You receive a phone call from someone interested in obtaining your home staging services. They’ve seen your 
portfolio of before and after photos after you were referred to them by their real estate agent. Your initial home staging consultation with them goes very well and they decide they want you to stage their home.
Staging day comes and it ends up taking you an entire weekend to implement everything in your home staging plan. The home has been painted and new furniture, bedding, drapery and accessories have been brought in. You’ve removed all family photos and hung beautiful, neutral artwork.
The finished product is an absolute transformation and you’re thrilled with how it turned out.
However, when your clients see what you’ve done they’re devastated. They hate the paint colors, don’t understand why their family photos were taken down and feel insulted that their furniture has been replaced. They refuse to believe that these changes could help sell their home. The real estate agent who referred you thinks the house looks good, but feels you should make changes according to the clients’ wishes.
I’ll post an article soon explaining what I would do in this scenario, but first I want to know how you’d handle this. Please answer what you would do by leaving a comment below.
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 Training Program to teach others how to earn a living doing something they love.
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I would simply explain the realtor and the homeowner that the house has to be transformed from “their home” to ” Somebody else’s home” in order to make it a “product” that will be going into the market in few days time. On the other hand, I have to be smart and creative enough to stage the house to look easthetically attractive, functional and liveable without showing the poential buyers that it has been ” Staged”.
I am having so much fun reading the comments from fellow stagers! Everyone has such valuable insight. I am curious about the consultation before the staging began in this scenario, because if it was not communicated to the client just exactly what was going to occur and why, then the stager is at fault. BUT, if all was presented properly, and the clients were in full support, then THAT is a different problem that requires a lot of wisdom on the part of the stager as to how to help the clients figure out what they really want. In this case, it sounds as though they are having second thoughts about selling their home. DEBRA, you have really thrown us a curve ball here! I am so excited to read your comments!
Wow, thank you all for contributing so much to this discussion. There have been excellent points raised by everyone which I know benefits the community of home stagers and this is one of my goals of bringing up topics here.
Keep these comments coming, I will be writing a follow up blog post on this subject. I’ll also tell you about my own “alpha” client who thought she knew better even though she was thousands of miles away when I staged her home!
Debra
I agree with Staging Sister’s comment that some kind of overview should have been presented to the client before proceeding. I always do a room by room checklist which includes paint colors, details etc. If I have to rent furniture, I always send pictures to my client as a courtesy.
However, should the client still be upset, I would say I’m sorry you feel this way, but let me explain why I made these changes to your home. (and go through why I depersonalized, decluttered, used neutral colors, updated furnishings). I would also present other listings that were successful in the past. Hopefully they will calm down enough, trust you and see how it can expedite their selling process.
As for the realtor, I would also explain how the staging process works so they are educated and hopefully will refer you again in the future.
I fortunately have never had this reaction, I’ve actually had quite the opposite. I hope it’s because I do present the trasformation plan to the client and also because I pick things that will compliment their home.
I would contact the client and the realtor to discuss the purpose of the staging and why certain things are done (for example removing family photos). After assuring the seller that their home was appropriately decorated and had warmth for them to live in, I’d explain again that staging is done to appeal to buyers, not to the seller. Part of the stagers job is to work to get people to understand and agree that the purpose of the staging is to get the house sold quickly so it needs to be presented in a way that is going to attract the person who will buy it. I would also include some examples of how staging has helped other clients.
This scenario is straight from the stagers book of nightmares! I have contemplated what I would do, short of being physically ill, for a few days now. And I can only assume that the stager had gone over the changes that were going to be made before the work began.
My first reaction is that this has suddenly gone from a staging to sell effort, to a redesign for the clients home. Maybe (?) after a big heart-to-heart with the clients, offer to make the changes they ask for and charge them as for a redesign job, gently but clearly stating that staging a home to sell is very different than redesigning a home to reflect the homeowners taste.
