Contract Furniture Glossary: COM, FF&E, TB 117-2013 & More

Specifying & purchasing

FF&E. Furniture, Fixtures & Equipment — the movable furnishings specified for a project separately from the building itself. FF&E procurement is the work of speccing, sourcing, and delivering those items; Trend supplies the seating side of an FF&E package.

COM (Customer’s Own Material). Fabric the buyer supplies from their preferred mill for the manufacturer to upholster. It keeps the textile spec and budget in the buyer’s control; Trend accepts COM on every piece.

COL (Customer’s Own Leather). The same idea as COM, but a hide rather than yardage. Leather is estimated by usable square footage instead of yards.

Contract furniture. Furniture built for commercial settings — restaurants, hotels, offices, multifamily — rather than the home. It is engineered for heavier, more constant use than residential furniture.

Contract-grade. A construction standard meaning a piece is built to take commercial traffic — sturdier frames, higher-rated foams and fabrics, reinforced joinery. Trend builds on hardwood frames with TB 117-2013 foams and fills.

Spec / tearsheet. A one-page summary of a single piece — dimensions, materials, finish, and options — used to communicate and document a selection (also called a cut sheet). Trend provides tearsheets for designers and submittals.

Shop drawings. Detailed, to-scale drawings the manufacturer produces for the buyer to approve before production, showing exact dimensions, construction, and materials. Nothing is cut until you approve them, so the quote and the finished piece match.

Model room. A fully furnished prototype room built and signed off before a hotel or multifamily property orders the full rollout. Trend develops model-room pieces with hospitality teams ahead of a property rollout.

Value engineering. Adjusting a spec to hit a budget without abandoning the design intent — changing a detail or material rather than the whole piece. On custom work this happens at the shop-drawing stage.

Lead time. The time from an order being ready to build — approved drawings and materials in hand — to completion. Trend’s standard window is 4–10 weeks, with the clock starting at approval and fabric receipt.

Linear-foot pricing. A pricing method for built-in seating such as banquettes, quoted per running foot of seating rather than per unit. A firm number comes from your floor plan.

FOB / freight terms. FOB (free on board) marks the point at which ownership and freight responsibility pass from seller to buyer — “FOB origin” at the factory, “FOB destination” at the delivery site. Confirm the freight terms stated on any quote.

Punch list. A list of items to correct or complete, identified during a final walkthrough before a project is signed off — the place fit and finish issues get caught.

Construction & upholstery

8-way hand-tied. A traditional seat suspension in which coil springs are tied by hand in eight directions, producing a durable, even seat. It is labor-intensive and specified where longevity and feel matter; Trend builds it in-house.

Sinuous spring. A pre-formed S-shaped wire spring (also called no-sag) that runs front-to-back to support a seat — lighter and lower-cost than hand-tied. Both are common contract choices; Trend builds either.

Double rubs / Wyzenbeek. A measure of a fabric’s abrasion resistance; the Wyzenbeek test reports results in double rubs. As a general industry benchmark, heavy-duty hospitality seating is commonly specified at 100,000+ double rubs — confirm the rating your project needs with your textile supplier.

Railroading. Running upholstery fabric sideways off the roll instead of up-the-bolt, often to cover a long banquette back without seams. Whether a fabric can be railroaded depends on its weave and pattern, and it affects yardage.

Welt / piping. A fabric-covered cord sewn into a seam as a finished edge; contrast welt uses a different color for a decorative line. It adds definition and hand-labor.

Channel tufting. Vertical padded channels sewn into a seat back or cushion, creating a ribbed look — a signature commercial-lounge detail.

Button tufting. Buttons pulled through the upholstery to create a pattern of pleats; diamond tufting is the classic version. It adds depth and hand-labor.

Show-wood. Any exposed, finished wood on an upholstered piece — legs, arms, or frame — that is stained or painted rather than covered, and so requires furniture-grade finishing.

COM yardage. The amount of a customer’s own fabric a piece requires, usually expressed in yards on 54-inch goods. Trend confirms exact yardage on your shop drawings before you order the fabric.

Foam density. The weight of a cubic foot of foam and a key indicator of how well a cushion holds up; higher density generally lasts longer under commercial use. Densities are specified to the use, and Trend’s fills meet TB 117-2013.

Dacron. A polyester batting wrapped around foam cushions to soften edges and give a fuller, more finished look — standard on many upholstered cushions.

Down / feather fill. A soft cushion fill using down and/or feathers for a relaxed, luxurious seat, often blended with foam for support. Trend offers feather, down, and Dacron fills.

Codes & compliance

California TB 117-2013. A California flammability standard for upholstered furniture that tests the smolder resistance of cover fabrics, filling materials, and barriers. It is widely referenced in commercial specs; Trend’s foams and fills meet it. See TB 117-2013 explained.

ADA (general note). The Americans with Disabilities Act sets accessibility requirements that affect furniture layout — seating clearances, and accessible table counts and heights. ADA compliance is a layout and design-team responsibility; confirm requirements with your architect or local authority. Trend builds to the dimensions on your approved drawings.

Flammability. How a material resists ignition and flame spread. Commercial furniture is specified to the flammability standards its jurisdiction and occupancy require, and the cover fabric interacts with the finished piece’s overall picture — route fabric certificates with your COM.

Seating formats

Banquette. An upholstered, bench-style seat — usually run along a wall or partition — that seats several guests in a continuous line. It is built to the room and priced per linear foot.

Booth. Banquette-style seating paired with facing seats and a table into a fixed unit, common in restaurants. Booths can be single- or double-sided and are also built to plan.

Banquette vs. booth. A banquette is the bench seat itself, often one-sided against a wall; a booth is a self-contained seating-and-table unit, usually with seats on two sides. Trend builds both to your floor plan. See custom banquettes and booths.

Bar height vs. counter height. Typical industry heights: counter-height stools suit roughly 36-inch counters (seat about 24–26 inches), while bar-height stools suit roughly 42-inch bars (seat about 29–31 inches). Match the stool seat height to the surface; Trend builds stools to your specified height.

Two-top / four-top. Restaurant shorthand for a table seating two guests (two-top) or four (four-top), used in capacity planning and banquette layouts.