Does A Career in Home Staging Pay?
Does a career in home staging pay?
We are occasionally asked this question and to understand our answer, you first need to understand the risks and rewards of the staging industry. Most people don't know that home staging is an unregulated industry. In theory, anyone can do it, but is this really true?!
First, quality and professional home staging services often enable Sellers to gain everywhere from $3,000 to $50,000, or more, in the selling process. When educated in the value of quality staging, Sellers are often willing to pay for that experience. Creating those kinds of results can be very creative and rewarding! Keep in mind, that among other things, it requires money and expertise, talent, and access to good quality inventory to accomplish a great outcome. Clearly, to be competitive, starting a staging business means you'll likely make a significant upfront investment: in professional staffing, training, advertising, furnishings and a myriad of other business fundamentals. It is quite easy for you to invest $250,000 or more to establish a competitive, high-quality, home staging company! Not many entrepreneurs can make that kind of investment.
Professionals Vs Amateurs
Professional stagers know that amateur/discount home stagers work from little experience. Often they've been told they have a knack for decorating so they give it a try. They use lower quality furnishings, often from yard sales, Goodwill or other second-hand stores. And they frequently use temporary help to do their work, meaning workers have little to no background screening or training. Thanks to HGTV shows and the like, Sellers are becoming more sophisticated in home staging processes. They recognize that discount services resulting in poor outcomes really offer no savings at all. In fact, those 'services' will probably cost them many thousands of dollars in the increased length of time a house takes to sell and its closing selling price.
It's a Moving and logistics Company — with Design Services
After the first 20 or so stages, most home stagers realize that having a staging company means they run a moving company that includes design services! Just like a moving company, staging companies must maintain proper materials and supplies, write reports and generate bids, perform scheduling, have transportation, handle deliveries, and perform setups. These are always the most costly and time consuming aspects of any staging business. Most stagers enter the business believing they'll be working with clients and creating exciting design plans. Mistakenly, they expect to spend most of their days installing furnishings and decorating. The truth is that in the full scope, often these things are in the minority of tasks provided by an excellent, professional staging company.
Your success in staging is dependent upon where you reside and how skilled you are in marketing, time management, multitasking and in running a business.
In theory, anyone CAN claim to be a home stager. However, being good at it by providing real value to clients, all while being profitable, is something else entirely.