Like most staging business owners on Active Rain I value it as a tool not only to educate the Real Estate Community about the benefits of staging but also as a voice to educate consumers about our fledgling industry. There have been many articles written about the multitude of staging courses, the alphabet of designations and the lack of an industry wide governing board and accreditation agency.
What has not been written about is that no matter how many HGTV shows on staging or blogs about designations, consumers are still unsure about what to look for when hiring a staging professional. At last count there were 33 classes graduating new stagers nationwide each week some in as little as one day or over the internet with print it yourself credentials.
With no real standards and newbie stagers flooding the market each week, how then can home sellers be sure that they are hiring an experienced professional and getting the "right" staging advice? You see, as home stagers we are not selling a widget or an item that a home seller can inspect and decide whether or not to buy. We are selling an abstract service, a promise to make the client's home more saleable and more marketable. We are selling an idea that the client cannot see until the work is complete. With only one home to sell, home sellers must be choosy when deciding which stager to hire- but they are not!
The biggest mistake home sellers can make when hiring a stager is to look at the bottom line only. This can mean the difference between simply having a stager plunk down furniture in a vacant home or having a property merchandising professional determine the target demographic for a property, design a scheme to reflect that core group of buyers, and select items that highlight the selling features of the home. In less complicated language- staging isn't just putting furniture in a home it is about putting the right furniture in a home. It is up to consumers to do their homework and find out what the stager's intentions are, not just look at the price.
I see bad staging all the time- Yes I said it! This is something that has been gnawing at me for a long time now. As a former staging trainer and as a coach and mentor to many staging entrepreneurs, I find it hard to pass judgment on other's work. Surely my first staging projects pale in comparison to my recent work, however the intent was still the same- to add value to the property and to showcase its selling features. With less professional stagers wanting to earn a quick buck in this industry I see shoddy work that quite frankly DECREASES the value of the home. Instead of the home being the star of the show, the ridiculously poor staging has become the thing that buyers most remember. Such was the case with the home I saw with a wooden cowboy in the living room of an urban condo! He became a legend in a way the home seller had not intended. To date I have been asked 7 times to redo the work of stagers that I bid against because their staging did not reflect the best attributes of the home or quite honestly looked cheap. Home Sellers beware- you get what you pay for.
So what should home sellers know when they are choosing a stager?
1. Don't worry about the initials after a stagers name or lack of them. There is no accreditation for stagers and no industry standards. Ask for the following:
- Does the stager have photos of work they have actually done?
- Does the stager have a business card, a web site, a brochure? How professional is it? The first impression they make is a good indication of their work.
- Does the stager have business liability insurance? This is a business not a hobby.
- Does the stager have workmen's compensation for their employees? You do not want the risk.
- Does the stager have testimonials from satisfied clients? Can you speak with the actual clients?
- How quickly have the homes sold that the stager has staged?
- What is their opinion of the current real estate market in your area- they should at least have an opinion since they are in the real estate industry!
- Ask how many homes they have actually staged. If staging a vacant ask how many times they have worked with a rental company and how that process will work.
- Ask how long the project will take to complete. One staging client confessed to me that he chose another firm because they were less expensive. In the end the job took 5 days to complete and the home was not ready in time for the broker's open. If they had hired our firm the job would have been done in 8 hours.
2. If you are selling a vacant home understand how many AREAS the stager will be staging for you. Their proposal and contract should include specific areas so you know what you are paying for. One client confessed to me that he interviewed another stager and when he asked her which rooms she was staging she replied "I won't know until I get there."
3. If you are renting furniture, ask to see the furniture or examples of the furniture before making your decision. One stager's estimate may be lower because they have selected the lowest caliber of rental furniture because they wanted to get the job. Another stager's prices may be higher because they are recommending furniture that is more in keeping with the taste and price point of your home. The worst example of this I have seen is a recent project that I lost to a stager that added dorm room quality furniture to a $3.8 million dollar country farm home that should have had the Ralph Lauren look it deserved. The builder had her remove her items and Realtors are still discussing how absurd it looked!
4. If you are staging a vacant home understand how many props or accent items you are actually getting for your money. There are no rules but a few things to keep in mind is that even though when you stage a home you are not completely furnishing a space, the room should still feel warm and complete, not hollow when staged. A stager should provide you with things such as area rugs, artwork, lighting, items for the table surfaces, and items for the bedside tables, dresser and kitchen areas. Putting a sofa in a room with no coffee table, lighting or accent items and adding a toss pillow is not staging! Some stagers will offer staging at a discount rate because they are not adding enough items to the home. You may be paying less but the results will not be the same.
