About 35 mile radius is my area, after that I charge by the hour to travel. That helps with my time and mileage etc.

Kathleen,

Thank you for your advice.

Sandra Montemayor

I use 30 miles from my home base town and that's 14 miles from my home.  Since nobody knows the little town where I live, I used the closest larger town that's at least on the map.  I do not use a mileage calc. I add on $25-$50 for travel and time and so far no one has balked at it. By the way, I don't publish or advertise this info.  It's just part of my way of doing business.  If they knew my 30 mile range they would probably tell me they're 29 miles away. (-:  AND if this realtor really wants you, she'll pay or use someone else. 

Don't know that I'd take a job that's 1.5 hours away.   Too many complications for my business.  Could you refer it to someone that's closer?   

Hello: We are in a large metro area-soinds simple but with traffice, we can travel over an hour sometimes and have gone 35 miles one way. My daughter and partner lives on the east side of the metro area and runs our Illinois office so her travel is usually 70 miles one way-We don't charge extra but will probably add a fee when gas goes back up....So far hasn't been an issue. Now having said tht-if we were traveling 1.5 hours-we would add a fee probably $50. Let us know if you decide to take the job!

Sandra, Margo and I always add $50 onto a job that is out of the city for us.  We don't tell the clients - it just becomes part of our staging fee.  We even charge 25% for the rental of accessories rather than the 20% we charge for in town clients.  So far, no one has said no to the staging costs.  Betty

this is a great topic. i generally don't but if i am going to spend more than 1 hour in the traffic or above 40 miles, i would charge a little bit more just for gas and travel time. i try not to do long distance jobs for vacant homes because it's a long way to drive for the job and if there is a tweak then it's another 2 hours spent just to fix a 10-minute thing. i draw my line at 1.5 hour traffic 1 way ;)

cheers,

cindy 

I have adopted a 30 mile radius.  I do mapquest from my home/office and if it's over 30 miles I charge a $25.00 flat fee.  I don't publish it on my website, but when the call and tell me where they live, I will inform them if it's over 30 miles there is a travel charge. So far no one has complained.  Hope that helps!

My furthest staging job was about 1 hour away without traffic.  I do the same as Betty and increase my staging fee.

Why not refer the job out to someone who you know in the area, and take a referral fee? If it's that much of a distance and will be more of a hassle to service... I'd give a referral out.

I've decided if it's more than 10 miles from my home I simply won't go.  And my husband wants me to charge for that!!!  A tough one, no question.  I heard a story about a NJ furniture rental company charging a $900 delivery fee to drop stuff to the far end of Long Island,NY.  Thanks to traffic, and 2 lane roads, this is an all-day thing for them.  Guess what, the people paid it.  had to.  No other choice!

I say, charge for it.  Honestly, and only go once.

I think we will go with just adding on a fee of 25-$50 dollars, why try to make it harder on our self keeping track of miles and adding up for a total.

Thank you for all the advice,

Best wishes~ Brian Bloom

My husband was just mentioning this to me because I didn't charge and the job was about 1 hour away.  I didn't know what to ask and he said that the furniture stores have no problem charging $50.00 for delivery and it's "expected" or you have to pick it up yourself.  Next time I will definitely charge. 

I don't go more than 20 miles away unless it is for one of my longtime Realtors.  Otherwise, I refer it out to another Staging buddy. I used to though, when I first started out just to build clientelle and pictures for my portfolio.

Sandra,

Never under price yourself. Whether it is travel time, shopping time, or even helping with the repairs, charge your hourly fee. You are vlauable and value has a price. 

I did a vacant an hour from my comfort zone mostly for the experience and exposure. I charged by the square foot and added $50 for travel. It will pay off for referrals in that area eventually. It is a big ticket house and still doesn't have a contract. I am hoping this week will be the charm. The same couple has seen it 6 times...!!!

Kathy

Outside of my county I charge a $50.00 (flat fee) travel charge.   I don't mind the travel, I just want to be paid for it.

Hi Sandra,

I have an hour as my normal range - I don't go by mileage because with traffic it can take forever to get one place to another depending on where you live.  Beyond that timeframe, we start at $50.00 for a visit, and will sometimes credit a portion back to the client when they work with us - of course the overall $$ is still coming out in my favor for gas and time.  In the beginning I went where the work was, and now have teammates that get the referral from me - who live 45 min-1 hour away from me - so the client is still working with us, but it's not me personally that has to trek to the job.

I would definately charge for travel time.  This becomes part of carrying out the project.  I also work in a hospital and when I am on call, I get travel expenses when I am called in.

That is pretty far! The government rate is .48 per mile. I would stick with that. It also depends on what all the house is needing.

Great topic!  I just crossed over to another state because they can't seem to find any stagers in that area yet.  I charged $30 for drive time, but now I think I should just charge my hourly rate, since I could have been in my own town doing a consultation and not had to take up 4-5 hours of my time vs. 2 1/2 hours.

at this point I will travel anywhere to get my name out there.  however at some point I plan to stick closer to home but for now I would rather take a job further out to grow my business then pass them by.