Home Staging Business
75Home Staging Changed My Life
One of the best decisions I have made is starting my own home staging business. I still can’t believe that I get paid for my creativity and doing what I really love. Having my own home business is perfect for me. The income is what I have never dreamed or thought of. Added to this is the satisfaction being a help to people wanting to sell their houses, apartments or condos for their own benefit.
Flexibility of my own time is another thing that makes home business so appealing for me. With it I can balance my own time the way I like it and in such a way that I can spend a lot more quality time with my two beautiful daughters. With my own home staging business my life drastically changed.
My advice to anyone looking at starting a home staging business is to make sure to learn all that is necessary concerning the business. Do some research about the business. It was my experience that there are so many resources, even very specific resources on how to professionally stage a home business and decorating, but there were very few on how to deal with the actual practical and detailed starting of a home staging business.
The resource that probably helped me the most was an inexpensive guide called Home Staging Success. This guide taught me how to professionally stage any room with ease and more importantly, how to get clients inexpensively without knocking on doors or making unsolicited phone calls. The way the author explained how to make money immediately without committing yourself to doing more for a client than you're ready for was most valuable. I highly recommend this home staging business guide and refer it to people who want to get started in home staging.
Below Are answers to some common questions.
What Makes Home Staging A Great Business?
Home staging is a great business simply because it allows you to take advantage of your own creativity, your eye for design and what you love and do best. The flexibility of time management is another factor that makes it great. You are your own boss, which means you greatly lessen the stress and demands from the environment of the typical nine to five job with all its drudgery.
Do I Need Certificates To Start?
No! You do not need any type of certification to start your own home staging business. The amount of research and time you put into learning the business is your choice and where the success of the business depends. Certification is not a requirement in the industry or by the law. However, there are some courses, classes available for you if you want to have a certificate.
Do I Need Seminars And Workshops To Start?
No you do not need any. It is not necessary to spend a great deal of money on courses, classes, workshops and seminars to get started. If you find that you want to attend either of these, make sure you are getting your moneys worth. Before you go to a workshop or seminar make sure you will be learning new and helpful information. Remember you can get most of the information you need on both home staging and running a home staging business from inexpensive sources such as the Home Staging Success guide I mentioned earlier.
The best way to start is to get some practice. Practice makes perfect. You may be thinking how can you get some practice if you haven't started the business yet? Well, consider your own home, as well as those of your friends and family members. They are probably are always willing to let you do some creative designing. However, there are some key points to remember. First, take before pictures of any home you stage. You want to be able to show the difference. After staging the home, take an after picture. With this you have just started building your home staging portfolio. Second, it would also be a great help to start learning about how the business side of home staging works, stuff like who typically hires a home stager, how do you get clients, how much do you charge and so on.
How Much Should I Charge?
Determining how much you should charge your clients is not written in stone. You need to do some research. You have to analyze your market and determine the current on going prices and even the changes. Some home stagers have several price ranges for different services. For example, you may want to offer consultations, where you guide the home owner in the staging process and offer them advices. Typically, consultations are paid on an hourly basis. Depending on where you live this could be anywhere from $75 per hour to $150 per hour. Knowing how much to charge and even how to charge, hourly or flat rate, will come with your experience in working with homeowners in your area.
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Comments
Are you kidding me?!?!?!
Wow, sounds too good to be true! As a Home Stager who has been featured on national television, let me tell ya, this is not the way it works!
Hi Rusty Phillips,
It seems that you, me and my wife has the same passion for home staging and we do have a lot in common especially the thing about starting it out little by learning home staging, not in a home staging class, but right at home. Actually, when we first started, me and my wife decided to make it as our part-time career (we both have our own jobs) but look at us now- FULL-TIME HOME STAGERS & we're doing good, I tell you! These learn-at-home home staging courses sure are very helpful for us now, don't you agree? Now, we're looking forward in learning additional tips and advices and here's something we also like to share with you. Enjoy! Nice hub! Great work!
http://www.home-staging-career.com
While a home staging is a wonderful career - providing flexibility and creative options, it is not a quick and easy buck! Those thinking of a staging career need to review the many training options available -- there are many good ones! Stagers invest thousands of dollars in furniture and accessories, storage and warehouses, advertising and marketing. Obtaining trust and experience within your real estate community is something that takes time, money and energy. We love our career - and have found it very successful, but to imply that it is quick and easy money is misleading!