Thanks, Debra, for putting the fear of miscommunication into how I deal with clients (I mean that in a good way)! It is obviously SO IMPORTANT how we explain our work to new customers.
ok.I’ll try to explain to them my point of view and the the repemoval of the personal picture in the purpose of make the buyer fell more free .then I’ll listen to their opinion and try to reach a solution makes them satisfied.
I would probably take the approach of explaining that the changes were not actually designed for them; they weren’t hiring an interior designer for the purpose of IMPROVING their lovely home, nor did they need one because they obviously loved it the way it was.
I would go on to explain that they, instead, needed a design professional with the expertise to help them SELL their home, which means making changes that will help their home appeal to the widest range of OTHER people…even if it means that THEY might not love it as much.
I would tell them how baddly I feel, that that wasn’t clear at the onset.
I would then, most importantly, try to persuade them (and their realtor!) to do ONE open house with the changes I’d already made, and to make sure to get feedback in a form that I could share with my unhappy clients. Let the staged home speak for itself, and turn my unhappy clients into a success story.
After I got over the initial SHOCK, I would advise the agent to show other properties to the owner with hopes that they would see the difference in homes that are staged and homes that are not.
In order to prevent this, I would definitely present a written copy of what is going to be done AFTER the initial consultation fee was paid. At that point, if the owner doesn’t agree with something I would change, it would be addressed up front–before the changes were made.
If I am on target with the process, I would first collect the assessment fee and report the findings. If the owner was interested in my company completing the details, I would then present them with a written overview of what changes I would make and what it would cost them.
Am I close to the correct procedure?
(Pretty new at the ‘charging’ bit!)
First of all, if I am going to replace a client’s furniture, they already know that. I would never replace a seller’s furniture without their prior knowledge and permission. And – wouldn’t the homeowner know that they are paying for furniture leasing anyway? My clients do. I wouldn’t take them with me to pick out new furniture, but they would be aware of my intentions. As far as personal items are concerned, some of my clients hire me to pack (I sub this chore out as a rule), or they understand from our consultation that all personal items need to be removed before I return to stage their home. As for paint colors, I give my staging clients 5 or 6 choices to choose from. I DO NOT walk in the door with a paint fan! They ultimately “think” they are making the color selection. Even though they are selling, they do own the home afterall. Out of respect for my clients, I want them to feel they have a part in the transformation of their home. I reserve paint fans for my interior design clients. So … why would a stager put themselves in this position? I certainly would not like a client devastated with the results of my staging. I make sure at each and every initial consultation that my client’s “get” that they need to dis-associate, de-personalize and de-clutter, and get them in the frame of mind that the house essentially is not theirs while their house is on the market. So … in my opinion … no professional home stager should be so disrespectful to a seller that when all is said and done, the homeowner is devastated! Not good PR!
Staging To Sell
Home Staging For Sellers . Interior re-Design
231.690.0398
Jill R. Monczunski
President/Designer
Serving the State of Michigan
I would gently explain that the purpose of staging is really to appeal to the buyer by neutralizing the decor so that the buyer can imagine themselves in the house.
If the decor is still too style specific and personal it reflects the owners and buyers will feel like they are invading someone’s personal space, and may want to make a quick exit. You really want the prospective buyers to walk in, spend time in there and imagine that this could be THEIR house! Staging will help their house sell faster and for more money if the buyers see the house as the way they would like to live.
To continue my comments; The Stager should volunteer at her expense to have the walls repainted with a color approved by the homeowner.
She should return the rented furniture and reinstall the owners furniture.
She should suggest neutral slipccovers if the furniture was so unattractive and arrange the furniture in an attractive arrangment.
With slipcovered furniture, neutral art, fresh flowers and a willingness to correct mistakes, perhaps the situation can be saved.
An expensive lesson.
Hi,
This would be a nightmare for certain. I find that if I take the clients through the process as I go, get them to buy off on my choices of new furniture, art, draperies and so on as these decisions are made there is a very small chance of total shock happening.
Sometimes it’s necessary to offer options to make people feel like you are respecting them and their home. I came from the Hollywood film industry and learned there that there are always several RIGHT choices.
