Most aspiring home stagers wonder whether they should get insurance when they start their business. This is definitely something to look into, but because your need for coverage will differ depending on the state, province and even country you live in, I can’t give specific advice that will apply to everyone.
You can look at what business riders you can add to your current home insurance policy for a start.
There are also specific insurance packages for home stagers available with different companies that you can ask your broker about. They cover things like:
- general liability
- fire liability
- business property when it’s in your office and when it’s off premises or in transit
- medical expenses
- computer equipment
- accounts receivable
- money and securities
One question you’ll want to ask them is how long they’ll insure your items when they’re off premises. This is a concern if you’ll be using your own furniture and accessories to fill vacant properties. I have heard of insurers who will only cover the items for 60 days. Clearly this isn’t long enough if you are operating in a slow real estate market, or if the property takes longer to sell because it is overpriced or not well marketed.
Insurance is something you can be looking into while you take care of all the other steps necessary to start your home staging business.
Don’t let the fear of possibly damaging someone’s property one day get in the way of you becoming a home stager.
Every entrepreneur worries about liability at some point, and you can get coverage to protect you. It’s not terribly expensive especially if having it will give you the peace of mind to move forward in your business.
It’s also helpful to keep some perspective and not get overwhelmed with worry about worst-case scenarios that are not that likely to occur. The typical things that might go wrong while you’re staging are things you wouldn’t likely bother making an insurance claim for. For example, if you broke a vase, you would replace it. If you scratched a floor you would fix it. Now that doesn’t mean you have to put in a new floor! Have you ever had a mover scratch a hardwood floor? They fix it by coloring in the scratch with a marker designed for that purpose. That’s also what they do with scratches to furniture.
In the hundreds of homes I’ve staged, I’ve never run into a situation where I’ve broken something irreplaceable. Most of your clients will accept that if you damage something, you’ll take care of it.
Small things are more likely to happen than major catastrophes. If you’re careful not to place breakables where they can be knocked over, and to be sure you don’t leave candles burning when nobody’s home so there’s not an accident waiting to happen, you’ll probably be okay. Given that insurance premiums go up with any claim, you’re only going to make a claim for something significant, anything else you’ll deal with directly with your clients.
Debra Gould, The Staging Diva®
President, Six Elements Inc. Home Staging
Debra Gould knows how to make money as a home stager and she developed the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love. In course 2 and 3 of the Staging Diva Program, Debra teaches her students how to set up a home staging business and what to do in a client’s home. There are over 4000 Staging Diva students around the world.
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You’re more than welcome, Debra!
Hi Patricia… I have insurance here in Quebec. You can contact the same broker that I use:
PMT Roy Assurance: http://pmtroy.rabaisassurance.com/index.fr.html
All the best of success to you!
Thanks for sharing that Pauline!
I have looked into insurance and have come up empty not being able to find a company that will insure a stager in Quebec. Do you know of a company I can contact?
Patricia, no I don’t have a Quebec insurance contact. I suggest you do very specific Google searches on your own.
Well, in the province of Quebec where I come from, it’s important that you be insured as a home stager. Not only do you need insurance for your home staging tools, equipment, etc., if they are stolen (from your office, home or car, for example), but you need civil liability insurance to at least the tune of one million dollars coverage. As Heather Cook said above, it only takes one catastrophe to wipe out your business. And don’t forget, if your business is not incorporated, this means you can even wipe out your family, your family home, your investments, etc. You can be held personally responsible for damages caused to a client’s home, even if you didn’t do the work directly but hired a contractor instead. So, if you’re hiring contractors for your clients, you’ll want to get your clients to sign a contract that underlines the fact that you as a home stager CANNOT be held responsible for work done by a contractor.
Basically, cover yourself as much as you possible can. And if you plan on training anyone as a home stager, then you need to get insurance for that too because if you trained a home stager and you forgot to mention something important during training, the home stager makes a mistake because of it, well, basically, if that home stager gets sued, he or she can turn around and sue you themselves, saying you didn’t train them properly. So, you’ll need an insurance policy called “Error and Omission” coverage.
And imagine…. we’re in Canada which isn’t the most sue-happy country in the world… It’s never a bad idea to be insured because as we all know, accidents to happen. And you may just be moving a lamp from one table to the next room, but if you drop a tiffany lamp that is worth thousands of dollars, you’re in trouble. I prefer to be prepared instead of having to one day possibly pay. Insurance for home stagers isn’t all that expensive.
The one piece of advice I give aspiring stagers is to get liability insurance and invest in contracts. I can’t stress those items strongly enough. While little things happen once in awhile – major catastrophes only have to happen once to potentially wipe out your small business. Especially for those stagers who have “teams” they work with which include contractors, painters, landscapers, cleaners and more. Check out the Ontario Health & Safety Act and be aware of what role you take in any staging/renovation project.
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