Questions about investing in Inventory for your staging business

Hi there, I too live in the country with a large barn that's been converted to a carriage house with a 1000 square foot loft. I use this for my storage. I personally do not have my own inventory of furniture. I do however, have a large inventory of accessories. This includes artwork (mostly canvases because they're light weight), lamps, large vases, branches, candles, candle sticks, bowls etc. I tend to buy larger pieces because it's less work yet makes a greater impact.

I am really looking forward to the answers you get on this question. 

I started staging last Fall and did not really get busy until the past Spring.  As of Tuesday I will have 19 vacant homes staged and so far, as others have sold, I have been able to move most everything to another vacant.  Of course, right now my dining room is stuffed full of inventory, but that doesn't really matter because I have no dining room chairs left in my house...they are all out in vacants.     

1.  What do you buy? Do you start purchaseing for one style or price point and cover the major areas of the home? 

I started by buying what I needed for the home I was staging at the time.  I rent my larger pieces, but purchase my bedding, lamps, most of my art, accessories, and rugs.  I have recently realized that I am much better off to keep my colors nuutral so I can use them more often but sometimes that is not possible, like with the home that required all the orange.

2. How much is a good investment, without having so much furniture inventory it just sits there? Furniture for one home or more? 

Because I have had such a demand for vacant home staging and never turn a job down...I just go out and buy more stuff.  I am trying to start to purchase more furniture because I would like to have enough of my own inventory by the end of the year to stage 5 homes without using rentals.  I am thinking I can do this for about $25,000...but I am a bargain shopper.    

3.  How much does it cost for insurance on these items or iinventory as a whole? 

Right now it costs me about $600 per year but that is going up because I need to increase my coverage due to the increased inventory in the past few months.

4. Is it more cost effective than renting? 

For me, at this stage of my business, since I do not own a truck and would have to pay movers, renting the larger pieces is more cost effective.  But I could see that changing in the next few years because I plan to invest in a truck.  

5. How much storage do I need to hold 2 homes worth and all those accessories? 

Not sure, but I have the constant fear that all of my staged homes are going to need to be unstaged at one time and I am going to have a huge problem :-).

6. Where do you store your inventory? I live on over 2 acres so I have the capasity to put a store room here. 

In my dining room right now, but I am looking for climate control rental space before the end of this month.

7. Is your storage climate cnntroled?

See above

8.  How do you transport your inventory?

In my SUV...sometimes it takes a couple of trips so it is not very cost effective but still cheaper than renting a UHAUL.  I rent from Aarons so they deliver for between $60 and $80 and includes pickup and delivery.

Thanks Dee...I just enjoy reading this posts and it helps me a lot with my business.  Thanks for the comments about the web site.  I am really concerned about my insurance too.  If my insurance goes up too much I will just drop the property damage and keep the liability.  Take care... 

Hi Dee -

I've been in busines for 3 years now and here's what I've done:

1.  What do you buy? Do you start purchaseing for one style or price point and cover the major areas of the home? I started buying as I needed per job and now I have enough for about 5 vacants, I do own my own furniture. I would stay as neutral as possible. Themes don't seem to work.

2. How much is a good investment, without having so much furniture inventory it just sits there? Furniture for one home or more? I think I've got about 30,000 in inventory but it wasn't all at once.

3.  How much does it cost for insurance on these items or iinventory as a whole? I pay about $650 a year for liability insurance with a 2 million worth of coverage.

4. Is it more cost effective than renting? I find that in my market most people don't want to pay the rental price or the minimum rental terms so in that respect I think I am able to land more jobs. I think it is more cost effective in the long run although it will take you a couple years at least to see a profit. Once the inventory is paid off you will be making money off it.

5. How much storage do I need to hold 2 homes worth and all those accessories? I have 2 storage units that equal about 400 sq. ft. The idea is to keep the inventory out and I've been able to do that pretty successfully. When I have overflow I rent another 200 sf. unit for a month or two.

6. Where do you store your inventory?  I store my accessories in my garage at home and all the furniture in the rental unit.

7. Is your storage climate cnntroled? I live in CA and it is not climate controlled. I put out those tubs that absorb moisture to keep everything in good shape and cover the sofas and chairs.

8.  How do you transport your inventory? We rent moving trucks.

Hope these answers help you to decide which way to go!

Hi Dee -

I double checked my insurance and I was wrong on the cost. It is actually $836.00/yr. That covers all my inventory in storage or on the job plus my liability up to 2 million. I paid a little extra so that I could list my truck rental company as additionally insured to avoid paying their insurance every time I rent. I pay $400 a month for my 2 storage units and occasionally have to pay an additional $200 if I get all my inventory back at once, but it has only ended up being about 2 months so far. I do have 4 large cabinets in my garage for all my accessories as well as racks and I write off my garage as a business expense. As for the cost of the rooms, I charge 20% of my cost to rent the inventory so after it's been out 5 months it is paid for. I do stage all the rooms in the house whenever I can because I think that is the best way to show a house, although lately I've mostly just been doing the main living areas due to price.

Dee -- this is a great post -- I have procrastinated in answering but want it to keep active and encourage others to post also as I think it's helpful.

1.  What do you buy? Do you start purchasing for one style or price point and cover the major areas of the home?  I primarily buy traditional style furniture and have a few sets of more trendy/contemporary for more contemporary homes.  I find I can usually make traditional furnishing go with any home with the correct accessories.  I think every one has to decide how much they can comfortably spend for inventory, set their budget and stick t it.  I do not buy things that are not versatile, good quality or too fragile.  I have made buying mistakes and have learned a lot about what is really a "good buy". 