The thing that is so shmaltzy about what is written here is that it is misleading and could be potentially damaging to people and families, because it's just not true.
Having invested well over $20,000 in the past year into my staging business, I cann assure anyone thinking about it that you better have patience, money, and FAITH, in abundance. Staging is popular on HGTV, where they do it for free, but in real life, people and Real Estate Agents aren't into this yet. So most of your time is EDUCATING, not making money.
So don't spend your money on a home staging career unless you have plenty of time and cash to fuel your dream.
It ain't cheap buying & wherehousing 3 extra housefuls of furniture & accessories, paying people to move it, not to mention the linens, art, etc., insuring all of it, moving it professionally with your own truck, and the constant costs of marketing to get your foot in the door and keeping it there.
People are not going to trust you with thier major asset, their house, for $500-$750 a day, as is claimed here, fresh off the turnip truck. There's going to be a lot of free work on your end (and staging is hard, sweaty, back-breaking work in the real world), a lot of outlaying of cash in a big way, and a lot of pressing-the-flesh marketing.
Yes, it is fun. It is good, honest work, if you are a hard worker. But bless your heart if you are needing a lucrative career right now to support your family. Home staging is a long-term, slow return, high-energy, high-cost adventure through some defeating terrain.
Michelle Molinari
CurbAppealForDummies.Com
Is it realistic to think you can start as a "part-time" stager and just do remix/declutter/ staging of homes without getting into the warehousing of furniture side of it???
All of the above comments just underline how unique and groundbreaking establishing a new staging company is. I agree, most of the hard work involves EDUCATING...the home sellers often get it since they watch HGTV, Realtors are sometimes tougher. They may have been successful for years without it...but like we remind them, the times have changed and the market is completely different. I think this blog does give a good impression of how staging can be a great business...but it sure doesn't happen overnight!
Although home staging can be a great profession, there are so many misconceptions about it that it's frustrating to watch and hear over and over again. I'm not discounting whether Rusty actually has a successful staging business and success is defined differently from person to person, but in reality, a staging business is not as easy as many make it out to be. First of all, I see many people jumping on the bandwagon without any business training and "winging it" gets at best, minimal results. Is it really possible to do this P/T? Well, that all depends on what type of business you want and how you define P/T. If you are running the show - unlikely; if you join a staging team and work project to project, absolutely. Anyone considering the profession should do research and trust that reading one little ebook and hanging out at home "practicing" is NOT going to make you an overnight success, if ever! Getting "real" training from folks who have been there done that will leapfrog your learning curve and help answer questions that you will inevitably have. There is no "get rich quick" path in this profession and it's definitely not about how great your design skills are - if you're the best kept secret in town, does it really matter?
I really appreciate all the above comments. I have been looking into starting my own home staging business and researching it for awhile. Hearing about some of the realities is very much what I've wanted to know. A lot of the info. I have read seems to good to be true. Based on what I have read, I think I will keep my day job and work my staging business on the side.
I too am glad to have found this site. I am very interested in starting a staging business and all of the info that I have found online has been about how fabulous it is. But my question is, Is there anyone out there in the Staging world that is making money in todays market??
I think some commenters are missing the point. Home staging does not (or should not) involve "warehouses" full of furniture and what have you. Staging primarily involves using the homeowner's own furnishings/decor to recreate a room. Yes, more affluent sellers are going to want higher end furniture, but there are furniture rental companies that fill this bill.Home Staging and Interior Decorating is a low overhead, mostly home-based business. We go to our customers. They don't come to us. Any stager who puts her own money into warehouse storage fees and furnishings should rethink this profession as a career. You are doing it wrong if you are spending money on these things.
Home staging is also not strictly for home selling. Many people have absolutely no clue how to place furnishings in their living spaces and employ home stagers for this reason.
