What do you look for when you shop for furniture online? The design? Yes. The brand? Yes. The department? A solid yes. But what decides whether you will click on a product page or just swipe away is probably quite numeric: the prices.

A survey by Nielsen IQ reported that Americans decided to opt for lower price products of minor brands to cope with the rising prices, as indicated by the 7.5%-higher Consumer Price Index (CPI). It is especially so in the furniture business. On Amazon, for example, if you click into the Outdoor Patio Conversation Set section, you can easily find a set of two chairs and a table for $100 or even less.

Comparing Cheap and Expensive Patio Furniture Sets

We now know that prices play a critical part in people's buying decisions, especially in furniture. And we know that there are really cheap patio furniture sets out there. However, people still shop for expensive furniture that charges $1500 and above, according to Better Home and Garden.

If you have a flexible budget but don't know if the cheap ones are safe to buy, or if the more pricey patio furniture sets are worth it, you are in the right place. Let's discuss what sets expensive patio furniture apart from their cheaper counterparts. With years of experience in furniture maintenance in Homary, I will help you find out the best patio furniture set for your space this summer.

I. Comparing the Materials, Craftsmanship, Durability, and Warranty

Keep this in mind: you get what you pay for. As materials take up a large proportion of the total cost of a furniture piece, the biggest difference also lies here. More expensive and higher-quality furniture sets usually use premium materials, such as Aluminum-coated metals (as seen on Apple MacBooks) and solid wood.

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In contrast, cheap ones tend to use lightweight steel and compressed wood to cut the material cost. If you are going to use your patio set for just a couple of months, cheap sets can probably do the job. But if you have a long-term plan, time will tell the difference.

Another outstanding contradiction is the craftsmanship. The cost of furniture, especially of those that are built manually, also largely comes from craftsman fees. If you tend to enjoy carefully designed, built and maintained furniture, don't fall for the prices. As a furniture maintainer, I can say the work to take good care of a piece of furniture from factory to delivery is totally worth the money.

You also need to understand that the handling itself costs money. For example, the cost is raised by multiple folds to apply rust-proof and sunlight-resisting layers while maintaining the rustic look of wooden outdoor furniture. Homary tends to make sure that all outdoor furniture is prepared for years of elemental attacks outdoors, so the craftsmanship does make prices less cheapy.

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However, if you opt for low-price pieces, always make sure that the pieces you buy are pre-coated, or DIY the coating (again) so that you won't have to dispose of them in less than a year due to natural damages. For your reference, the average cost of a full truckload furniture removal is $400–$650 in 2023, according to This Old House. You don't want to add this to your outdoor patio budget plan.