5. Make sure that the stager's bottom line is really the bottom line! Ask the stager if the quote includes transportation, taxes, assistant fees, the destaging of the home and hardware fees. I recently bid $2500 on a job to stage 10 rooms in a client's home. Another firm came in at $1750 so the client hired them. The client emailed me a week later to ask me to help her- the firm had been there 3 days longer than they said they would be and told her that they would have to charge her another $1000 for their time! In the end she ended up paying more and did not get the service she wanted.
6. Do not be afraid to ask the higher priced stager to reduce their fees or revise the proposal. When I submit a proposal I include ALL the work I feel a client should do to best market their home. Surely I could recommend less and then my proposal would be lower but this would not be in the best interest of the client. If a client has budget concerns I am always willing to adjust the scope of the job to be in better keeping with the client's budget. Discuss this open and honestly with the staging professional so you can both be on the same page.
Selling a home is an important financial and emotional decision. Just like hiring the right Realtor to market and negotiate for you, hiring the right stager can make a crucial difference in how buyers experience your home. For more information on home staging visit www.hartstaging.com
Hi, Kate
Sound like you have the same problem realtors do, namely that people think we're interchangeable with others in the profession, therefore it's best to hire the lowest priced one possible.
Part of our job is to show/tell them the differences, but they don't always get it. It's frustrating. It's also tempting to discount your services and your price.
But it's our goal to distinguish ourselves from the pack, so we won't. Don't you do it either!
Karen
Hi Ladies,
Thanks for your comments. I agree with Karen that people think we are interchangeable. The problem is that Home Sellers are not able to see exactly what they are getting when they hire a stager and have to trust that the stager will select things that will highlight the home. I am always amazed at the low quality staging people pay for. It is tempting to give a lower quote just to get the job but I have integrity and have to do what is best for the client. The low quality staging is giving this industry a bad name and people cannot justify the investment when they see sub quality work.
Kate,
This is a wonderful post. With your permission I would like to incorporate some of your "questions to ask a stager " in my own materials. I am constantly amazed at some individual's definition of staging. I recently lost a bid to a local stager who uses artificial ivy as her primary accessory. The fact that the MLS listing and virtual tour indicated that the property was "professionally staged" didn't really help advertise staging as a worthwhile expense.
Information like yours is what we need to try to educate both Realtors and Homeowners.
Kate, Great post. Apples to apples is the way we should look at EVERY bid we get from ANY industry.
#6 hit HOME with me! Qualifying the customer. I always ask what the clients budget is for staging. If they don't have a budget (which is very rare) then "the sky's the limit!" I would love to do every home exactly the way I think the home should look. My bids sometimes start out high but then we adjust to meet the clients budget while still achieving our goal....creating a great showing property!
Kate, you and I quote much the same way. I give them my bid for the job as a whole and adjust from there to meet their budget. I don't ask budget up front anymore, because most clients have no idea what staging should cost.
I have actually won a few bids by being lower in price, but that is because the new stagers that I am competing with have an overinflated sense of what they are worth. I've even heard one say she bid based on the price of the house (It was pretty pricey) not on the work to be done. Huge error on her part. Add the fact that I do not have to pay movers or rent transportation and the bids can be dramatically different.
Experience and portfolio win out in the end, but knowing HOW to price is a big factor.
WOW that is one doozie of a blog.
And though what you say here might scare some stagers... and if it does I only have one very short question to ask. WHY?
YOUR WORDS FIGHT FOR WHAT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST FOR THE CONSUMER! NOT the substandard stager.
I too am seeing more BAD STAGING and I am annoyed and ticked off and concerned. It drags down the industry.
You really said it so well when you said "With only one home to sell, home sellers must be choosy when deciding which stager to hire- but they are not!" - Kate Hart
Sooooooooo THANK YOU - THANK YOU - THANK YOU! I am so glad you said it. This is something that I am trying to get across to clients too... but unfortunately the bottom line is the bottom line for so many. The consuming public do not get that "you get what you pay for" even for staging. AND you may not get the results cause they cheap out.
Kate this needs to be said and this needs to be read.
Kate, great layout on stagers and the methods to evaluate stagers and how to deal with them.
Very good Kate Hart - your blog not only is in the best interests of the clients it also is in the best interests of stagers who are really professionally staging and do quality work right down to the details.
I had a Realtor call and ask for a sofa and a table and chairs - so he had someplace for the clients to sit and talk. This was a vacant at well over 1 Million. I couldn't convince him that the home should have more warmth and more ambiance through the use of color and accessories. Once I explained and said that the furniture was part of the staging and not for rent otherwise - we parted ways. It is still sitting there 6 months later - empty and bland. I really like those places where we get to do it up right and it looks it.
