Do you need an expensive office chair for your home office?

The price matters.  If you buy too cheap, you’ll be replacing the chair or regretting the pain and discomfort until you do.

You don’t have to buy the most expensive chair, and you shouldn’t buy the cheapest.  Think of an office chair like a car.  You need something comfortable, reliable, adjustable, and within you budget.

If you’re buying for a business, you will want to consider buying a brand that is sold through a dealer network.  The products sold through dealer networks are typically higher quality and offer greater utility because they have been designed as work tools that genuinely improve productivity and deliver results.

You can find great deals on websites, but beware of the products that are sold only online or predominantly online.  Check to see if the products are tested to the BIFMA standards.  BIFMA is the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association.  This organization has established testing methods and standards that help manufacturers produce reliable goods.  They also help ensure safe products are sold into workplaces around the country and the world.  Many of the office furniture manufacturers that are members of BIFMA are located outside the US.  They international standards of the BIFMA testing methods have helped ensure consistent scale, sizes, and performance in office spaces, hotels, universities, government offices, and countless other applications.   If the chair you are considering for your office or home office is not BIFMA tested, you may want to find another option.  Beware, some products will claim to have BIFMA tested components, but that is not the same as a BIFMA tested complete assembly.

Imagine getting a car that had parts that have been used in other cars that passed the front collision testing so they didn’t bother testing in the new model that used the same ‘parts’.

When a ergonomic office chair on Amazon or Wayfair looks too good to be true, it probably is.  Often the chairs that you can find on the websites for less are designed for other markets where the average person is $120 lbs and under 5’8”.    Don’t trust the photos necessarily.  Trust the other buyers.  Professionals like Facility Managers who buy lots of stuff and manage huge budgets understand the value.  They don’t buy junky stuff that doesn't meet commercial standards.  Their insurance companies wont let them for good reason.   

Amazon takes a big chunk of the profit, so you know a lot of what you pay goes into running a space program or some other billionaires funtime.   Why not leverage the professional network of office furniture dealers when you are looking for the right chair and desk for your home office?   Buy your executive leather office chair like you would buy a work tool.  Good utility, value, and reliability are important to your bottom line.