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My Activerain Induced Epiphany

By Kimberly Wester

Home Stager

December 19, 2006 12:15 PM

First, let me thank Phyllis Pafumi and Sheron Cardin - without them this blog would not be possible!

Since I began staging, the subject of price has always been an issue for me, as I'm sure it has been for others. I have become very comfortable with my fees when it comes to staging an occupied home, but the vacants have always been a struggle. I am a hard core bargain shopper and always pick up some great deals and because of that have been able to keep my rental fees very low. The only problem this presents if that I would submit bids based on my available inventory and hope that it would still be there when I needed it - or eat the difference when it wasn't.

I had also had a hard time structuring my bids to include all of the available options. Some were several pages, broken down into options and yada yada yada. Even I didn't like looking through them. I have been wanting to simplify it for the longest time, but just couldn't wrap my head around it - probably a lack of sleep.

As I was preparing a bid today, I started thinking about Phyllis's Open house blog and remembered a comment that Sheron had made and it hit me - Are You sitting down? - PACKAGE PRICING! I know that may sound basic to some of you, but for me this is monumental. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this before - maybe I had, but obviously not for long enough.

When you think about it, it is pretty easy to estimate what you may have to spend to stage a room. So why was I stressing over the cost of each individual piece? NO MORE! This epiphany gave me the freedom to throw that stress out the window and make it easier for me and my clients to navigate that murky water.

The result:Spruce plan (accessories only), Vignette plan (accessories and minimal furniture) and Showcase plan (fully furnished and accessorized). Each of these have a staging and rental fee per room, so that the client can pick and choose the level of staging for each room based upon budget and impact of each space.

So, if you are sitting ther thinking "DUH!!!", go easy on me - think how I feel...

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Marci Toliver

438-4642 - Mauldin, SC

Anderson SC, Spartanburg,Greenville SC, Home Staging

No Kim - Im sitting here thinking! WOW-- That is totally awesome..let me pass this on to my partner!

Dec 19, 2006 01:35 PM

Val Allocco

Staged 2 Sell New York & Long Island - Northport, NY

HSE; ASHSR - Home Stager, for Manhattan, Brooklyn & Long Island

Kim, I agree with you that offering different levels of service is a great way to price and incorporate staging fees. Presently I charge an hourly fee for my service and a flat fee for the "Consultation Report" which gives the seller all of the 'tools' they will need to implement changes by themselves. I always try to work within the seller's budget, and sometimes that means that just one or two impact areas/rooms can be 'staged'. I like the option of also offering 'packages' - thanks for bringing this idea to light (I hadn't had the chance to read Phyllis's blog until you mentioned it in yours)!

Dec 19, 2006 01:40 PM

Maureen Maureen

Orangeburg, NY

Kimberly - I do package pricing for accessory rental for vacant homes. It is expensive - and I always stress over the cost of window treatments. So I say it does not include windows. But this package idea is great I could offer to do the windows in the highest package. Thanks for the great idea!!!!

How do you handle windows - they are so expensive and time consuming to dress?

PS - Check out this old blog about designer discounts: Discounts on home furnishings and accessories

Dec 19, 2006 02:10 PM

Kimberly Wester

Valparaiso, IN

Marci - Thanks, let me know what you come up with. I'd love to know what others are doing.

Val - I charge the same way for occupied homes and consultations - the flat fee just made more sense to me and the hourly is easy to estimate. The vacant was perplexing to say the least.

Maureen - For me, its not draperies that cause an issue, put the mounting hardware - it is supposed to stay with the house. I generally try to steer them away from window treatments. For new builds, because they just finished putting in all of that woodwork so why cover it up and generally because there is no need for privacy in an unoccupied house. It guarantees they will get the full effect of the natural light as well. If they push the window treatments, I remind them that buyers may want the window treatments with the house - in that case they would need to purchase them from me, not roll it into the mortgage. Sometimes the owner will purchase them or disclose that they are not available with the house. If I get cornered into putting them up, I try to go the nontraditional route to make it easy on myself.

I just received my Pier 1 card in the mail, but there is no Kirklands here. I will search around, though and see what else I can find.

Dec 20, 2006 12:42 AM

Judy Heinrich

Judy Heinrich Home Staging - San Diego, CA

Kimberly, I like you, use to stress over what to put in the room and how much to charge. Early on, I figured out it was much easier to just have a standard charge... less stress and time involved for a bid, and no guarantee they'd hire me. Something else I found very useful with homeowners is to have a portfolio of sample pictures (of previously staged rooms) with the price for each. That way they are able to see a sample of what their budget will provide and many times I've had them up their budget when they see the different furniture options.

Dec 20, 2006 12:48 AM

Val Allocco

Staged 2 Sell New York & Long Island - Northport, NY

HSE; ASHSR - Home Stager, for Manhattan, Brooklyn & Long Island

Kim, since I used rental furniture, it is not possible to come up with a flat fee because each house is different and therefore I need to use various styles of furniture. I will say that after a while you become somewhat of an expert at which style of furniture you will be using (I now know most of the styles by name and have a pretty good idea of how much each piece rents for) and that in itself makes the quoting process much easier!

Dec 20, 2006 01:24 AM

Sheron Cardin

California Moods Inc - Selma, CA

ARTIST - A Home Stager/Sellers Best Friend!

Well thank you Kimberly!

A lot of good information is being written here. There are so many ways to approach your business. I know stagers who use their own stuff and it exhausts me to hear them say they have to pick up their furniture and accessories. Living in California has its' perks. There are so many design centers, I would just load up my van with accessories, tables, etc., and pull up to the house, unload everything and then find what worked and what didn't along with the client, and then they would purchase the items they liked. There are some stores who work with decorators all the time and will let you check out whatever you are interested in for 3 days.