Excellent blog, Kate. I too have rated it a "5."
Just last week, I lost a bid due price. There was a reason why the other stager came in lower... her furniture, to you point # 3 above, was small in scale (entirely wrong for this particular home); outdated and vingette-like in staging (not what the client expected). In fact the homeowner is so upset that she has asked if there are "standards" by which we operate under. As we know, the industry is not regulated and therefore, anyone can call themself a "home stager."
As you mentioned - it's important to check out the web site, their portfolio and see plenty of examples of their work. If you're impressed and like what you see, then proceed. If you find yourself doubtful in any way, then continue to check around! Again, GREAT Blog, Kate.
Kate - I have to meet you sometime - your sense of integrity, client focus and commitment and pride in the industry shines in every blog I read. 5 Stars!
Jackie
You took the words right out of my mouth! ;)
Cheers,
Cindy
Kate..... thanks for such an in depth and truthful post. We are all facing the same kinds of challenges, but what you said in your post is exactly what a lot of us say every day.
We need to educate the consumer..... be it the home owner... or the RE agent.
have Fun
Alan
I am always so impressed with your blogs. I have printed this off to include in my sales kit. I too have been called upon to "undo" another stagers work. I like the professional way in which you cause the buyer to really consider the ins and outs of their proposals.
I am working on how to track statistics. I can talk examples all day but have not devised a statistic for tracking and would like to do so.
I am so excited that we have gotten this dialogue started about prices. I thought I was the only one suffering the wrath of the underbidding bad stagers! I am honored to have people use this on their site with one request- please include a link to www.hartstaging.com I want those incoming links! Thanks KH
Excellent, Excellent, EXCELLENT Blog Kate!!! This one should be published somewhere so that all consumers can read!
I honestly couldn't have put it better myself. Kudos to you!!!!
all the best,
Beth
Kate -
BRAVO - You've packaged yours & many of the A/R Professional Home Stagers feelings and experiences into a great post !!!
You're a fantastic writer and a true professional.
Hey Kate, this is an awesome post and I too am feeling the exact same way. The staging industry has grown so much and lately when I go on bids, realtors inform me that they are interviewing other stagers for the job as well. Everyone wants to cut corners.
I lost 2 bids once to another staging company and when I viewed the home I almost died. I blogged about this one. The price tags were left on the items (even the 50% discount tags), the mirror still had the tape crisscrossed on it and NOTHING seemed to match the feel of the house. My husband even commented on the bedding not being made up correctly.
When people look at price only they will hurt in the end. I passed a house just today that I was called in to do a consult on months ago. They did not want to spend the money to make all the necessary repairs I requested and they did not want to stage. THEIR HOUSE STILL HAS NOT SOLD.
You said all that we have been all thinking, thanks as always for this great post
Phyllis Pafumi
st veo
Kate;
I, as well, am pleased that you posted this blog. It is frustrating to get constantly low-balled on pricing, AND these people giving the staging industry a bad rep in the process.
I feel a sense of obligation to educate the consumer on many of the points that you have stated; however, I feel sometimes as though I am "being caddy"..although I put it simply, and professionally.
I would love to feature your blog, giving you full credit, of course, on my website magazine when it gets completed next week. Would this be alright with you?
Thank you again. You inspire us all, and re-inforce the accountability that we have to the consumer's/clients and each other.
Julia
Kate,
Thanks for the wonderful blog! I'm going to share some of your examples is a Home Staging class that I'm teaching this fall at the local jr. college in my area. Thanks again....
Monica
Kate,
What a great post! You've made some wonderful points about pricing and I especially like that you bring up the job of stagers being to "determine the target demographic for a property, design a scheme to reflect that core group of buyers and select items that highlight the selling features of the home." Thanks for bringing up this very important point.
Pam
Kate,
Thank you once again for sharing your thoughts so honestly and eloquently. I have been staging for just under a year and have found all of what you write to be so true. I have seen your work and have always been impressed with the overall product you deliver. It's not about our personal taste, but the individual style of the home and the demographic market it is appealing to. I really appreciate your energy and commitement to staging excellence. I have seen examples of staging you refer to and it's scary. Thanks again for taking the time to write!
Jane Hagy
Kate, I love reading all your blogs. They are so professionally written! I recently lost a job (although not to another stager--they just elected not to stage) because of price. It was a beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright design and demanded quality furnishings. I explained this to the home owner and why I would not do the job unless we could do it in a way that would do justice to the property. At least I left with my intergrity in hand (although of course I would have loved a contract as well!). Keep writing!
Kim Dillon, Creative Eye Home Staging