Summary
Expert home stager Debra Gould discusses how home stagers needn’t provide all staging services needed for a project.
Home stagers don’t have to do all staging services
The most common outside services needed in home staging are:
- Handyman-type repairs
- Gathering packing supplies
- Junk removal
- Finding storage facilities
- Sourcing and selecting rental furniture/art/accessories
- Landscaping
- Cleaning (interior, windows, carpets, exterior)
- Purchasing accessories (bedding, towels, decorative items, flowers)
- Painting
As a home stager, you may be asked to either provide or recommend outside services like these, in addition to doing the actual rearranging of furniture. Staging Diva, Debra Gould says, “I personally don’t do any heavy lifting or sorting through clutter. I choose paint colors but I don’t do the painting. All stagers do things differently but I built my service list when I started my staging business so I would only offer home staging services I would enjoy doing. However, I have also learned out how to form alliances with trusted contractors offering those other services I knew I’d need to recommend to my clients.”
You should start deciding where all these home staging services will come from in your business. If you’re too busy to work on this list of contractors now, it’s a great activity to work on when it’s slow and it will help build your business as time goes on.
Gould, founder of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program suggests, “Start jotting down names of service providers you’ve used in the past and find out who your friends and family members recommend as well. Remember, the people you recommend are going to be a reflection of you as a professional home stager so only choose the best contractors to refer your clients to.”
Many home staging projects must be completed under tight time lines. Knowing who you can call on for help before you need it will significantly reduce your own stress level when you’re trying to get a house picture-perfect in record time.
Noting these resources is not a sexy task but it should be a priority.
Gould says, “You’ll learn more about how to find the right people to work with in Course 5 of the Staging Diva® Training Program, “Over 30 More Ways to Make Money in Home Staging.”
About Staging Diva
The creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program, Debra Gould has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate, including seven of her own homes. She is the president of home staging firm SixElements.com and has trained over 4000 home stagers to start and grow their own businesses.
Debra has gained international recognition through features in major media in the US and Canada including: This Old House, HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, Global TV, City TV, The Wall Street Journal, Women’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.
