How to Start a Tufting Business and Take Rug Commissions

Plenty of tufters get their first commission before they ever planned to sell: a friend sees a rug and asks for one. The jump from that to a business that pays is mostly about process. Price every job the same way, put the terms in writing, take a deposit, and keep track of where each rug is. This guide covers each step.

Before your first paid rug

Build a small portfolio

People commission what they can see. Before you advertise, have five or six finished pieces you are proud of, photographed in daylight, flat and in a room. Show range in size, colour and technique, and include at least one piece that is clearly a custom design rather than a copy.

Decide what you will sell

Most tufting businesses mix a few of these:

Custom commissions: a client's design or idea, made to order. Highest value per piece, most communication.
Your own designs: made ahead and sold as finished pieces, or as a small run in several colourways.
Logo and brand rugs: for shops, cafés and offices. Often repeat customers.
Workshops: teaching beginners in your studio. Steady income that does not depend on how fast you tuft. If you run workshops, list them in Loopi's workshop directory.
Patterns and stencils: digital downloads of your designs for other tufters.

You do not need all of them. Pick one or two that suit your space and how much you enjoy talking to clients.

Check the basics where you live

Rules for registering a business, charging sales tax or VAT and declaring income differ by country. Check what applies to you before you take regular payments, and keep records from the first sale. A separate bank account for the business makes this much easier.

Pricing: the part most new tufters get wrong

The most common mistake is pricing by what feels reasonable rather than by what the rug costs to make. A price has to cover:

Materials: yarn for every colour, primary and secondary backing, glue, binding.
Your time: design, tufting, gluing, trimming, finishing and client communication, at an hourly rate you would actually accept.
Overhead: equipment wear, studio space, packaging, card fees.
Profit: a margin on top, so the business can grow.

We go through this in detail in how to price a tufted rug, and the tufting price calculator does the arithmetic for you.

Two rules worth adopting from day one:

Set a minimum order. A 30 cm rug still needs a stretched cloth, setup, gluing and finishing. Below a certain size, charge a flat minimum.
Quote from the design, not from the size alone. A rug with eight colours and fine detail takes far longer than a two-colour rug the same size.

The commission process, step by step

A consistent process protects you and makes clients more confident. Use the same steps for every job.

1. Enquiry and brief

Collect the details up front: finished size, shape, colours, pile type and height, where the rug will go (wall or floor), any deadline, and reference images. A short form saves a lot of back-and-forth.

2. Mock-up

Show the client what they will get before they pay for it. Reduce their image to the colours you will tuft and show it at the real size and proportions. In Loopi you can turn their image into a stencil, preview it in their colours, and show a 3D render of the finished rug on a floor.

3. Written quote

Send a written quote with the price, what it includes, the number of revision rounds, the timeline, the deposit and how the rug will be delivered. Loopi's quote builder turns the calculator's breakdown into a quote you can send directly.

4. Deposit

Ask for a deposit before you buy yarn or start tufting, and say clearly that it is non-refundable once materials are bought. Many makers ask for half up front. The deposit covers your material cost if a client disappears.

5. Tufting and progress updates

Clients love seeing their rug on the frame. A photo or short video at the halfway point builds excitement and catches misunderstandings early, while they are still easy to fix.

6. Approval and final payment

Send finished photos and take the final payment before you ship or hand over the rug.

7. Delivery and care

Pack the rug rolled, never folded, with the pile facing outward, and include care instructions. Ask for a photo of it in its new home; it is your best marketing.

Put the terms in writing

A short agreement avoids most disputes. It should cover:

size, colours and pile, with the approved mock-up attached,
the price, deposit and when the balance is due,
how many rounds of changes are included and what extra changes cost,
the timeline, and what happens if the client delays approvals,
that handmade rugs vary slightly from the mock-up,
shipping, insurance and who pays for them,
whether you may post photos of the rug.

Finding clients

Instagram and TikTok. Process videos are the reason tufting took off, and they still sell rugs. Post the whole journey: design, frame, the reveal.
Reddit and communities. Help people with real answers in tufting communities; clients and collaborations follow.
Local businesses. Cafés, shops and studios want logo rugs and entrance mats.
Interior designers. One designer can bring a steady stream of high-value work.
Markets and pop-ups. Good for selling finished pieces and meeting commission clients face to face.
A single link. Loopi gives every tufter an artist page with your work and a way to request a commission, so you can put one link in every bio.

Keep track of every job

Once you have more than two or three commissions at once, keeping them in your head stops working. Track each one: its stage, deposit, deadline and materials. Loopi's commission tracker and client portal keep every quote, payment and status in one place, and clients can see their own commission's progress without messaging you.