How much should I pay for a new bed?

This is the question that crosses everyone’s mind when faced with the proposition of buying a new bed, and it is made even more difficult because the variation across pricing is so great.

The dilemma is that you can literally get a really cheap budget double bed for 100 pounds (UK) or 150 dollars (USA), but equally you can buy a similar sized bed for many thousands.

So the big questions are –

How much is not enough and how much is too much? And importantly, do you get what you pay for?

Well clearly there is a point where you can only get what you pay for and there are also price points (or levels) below which a certain bed type is not available.

So for example, you may be able to get a continuous spring (low spring count) double bed for 150 pounds (200 to 250 US dollars) and you may be able to get a pretty descent (high spring count) one of those for about 250 pounds (350 to 400 dollars). But if you see a high spring count, "pocket spring" based, bed for this kind of price then alarm bells need to ring. It is simply not possible to produce that quality of bed and retail it for that kind of money.

As another example, the term memory foam has no specific protected legal meaning and therefore it is possible to call any number of foam based beds memory foam. (Many of these are imported form countries outside of western controls anyway.) Indeed memory foam can be made very cheaply, or it can be very expensive. The cheap foams, and these can retail from as little a 100 pounds (150 US dollars), have a very low density and this means that their life span is short and that they will degrade rapidly.

Put simply, they will deflect easily and before too long the slow recovery visco elastic springy property that makes them so unusual will be gone. A cheap bed in one sense, but wasted money in another because it will require replacing in very little time. Then the expense starts all over again.

Another factor to consider when you are pricing a bed (not a mattress) is the chassis or frame of the bed. Try to think of the bed frame, bed box or divan base as one component and the mattress as another. Then remember that only a proportion of what you are paying for the complete bed will go towards the build quality of the mattress, i.e. the sleeping surface. If you then think of the bed as two separate components and divide the price in half to match this you will start to realise just how cheap a cheap bed really is.

It is also an idea to get a picture of the technology and build quality that goes into a good quality bed. You can easily do this by researching different bed types on this site. If you then think about the bed’s numerous components, the ways that they are assembled and finished, and then add the manufacturer's transportation and delivery costs, you start to realise that any cheap bed is a poor bed.

So, back to the original question, how much should you pay?

All I can really say is that in 2009 I paid 1750 pounds (UK) (About 2700 US dollars) for a standard double bed including a well finished twin drawer divan. The bed is of a composite construction, i.e. it combines pocket springs and layers of memory foam (and gel) and it was hand finished and manufactured in Ireland.

I consider that to be a fair price for a bed encompassing that level of technology and manufacturing quality. However, the other bed that we considered at the time was very similar in construction, well finished and manufactured and sold by a well known chain and that model was just under 800 pounds (1300 US dollars). I am sure that this alternative choice would have been equally satisfactory.

For me, dropping below the 600 to 700 pound Stirling mark would have thrown into question the quality of the product and consequently how well we would both sleep. This was not a risk I wanted to take.

Costs over ten years

The one final thought that I would leave you with is this. If you spend an average of 8 hours per day in your bed you will, over 10 years, use it for a staggering 29,200 hours. That is the equivalent of 1,216 consecutive 24 hour days in bed, or if you prefer, 3 years and 121 days of none stop use.

If you then base the cost of a 1000 pound Stirling bed (about 1600 US dollars) on the total number of years, hours or nights slept in it, it works out costing you -