Just a note of caution if you haven't found this already...some home buyers will buy a house because of the way it looks and if you return your rental items before all the contingencies are met, the buyers may loose their enthusiasm and back out. Any stories about this problem?

Dec 20, 2006 03:53 AM

Kimberly Wester

Valparaiso, IN

Val- I have found that in this area, quality furniture rental is not really available. We have a Cort/Instant Furniture in South Bend ( 1hr 15 min away) that will deliver to us, but only 2 days a week, which is not always convenient. I have been able to find many pieces that work with a variety of styles - plus I find that the more generic pieces are, the better they work. It has worked so far.

Sheron- I have always advised my clients not to de-stage until a closing date is established...after inspection, etc. I tell them that if a buyer backs out for any reason, they have to pay me again to restage. That ususally works.

Dec 20, 2006 07:53 AM

Janice Sutton

1st Stage Property Transformations - Murrieta, CA

Home Stager - Temecula Murrieta

Great topic Kim,

I have always wondered about other stagers services and quotes and how they break it down. I have four levels of staging. I quote each level as needed. 1 - Written detailed plan the Seller does, 2 - I use seller's existing furniture, accessories, etc.., 3 - all of the above plus I supply small props & 4 - all of the above plus also includes large props (Furniture). I also work with a Seller's budget and break down room prices so they can decide if they want to stage all rooms or a few.

I have my own inventory and always tell my clients that buyers can purchase any of the accessories or furniture I supply. This can help the seller, buyer & me! I don't have to pick it up and store it, the buyer already knows it looks good in the home so they can buy it and the seller doesn't have to worry about the buyer's "lose their enthhusiasm" as Sheron Cardin stated. It can be a WIN, WIN, WIN! In a perfect world......ha!

As for window treatments I love them BUT they are expensive. I like Ikea's drapes the best. The drapes come with a iron-on tape so you can fold them to the correct length needed. No cutting and sewing! I will do them(actually my husband) if I feel a room looks undone without them. But when the staging is done well it usually doesn't seem needed or incomplete without them. :) Stage it Forward!

Dec 20, 2006 08:19 AM

marti garaughty

garaughty.com - Montreal, QC

a highly caffeinated creative type...

Kim, not only is your concept excellent but it also makes perfect sense. Having a wider variety of packages & price ranges gives you more flexibility in the marketplace in general and more specifically, a better chance to offer exactly what someone needs, wants and can afford.

From my own business, I know that sometimes people who want my work(paintings) can't afford it so last year we started offering mini originals in the $150 and under price range and this became like a sampler which led to bigger sales down the road. My point being that... having an entry level package will allow more people to use your staging services, especially those who couldn't or wouldn't pay for the high end package.

Dec 20, 2006 06:30 PM

Sandra Hughes

Redesigned Spaces - Northern Virginia - Fairfax, VA

Redesigned Spaces - Fairfax County, Virginia

Kim, Great post and generated a lot of great discussion. I am currently planning on either working with what a client has already or renting furniture and having them buy any additional items. I do not have the room to store additional items and not sure that is somethign I want to deal with.

Dec 20, 2006 10:27 PM

Kimberly Wester

Valparaiso, IN

Janice- Thanks for the tip about the IKEA curtains. I ahve purchased them in the past, but the tape must bea new feature. We have 2 in the Chicagoland area, but they are a long drive, so I dn't go very often. Maybe I should plan a drapery shopping trip...

Marti - Thanks for the encouragement. After reading your post, I also realized that there was a big jump between option 2 and option 3. I am going to look into an additional option to put in between that will not be quite fully furnished, but not just vingettes. Thanks again!

Sandra - The package prices I am speaking of would apply only to vacant homes. When a home is occupied, I do not even give them the option of renting furniture from me. I definitely work with what they have. I have on occasion loaned a minimal amount of accessories to fill in some gaps (and I do have limits for that) but I never try to rent furniture to them. I do occasionally ask them to buy a few things (like a bachelor who had a shower curtain and towel issue), but not very often. Accessories are relatively easy to store - an accessories closet would be great - but I fortunately do have some storage space for furniture.

Dec 21, 2006 02:38 AM

Judy Kincaid

Tampa, FL

Kim...I have had success using accessory packages of varying price ranges. Regarding curtains....I rarely use them. However, there have been a few occasions when some type of window covering was needed in order to divert potential buyer's eyes away from an unsightly view...such as the neighbor's unkempt yard.

Dec 21, 2006 11:49 AM

"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.

President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

We wish you a merry Christmas! We wish you a merry Christmas! We wish you a merry Christmas And a happy New Year! Glad tidings we bring To you and your kin! Glad tidings for Christmas And a happy New Year!

Broker Bryant and The Lovely Wife (pretend we are singing it works better like that) ROAR!

Dec 23, 2006 12:58 PM

Janice Sutton

1st Stage Property Transformations - Murrieta, CA

Home Stager - Temecula Murrieta

Hey Kimberly,

The Ikea near me is about 1 hour away BUT well worth it. They have great prices on up to date accessories and furniture. BUT, you can get in trouble there if you are on a staging budget! I try to go 1-2 times a month to check out what is new and get ideas. Happy holidays!

Dec 24, 2006 12:31 AM

Real Estate Chapel Hill Raleigh Durham Jackie Lynaugh, NC Broker/Owner

YoureHomes.com REALTY Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham NC - Chapel Hill, NC