The article did not, in my opinion, imply this profession is a "quick and easy way to make a buck". There really is no quick and easy way to make a buck unless one is fortunate and lucky enough to win the lottery or was, perhaps inherited in at birth. What the article does imply is working for one's self doing what makes that person the happiest and most productive is the way to go. That certainly makes good sense.
Never work a dead end job that robs you of your time, creativity and soul. Do what you love and get paid for it.
There have been many good points made in the comments on the article. Home Staging & Redesign is not for whimps! It IS difficult work. You should have a good foundation from training, you should have INSURANCE, a good accountant, good means of advertising and a somewhat large budget to begin with. You need to KNOW what you are doing and how to do it. Watching TV and deciding to become a "Home Stager" is not enough. There is still so much education that needs to be done with this industry. And those of us who has gone through training want to preserve the integrity of this industry. We work hard weekly to ensure that "staging wanna-bes" don't give a hard working, reputable, and specialized industry a bad name or image.
Even though I've redsigned and staged homes for close to 25 years, I still put out the time and money for proper training....just to be sure I had ALL the information--knowing how to handle clients effectively, knowing how to start up the business, stay ahead of the competition, research, research and research the housing market in my area, my competitors, and constantly coming up with creative ways to market myself. It is exhausting at times.
This is May 2009. Right now you do not want to quit your full-time job to become a home stager! It is a viable extra side job, however. I had no idea how much time it would take to get my business off the ground. I have learned so much more than I dreamed possible and I have sat behind the computer much more than I ever desired to constantly build my business. Getting started is HARD work and keeping it going and doing the job is also hard work.
If I was a home seller, I would want to see some sort of certification behind the person to whom I'm putting my trust in, to know the industry. I would expect there to be quality standard that the person should uphold. I strongly encourage everyone to be sure you request certification before hiring a home stager. You should treat this the same way you would do research to find a good plumber or electrician. Would you entrust your home to someone who claims they are a redesigner? And what if they start doing some shotty repair work in your home or give you bad, costly advise? What if they cost you the sale of your home? Do you really want to take that chance? I for one will not.
For anyone who reads this and wants to get into the industry, take your time to investigate all of your training options.
For anyone who reads this and wants to get into the industry, take your time to investigate all of your training options.
--Talk with people who've gone through certain trainings and have been doing it for awhile. Ask them if they were satisfied and received enough applicable training.
--Question those Home Stagers thoroughly and continue until you have the information you desire.
--Check out RESA (Real Estate Staging Association) and learn what the industry is about and where it is going.
--Then make sure you have a good chunk of money saved up that you can put into the business. ($3,000 to start)
--Don't forget to look at marketing, i.e. a website. It's not enough to just have a page or two online, it is work to maintain it and make sure it is working FOR you, not against you, to draw clients in.
--Stay away from all those who will start calling you to "optimize" your website as they will cost you a fortune. Use all of your local resources and Chamber of Commerce training classes so you can promote yourself instead of advertising.
--Continue to expect to put money out for more knowledge, training and expenses (training books, supplies, renting tables at trade shows, etc., etc.).
--But above all, make sure you really love the work and working with real estate agents and homeowners. There is no gain without some pain and frustrations because there will be many low times as well as high times. Starting any new business is difficult. But I personally would rather know for myself that I am qualified and certified to do what I love to do, and in return it is a reflection in confidence that others see in me.
Many good wishes for those of you who want to dive into this industry. It is a much needed service we provide to homeowners and home sellers. Let’s continue to uphold this industry to the highest degree of standards and accept no less!
Cathy Dick, Roanoke VA
Realtors, If you care about your clients - you will hire a trained professional.
Sellers, If you want to be assured of receiving the best possible service - you will hire a trained professional.
Many hobby decorators are claiming to be "home stagers" and are doing the public a dis service by providing poor quality and down-right disasterous work.
Hire ONLY a trained, experienced professional with a proven track record. And it's very important to check references.
Home staging changed my life too!