2. How much is a good investment, without having so much furniture inventory it just sits there? Furniture for one home or more?  We haven't had to deal with this yet.  Currently we have very little furniture that is not being used.  We have continued to grow and purchase to accommodate this growth.  We have lots of accessories in our warehouse, but the majority of our large pieces are earning us $$.  I think every business needs to decide how many vacant homes they want to have inventory for - for us it is about 12 vacants and unlimited occupied.  We haven't had much of our inventory come home yet -- it usually goes to another job and I'm buying more to go with it -- but the day will come when it does come home -- eeekkk!   My husband keeps asking where we would store 12 sofas etc!  We are looking into working with other stagers who may have inventory available and renting it from them since rentals furntiure in our area is so poor.

3.  How much does it cost for insurance on these items or iinventory as a whole?  Our insurance is about $500 per year for the staging portion.  We also have contractor insurance/bonds/licenses.

4. Is it more cost effective than renting?  We were really disappointed with the quality/style of rental furniture in our area.

5. How much storage do I need to hold 2 homes worth and all those accessories? A single garage - 10x15 storage unit

6. Where do you store your inventory? We have acreage, and have a building on our property to store inventory, we are currently acquiring another warehouse so when we do have large furniture return to inventory we have a place to store it!

7. Is your storage climate controlled?  We have some of both -- I've heard horror stories about storage that isn't climate controlled.

8.  How do you transport your inventory?  We own a 12' enclosed trailer which has a track system so we can put in shelving/dividers -- we can haul and 3 bedroom house and nearly all the accessories in one load -- this is a real time saver -- only cost about $2,600.

Hope you find this helpful and look forward to reading more perspectives!

Since you are just starting out, I would suggest renting furniture before you buy, just to make sure you understand what you are getting into before you make a big investment. Also, with more experience under your belt you will have a better idea of what to buy, if you decided to buy, as every market is different. I rent my furniture, for the most part, because I couldn't afford to purchase the furniture I would need to stage the 10 high end, very large homes I have staged at any given time. Renting just works out better for me.

1.  What do you buy? Do you start purchaseing for one style or price point and cover the major areas of the home? This depends on the style of homes you stage. If you are target marketing a certain area that design to the homes but keep it main stream too. I do a lot of creamy white sofas etc. and use my accessories to add color.

2. How much is a good investment, without having so much furniture inventory it just sits there? Furniture for one home or more? Completely depends on your business. We have had 40 homes staged at one time. If we need something we get it. We have some great wholesalers and buy things from our website www.StagersLIST.com to round it out.

3.  How much does it cost for insurance on these items or iinventory as a whole? I pay around $800 a year but that covers my 4,000 sq ft warehouse too.

4. Is it more cost effective than renting? I started my business renting then I moved into owning as my margins are better. I still rent though when I have huge houses or need those special items. We have a fantastic rental agency here Welcome Home Furniture who has great things and no minimums

5. How much storage do I need to hold 2 homes worth and all those accessories? I started with a storage unit which worked then moved to two then three then got a warehouse.

6. Where do you store your inventory? I live on over 2 acres so I have the capasity to put a store room here. Warehouse 4,000 sq. ft.

hope that helps Kym Hough

Dee - I have not read the other answers, but here are mine....

1.  What do you buy? Do you start purchaseing for one style or price point and cover the major areas of the home?  I started with things that I did not feel were quality in rental (tables, dining chairs, lamps, artwork, etc) for our area.  Our rental companies require a 3 month rental contract.  If I could nearly pay for it in the three months (like artwork and lamps) then I bought it.

2. How much is a good investment, without having so much furniture inventory it just sits there? Furniture for one home or more?  That depends on how busy you are.  We have about 45 homes worth of inventory and only very rarely do we have more than a couple of sets of furniture in storage.  You probably will always have bedding, artwork and accessories that don't work in particular homes.  The main pieces should be neutral enough that you get a lot of use out of them.

3.  How much does it cost for insurance on these items or iinventory as a whole?  We pay about $700 a year for approximately $500K of inventory.  This includes liability for all our team as well.

4. Is it more cost effective than renting?  In the short term, no.  In the longterm, yes.  What are your business goals?

5. How much storage do I need to hold 2 homes worth and all those accessories?  A 10x20 storage unit is probably enough, assuming you only do the main rooms.

6. Where do you store your inventory? I live on over 2 acres so I have the capasity to put a store room here.  We have a 2700 sqft warehouse that includes room for an education center and office.  I would say we will probably upgrade within the next year based on current growth rates.

Good luck with your decisions!!  I hope that all the feedback is helping you.

Hi Dee,

Here you go....

1.  What do you buy? Mostly traditional furniture within the same color family.  We purchase some contemporary pieces for those special condos.

2. How much is a good investment, without having so much furniture inventory it just sits there? Furniture for one home or more?  We own around $180 to $200,000 in inventory.  Usually things are always out.

3.  How much does it cost for insurance on these items or inventory as a whole?  About $600 per year

4. Is it more cost effective than renting?  I think so.  In the beginning I felt that the rental companies were the only ones making money, so we started to purchase our own inventory.

5. How much storage do I need to hold 2 homes worth and all those accessories?  I would say 10x20

6. Where do you store your inventory? We rent a home that is around 2000 square feet.

Hope this helps.  I live in Chandler and can you believe I have never been to Sierra Vista.  I am coming down there as soon as it cools off a bit.  Maybe we could meet for lunch.