Morning all,
It's not just movers anymore....
I was just sitting here appreciating my extra hour to use AR (yes I am addicted) when I did a google search and came across this new company offering home staging services in my local area:
REGAL SERVICES COMPANY- they offer lawn furniture cleaning, spa and hot tub cleaning, home cleaning and HOME STAGING!
For years I have been working to educate consumers that Home Stagers are not home cleaners- we are marketing professionals that help prepare homes for sale and make them more appealing to their target demographic. This just set me back a few years!
I am having a party for my son's class next weekend and I need to have my home cleaned. I am thinking of having them come in and give me a staging consult instead! My lawn furniture needs powerwashing too!
Yikes! kh
Kate...it's not helping our industry when certain BIG name training programs are advertising and encouraging to "Add Staging to your business services: Gain Valuable New Skills....Enhance your Profits.
"If you're currently involved in Real Estate, Interior Design, Home Decorating, Professional Organization or work with homeowners in any way, Home Staging education is a great way to increase your earning potential"
I'm not too happy about this...this isn't making our industry better...we're becoming McStagers. :(
Funny that you mentioned the staging company involved- I noticed it too but I did not want to cause any more uproar. If you read my first post on Stealing our Thunder you will notice that I ask what the responsibility of staging training companies should be. I am waiting to see if the McStaging Company (love that term) posts any photos of their work or client testimonials on their site. Maybe they are great at cleaning and staging! I know one thing is certain- at least we know they can endure the physical labor we put into our jobs if they are power-washing decks too!
KH
Gosh, funny you should find this company. I lost a gig this last week to www.scrubsystems. It's a cleaning/handyman/painting co-op that also has a "stylist" you can have come round after everyone else and tweak what's now clean and presentable.
No idea how good they are, nor of pricing or anything. I did, however, wonder if I should consider signing on as another "stylist" or simply start my own co-op. What do you think?
J
The great thing about any career is passion. Those that have it will succeed and those that are there for other reasons won't last. There are so many houses to stage, I think there is room for many, many more stagers. When I see a new business offering staging, I think, "Good for them." It is hard work but the reward and satisfaction of what we accomplish is well worth it. I guess I don't understand why there is concern when other businesses offer staging. The first stagers were realtors, not decorators and designers. And it began over twenty years ago. It has lasted this long and grown into a respectable career. I think our attitude will determine whether we let someone steal our thunder. And in my staging business it's not about us, it's about the people we help.
NEWS FLASH, Anywhere, USA, 2008.
"The Fly By Night, Cleaning, Spa, Hot Tub, Home Staging, Haircare and Tire Center has added Drive up Dentistry services to it's long list of specialties." It is reported that the owner says "While our customers are waiting to have their home staged we can slip in a cut and color AND take care of that nasty old root canal they have been putting off for so long now."
All Joking aside, as an industry we absolutely must pound away at informing the consumer about what they should be looking for when choosing a company to stage their homes. The folks that run this company may be wonderful stagers, I just don't know. What I do know is that if they are not skilled, they will get hired, leave a bad taste in their customers mouth, who in turn will say that Staging is not a good thing.
In the six months since I've become a certified home stager and redesigner for the Truckee CA area. Since then there are several new stagers including a high end home furniture store. The owner of this establishment informed me six months ago, she wasn't getting into the business. I Goggled the home stagers in this area and guess what they are providing home staging services and rental furnishings.
I am so frustrated because I've had to buy all the furnishings I've used in my staging and also frustrated with growing numbers of home stagers in my area.
Regarding your concern about your competition - we've got to remember clean, decluttered, and repaired home do not define home stagers. Keep your stats. Our home stats will prove what we do is what makes the difference between sold and price reduction.
Becky
Kate... this is one of the very reasons that I have a jaundiced eye towards some of the "training, certifications, accreditations" being offered out there... Everybody becomes a "professional"... (right!)
More cookie cutter "experts"...spouting standards as the gospel... (ugh)