The reality is that for every good stager there are several that are not good. Being a successful stager entails so much more than having a flair for design and the ability to reconfigure a room. You need to know how to run and market a business.
This is a visual industry, people want to see what you are capable of. It takes time, money and a great deal of hard work to develop a strong portfolio.
Several clients will have vacant properties so if you don't plan on having an inventory you will need sources for rental. This will be difficult for people in smaller areas.
Having your own staging business is indeed rewarding however most people do not realize the sheer amount of sacrifice and dedication it requires to establish credibility and build relationships with Realtors and home sellers.
In my opinion, those serious about breaking into the industry would be wise to seek out a thorough, hands on training program.
I have been looking in to home staging, and I think it's funny that all you that are stagers say you need the schooling/training. When I can just pay $180. and take a test and they will send you a certificate. I think any one could make one at home. The classes are $1000.00 or more. So if I can use that money to start thats what I want to do and I won't disappoint anyone!
Hi No Name,
I know it seems like professional stagers are all uppity about this, but put yourself in our well-worn shoes. We know where you are headed because we blazed that trail. We know how hard it will be for you to find and keep solid footing. And to see a la-ti-dah attitude about the trek is only easy because you don't know what to expect.
And one thing I have learned in this business, stagers are really great people who help each other. It's not that we don't want competition. If you are a member of any sort of staging association, you know how much we help each other to succeed. We hope staging flourishes everywhere, and that means we need more stagers doing great work and educating those who want educating, not less.
And it's not that staging is so difficult to learn. Just watch a whole lot of HGTV and grab some library books and you will absolutely learn the ins and outs of staging. It is NOT rocket science. You'll learn it faster and more completely from a pro, though.
The misunderstanding is that it is easy TO MAKE A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS out of staging. It is NOT easy to try to educate in entire industry to revamp the way they have always done business. The real estate industry is not exactly embracing staging, not even now.
Staging may seem like everyone is doing it on HGTV, and there is plenty of work to be had. That is completely false. And so many "schools" are cranking out "grads" that there are loads of brand new baby stagers expecting the make big bucks in their first year in, every major city in North America.
There are some really successful staging businesses out there, usually a couple in every major city. They have all been around for 3+ years and have worked their tails off to get and stay in the black. They are almost exclusively aligned with some association or have had formal training of some sort. See, you figure it out real fast how much you need it after you've already fallen on your face.
The first two years for almost every stager still in business reports that those years were very scary, very lean, and very exhausting. Many stagers I have known have gone under in only a few short months, having the talent but not the business sense.
And now people are jumping on the bandwagon with plenty of business acumen to see the money in starting a school or writing a book, but have not a clue about real-life staging issues. They all make it seem so FUN and EASY. If you don't mind the constant marketing (with marketing expenses) and back-breaking work, it can be fun at times!
So, you can take or leave the training. It's comprehensive training in the Business of Staging you really should be pursuing. That advice is worth every penny.
And if you don't have $1000-2000 for training, you are already a dead duck.
We spent over $10,000 being super conservative the first 8 months in business Then, I figured out what I was doing wrong, and spent another $6000. That was year one. Year two has been much kinder, I have only spent about half that, but then again, it's only July, lol. You can expect to run $500-600 a month in expenses to maintain a professional looking business image with insurance, and you'll need that from day one. Don't forget to hire a lawyer to make an iron-clad contract so you'll get paid and get your stuff out of the houses.
This is a design field with a real estate twist, and you better have top notch marketing materials and a cracker-jack portfolio if you expect to compete. We already had a thriving design business when we segued into staging, and I instantly knew we needed to figure out how to market a new design concept in the Real Estate world.
Just getting an agent to even consider an appointment to meet you is nearly impossible. Try this little exercise to see if I am full of it, or if I am telling the truth:
Call 20 different real eatate agencies and tell them you are a stager and would love to meet with them to discuss doing some business together.
You'll get 20 excuses, and quite possibly even get cussed out and hanged up on.
But the people selling MOST of the books and training won't tell you that little hiccup in becoming an overnight success.
