NTTGPR: How much do you pay for alterations?

Emerald27 · January 2014

DH asked me to have a pair of pants let out an inch and have them re-hemmed (to make a long story short, he accidentally washed dry-clean only pants and they shrunk in the waist and the hem fell out. ::facepalm:: ).

So I needed a few things dry cleaned anyway and dropped those pants too. They told me it would be $21 to let them out 1 inch in the waist and $21 to hem them. I thought $42 was WAAAY too much to pay for the alterations so I declined.

Now I'm wondering if I'm just cheap and have no idea what alterations cost. Google is no real help...so how much would you consider reasonable for having a pair of pants altered? Am I crazy?

TIA

AmyC925 · January 2014

I pay 12 for a hem with the original hem. On my dress pants when I don't need the original hem, it's 10.

ngolimento · January 2014

I think it depends on where you live. 42 does sound expensive to me, but then I live in a low cost rural state.

nikiz628 · January 2014

I don't pay anything because my MIL is a seamstress. However, she only charges $5, MAYBE $10 to do pants. $42 seems ridiculous to me.

divinemsbee · January 2014

That seems like a lot to me, but it also could be that there aren't a lot of people that do it or that my COL is lower here. Would you be willing to check somewhere like Yelp or, and this sounds old-fashioned, the phone book to look for places that just do alterations/tailoring? It seems like a dry-cleaner could charge a little more of a premium, but if alterations are all a place does it might be cheaper. My grandmother does mine, and she does some work out of her house and charges very little (like $20 to take up sleeves in a dress jacket) because she does it to keep her mind sharp.

jchickiem · January 2014

That sounds really high to me.

Emerald27 · January 2014

@divinemsbee I think I'll call around. When we bought the pants, we had them hemmed at Jos.A.Bank, but since we bought them there it was very inexpensive...

The COL is very high here. I live in VA just outside DC...so my guess is that they charge a lot either because 1. It's DC, or 2. They're a dry cleaner.

Thanks, ladies! Just wondered what I should expect and how much looking around for cheaper I should do.

mmb248 · January 2014

A lot of places will do multiple alterations for you when you buy the pants there. You may want to check to see if Jos A Bank will.

I pay $10 for a regular hem and $20 if I want the original hem (like on stitched jeans) but my friend in DC always pays double what I do.

ngolimento · January 2014

Emerald27 said:
@divinemsbee I think I'll call around. When we bought the pants, we had them hemmed at Jos.A.Bank, but since we bought them there it was very inexpensive...

The COL is very high here. I live in VA just outside DC...so my guess is that they charge a lot either because 1. It's DC, or 2. They're a dry cleaner.

Thanks, ladies! Just wondered what I should expect and how much looking around for cheaper I should do.

Nice! I used to live in that area too! We were in Fairfax County.

Pintobean39 · January 2014

My husband buys all his dress clothes from Jos A Banks and we get free alterations for life. My son I take him to a place that's the same but carries a smaller size but free alterations.

I've had to pay someone once out of their home to hem pants she charged me $10 but I have seen some places will charge $25 and up if it's a business.

howljenkins · January 2014

I don't think I've ever paid that much for pants, let alone alterations. But I'm another that lives in a pretty low COL area.

nswain85 · January 2014

Yikes, that does seem a bit high and I probably would have passed... maybe try another dry cleaners or even an alterations shop. We have had better luck at an actual alterations shop than dry cleaners.

Also, just as a PSA, if you shop at Nordstroms/have a Nordstrom card you get $100 in alterations for free each year. I had no idea this service existed so it makes it worth it to get an item fitted perfectly so you can really get your money’s worth.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

trinitrotoluene · January 2014

I think a big part of it is probably that letting things out can be very touchy. A lot of times there isn't enough fabric there for it. That said, I would never pay that for hemming. I might consider paying for them to let it out, then looking into another hemming option.

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