LISTEN to your clients and be sure that you ask enough questions to be able to determine how they feel about the project you are about to undertake.
Communication is always the Key!
I am astonished that the Stager did not have a complete agreement with the homeowner on work to be done before staging the home. The Stager should have walked through the home, made an evaluation of needed work, and totally discussed her suggestions and pricing before leaving the premises.
If an agreement was reached then the Stager would not have had the problems with the homeowner, as well as issues with the Real Estate agent and the possibility of the homeowner repeating the story to others ,thus possibly damaging the reputation of both the Stager and Real Estage Agent.
If there was an agreement between the parties the Stager should have shown the home owners a palette of colors and asked them to identify the colors they were emotionally atuned to as well as taping sample color chips on the wall, because the colors will change depending on the lighting and the direction the room faces . N.S.E.or W.
As for removing all the family photographs, the Stager should have explained that it is a stong selling point to have the majority of photographs, mementos and other personal items removed during the showings because you want the prospective buyer to see all the attractive features in the house….not be distracted by looking at personal items. The prospective buyer want to visualize themselves in the house…therefore neutralizing everything offers the home owners the the opportunity to sell faster and for a better price.
As for removing the owners furniture (what was done with it ) and replacing it with rentals without permission, the Stager has absolutely “crossed the line”.. This type of assertiveness and lack of consideration for others belongings should never have occurred.
This Stager should return to her basic training and remember her P’s and Q’s.
First – On my initial consultation with my client, I would have discussed changes, explained the procedure, answer their questions and concerns and have them approve the project. I would also explain to them my company policies which include the subject in question. In addition I would make sure that the realtor is aware as well.
Second – Personally I would not proceed without clear understanding that once the project is done, other than minor changes any other charges will be done at an additional cost for my time and any expenses acquired in the process.
If we could back up for just a minute, I think that the problem is not an ‘after’ one, but a ‘before’ one. During the consultation the homeowners should have been advised about the changes that would be taking place within their home. Letting them know that family photos and personal articles would be removed, new paint and new furniture and/or furniture rearrangement would be taking place would have taken the shock out of the situation thereby making this a non-issue for the stager. Disclosure is a very important part of a service business and can never be minimized in its importance to your clients. They need and WANT to know what you are going to do to their home before you start. If you simply do this then things should go better than the scenario above. Good luck stagers!
What to do if you client doesn’t like what you have done to their home?
As a Professional Organizer I have had the opportunity to re-design my clients homes for years. On occasion I will come a crossed a difficult situation. First, I don’t take on a job until I have gone over in great detail with the client. In doing so I explain that it is just furniture, and it can be put back- if it is not to their liking.
I have found that the couple needs to be on the same page. Sometimes the wife doesn’t want to move- so therefore, makes it challenging to make any changes. This is why the consultation is very important. Over the years I have become better at “Reading people”. Are they open to change/do they really want ot move, or are they going to sabotage the experience.
When I feel that, or see that might be the case- I don’t take the job.
I am only as good as the budget/ timeframe / and openness of the client.
If one of those categories doesn’t fit- I walk away from the project. I have found over the years that clients and their homes fit into one or both categories- so i ask myself- Is it a difficult client, or a difficult job? I have in the past taken on both types. Why- you ask? I feel you can improve your “chops” as they say by doing so. What is a difficult job? Are there stairs? No parking? Too much clutter? What about a difficult client? Do they talk to much- stopping you from doing your job? (this happens a lot) Are they “alfa”. They hire you to do the job, and when you arrive they want you to do what they want you to do. ( this happens often, as well). Being self-employed is challenging because you really need to know how to work with all types of personalities.
And it takes years of experience to learn how to do this. Tami of nolaclutterbusters.com of New Orleans, La.
I would very gently and tactfully explain the neccesity of depersonalizing one’s home in order to personalize it to the buying market. I would show empathy by commenting that it’s hard to believe the lengths one has to go thru in order to attract the masses, but so many people just can NOT picture their own belongings in anothers house unless it is neutralized.
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