So good luck with your plan. I just hope you are not quitting your day job, because you are going to need it, if only to support your staging hobby.
And really, I am trying to HELP. There is so much horrific advice and people everywhere who want to part you from your money. Be careful, and know that the only time you'll hear that a staging business is fun and easy and can be yours for only a few bucks, is from people selling something stupid to stupid people.
~Michelle Molinari
Thank you for your honesty, Michelle. I was so excited to start this buisness because I 've been decorating since I was 3 yrs old it seems but now I've come back down to earth. It seems I need to take into consideration the marketing side of things as well. Your not trying to discourage people, You are just telling it like it is! Thank you for that...
Hi there. Got here by looking for hubs related to home improvement, which is my field really. Particularly windows. Anyway, I think I had read a hub about house-sitting somewhere, which echoes how much the author of that hub claims she had so much free time and work didn't feel like work because she loved taking care of houses, as you do in staging them. As much as I would like to be inspired by that, I wonder about the physicality of the job. House sitting and staging most likely involves bending over and cleaning and kneeling and scrubbing and working with your hands, not a bad trade. But for it to be rendered so rosily in an article, I don't know.
I've read a lot of these comments and have been interested in this field for a long time. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Interior Design but have been out of the industry for awhile. What I think is interesting is that so many comments point out certification. There is no official certification for home staging. But there are tons of companies offering so-called certification. And a number of 'associations' telling you you need to be accredited. But what does that really mean? Most are just trying to take your money and aren't going to make it any easier for you to get a job in this industry. These companies and associations are not the same as a University. Anyone can make up a course and give themselves all kinds of accolades, but that doesn't mean they have any more credit than anyone else. So who do you trust?
i was just wanting to know if anyone had any thought about Haverhill? i was thinking of doing this after seeing the commercials.
Hi - I agree the home staging e-book for success was very helpful but it isn't easy to get started and there is no fast way of making money right away. You have to market yourself and continuously get your business out there and the benefits it can bring when selling a home. I have a passion for home staging but it is a bit more complicated to get started then your article states. It takes alot of work.
Hi, you there, wondering.
Don't go to Haverhill. Find another way. It's a waist of time and money. Been there, done that.
Wondering- DO NOT take the Haverhill course. They teach NOTHING about the 'business' side of a staging business. All they give you is a useless tape measure and some annoying assignments with not enough time to complete them. Oh, and they tell you the course is 6 months but you only have 2 months to complete about 100 hours worth of assignments. Then if you can't complete them in time, they make you pay more money for an extension. Then, if you want your assignments back, they make you pay even more. It was a complete waste of my time and money and I am no further ahead in my business.
If you think you can do "Redesign", which is using peoples furniture only and make a business out of this, think again. I've been in the Home Stagin business for 5 years, and if I'd depended on helping people move furn. around, I'd been out of business a long time ago. Like said above, you have to spend money on marketing, insurance, gas,presentations, education (if you prefer)and more. You can't make it in this business if you're not equipped for staging vacant homes.
Stagers are popping up everywhere, it is a full-time job that will eat you up and spit you out. It's not glamorous, extremely long hours, forget taking the weekend off, much less take a vacation. You're always working, but not doing the actual staging, it's the business side of it. The actual staging is a very little part of it.
Is it fun, no not really, just the actual staging, and it can be a pain in the behind too, people don't see what we have to do. We can't wave a magic wand and have the perfect furniture and accesories arrive at a home before we get there. Doesn't work that way.
I wouldn't adivse anyone to get into this field that has a job. It's already saturated, and stagers or wannabes are going out of business after investing $1000's on training alone. They think the phone will start ringing, I've talked to stagers that have been in business for over a year, and have yet to stage one house.
That's the reality of it.
HOME STAGES DESIGNS says:
2 years ago
Great article! Home Stages Designs does offer indepth detailed instruction in creating and starting ones own business. Having the "know how" of the staging process is essential yet developing a fully operational legal "business" is paramount to ones success! We offer all that you would need to train and learn the business start up process. See us today for more details at www.Homestages.com
Your Success is our Success