The person searching “alterations near me” has a pair of trousers over their arm and wants three things: how much to take them up, can you do it today, and where exactly are you. The person searching “wedding dress alterations Dublin” is a different customer altogether. She is booking months ahead, wants to know how many fittings, whether you have done this kind of dress before, and what it will cost before she commits. Good websites for tailors and alterations in Dublin serve both without making either feel like they are in the wrong shop.
We build and run that site, and we keep the fittings diary and the price list working while you are at the machine.
Two trades under one sign
Most alterations businesses are two businesses. One is quick work priced by the job: trouser hems, sleeves shortened, waists taken in or let out, zips replaced, jeans tapered, curtains hemmed, a school skirt turned up in September. That side needs a clear price list, a turnaround, and your hours, and it lives on walk-ins.
The other is fitted work: bridal and bridesmaids, debs dresses, Communion and Confirmation outfits, suits for a wedding party, and made to measure from scratch. That side needs appointments, a deposit, time between fittings, and a clear line about lead times in the busy months. The page should split the two clearly, so the hem customer sees a price in two seconds and the bride sees a process.
A price list people can read on the bus
Put the common jobs up with prices, and “from” where the garment decides it (a lined dress costs more to hem than an unlined one, and you know that better than the customer). Beside each, the usual turnaround: while you wait, same day if in before noon, two to three days, a week in May. Add the three lines every tailor repeats: bring the shoes you will wear with the hem, wear the right underwear to a dress fitting, allow four to six weeks for bridal in season.
Photographs matter more than people expect in this trade. A before and after of a jacket taken in, a bustled train, a suit at its final fitting, your workroom with the machines and the rails. Ask the customer first, especially for bridal, and most will be delighted. Stock photos of a tape measure help nobody.
Fittings in the diary, deposits on the big jobs
Fittings are where the phone becomes a problem. You are pinning a hem with your mouth full of pins and the phone rings with someone who wants a fitting for a dress in July. Online booking fixes that: the customer picks “bridal first fitting”, “suit fitting” or “quick alterations drop-in” from your list, each with the length you set, and gets a text reminder the day before. Brides rarely forget fittings, but the groom’s party does, and the reminder costs nothing.
Made to measure and bridal should carry a deposit before the work starts, taken by card when they book or when you confirm the quote. The money goes to your account and your cancellation terms are shown before they pay, which is what Irish consumer rules expect of a non-refundable deposit. We have set out the practical side in how to take deposits online in Ireland, and the general pattern in how to take online bookings.
The alterations calendar
The year has a rhythm you already feel in your wrists. March to May is Communion and Confirmation and the start of wedding season. August is debs, with dresses arriving the week before the night. The last week of August and the first of September is school uniforms. October to December is party wear and suits for the Christmas dos, with January quieter apart from waistbands after the holidays. The site should say what your lead time is right now, in a line you change yourself, so the bride who rings in April hears the same thing the page already told her.
What to send us
Your price list for the quick jobs, with turnaround. How your fittings work: how many, how long each, how far apart, and the deposit you take. Your hours and whether fittings are by appointment only. Ten to fifteen photos of finished work and the workroom. The names of anyone else who sews for you if you want them shown. Half an hour in the shop at a quiet time, and we will take it from there.
The plan we would pick
Complete is €1,499 to set up and €100 a month and brings the booked fittings, reminders, deposits and review texts, along with the site, the .ie domain in your name, the Google listing and hosting. A while-you-wait shop with no fittings is fine on Essentials at €499 and €50 a month. The two are compared on the pricing page. If dry cleaning is the other half of your counter, the launderettes and dry cleaners page covers that side.