks stay; dullness, stickiness, rings and wear go. Most congregations prefer that to new, and it is the honest result.
No. We have no reason to steer you toward replacement, which is part of why our answer is worth having.
A free condition report answers it in writing: every pew graded, the failure mode named, and a number for each path.
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