No matter where you live, whether it’s a small town or a major center in Canada, the US or abroad, you’re going to hear about home stagers with cheaper rates than you.
Often you’ll hear the most “price complaints” from real estate agents who are already afraid their clients will want them to pay for your services. Since they make the same commission regardless of what their marketing expenses are on a property, their goal is to spend as little as possible to ensure the widest profit margin.
Don’t be discouraged if others tell you there are cheaper stagers then you. This doesn’t mean you are too expensive and it may very well mean, “they” are too cheap and won’t last long in their staging business.
Home stagers, have you run into pricing pressure from real estate agents? How did you handle it? Please add your comments below, this will be a great discussion as we can all learn from different points of view.
In an upcoming series of posts I’ll be exploring how to deal with pricing pressures and (even better) how to avoid them even if you’re more expensive than your competitors. Don’t forget to add your thoughts!
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. There are over 4000 Staging Diva students around the world.
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Such an interesting subject! I am a new stager and I have mostly staged vacant homes up to this point. I have been blessed to work with an investor who constantly buys and sells homes and he has kept me fairly consistent with work over the past year. I have gotten a few occupied staging consults as well and I can tell you one thing for sure…I will not ever again waste hours and hours laboring over any staging plan/accesssory package without first knowing that my client wants to hire me for staging! The whole process has been quite a learning process with many mistakes along the way. I am self taught (since I am one of the many who got ripped off by a bad staging school-definitely not yours Debra-I would love to have taken yours instead) so here is what I have learned by trial and error so far…1. Collect pymt for the consult BEFORE you go. 2. Do a walk thru of the home and determine in your mind what you will charge to stage the home using only their items then present a bid. 3. Determine AFTER they hire you how much the home seller intends to invest in an accessory package and work off of that budget. At this point you discuss shopping fees as well. With this method you do not waste any time on a client until you know that you are hired nor do you waste time with all the great ideas of what accessory would look nice where. That can be a huge waste of time! And in this biz time is money! Thanks Debra for all your advice-you are awesome.
Thanks Rhonda for your feedback and sharing your story. Congrats on all your early success as a home stager!
Oh, this is quite the topic in my area. I recently attended my first formal networking event and met a new stager to the area. She offered a $50 special to stage one room! She was very nice and I did share with her that i felt she was too low priced and people might associate that with a bottom barrel product. Agents have always tried to low ball me and I did a lot for free in the beginning. I am not at that point now, because I have great success stories. I also do not depend on my staging income to survive as this is a secondary career for me. However, it must be worth my time to be away from my 4 kids and husband. That is what I keep in mind when pricing. Why put myself out and get nothing out of it….it is very simple to me!
After reading these comments, does anyone else ask a seller or an agent if there is a budget? In my initial phone conversation when the potential client or agent calls me, I always get around to budget issues. If they really expect everything for nothing, I back it down and usually won’t take the job. I would rather NOT have a chintzy staging hanging over my head. My business is growing on referrals, and if I don’t feel I can do my clients justice, I just don’t do it at all. It’s difficult to bite that bullet, because I WANT to work. Keeping that in mind, I did do a staging for only $300 once, but the home needed very, very little (no painting, etc.) So, whether I’m speaking with an agent or a homeowner, it’s not a bad idea to ask for a budget range up front so you don’t end up dealing with clients who are disappointed … and, worse case scenario, angry! … with your quote. Keep in mind, we live in a society that likes to get everything for next to nothing! For sellers who oh so often have the mentality that “we’re selling and don’t want to put any money in this house”, remind them that staging is an INVESTMENT, and their staging investment will more often than not cost a whole lot less than their FIRST price reduction!
Staging To Sell
231.690.0398
Jill R. Monczunski
President/Designer
jill@designedbystagingtosell.com
Michigan USA
fantastic advice!!
In my opinion real estate agents shouldn’t feel I’m going to low-ball a staging job at the drop of a hat. I don’t tell agents what they should be charging for their commissions, so I guess I expect the same treatment from them. If by chance a realtor offers to pay for my services in their client’s home (and this rarely happens) then I can see why they may want to negotiate with me. If that were to happen, I would gladly hear them out and suggest entering into some sort of deal. Like for example, “I’ll discount my rate on this job, but I would be looking to be brought in for consults on two more of your listings this season.” If that realtor is willing to “give” as well as “get” then I know he\she conducts business fairly. As a practice, I choose to extend an occasional rate discount only to the realtors that I have a long standing relationship with. These are progressive talented agents who have been good to me and my business, and we respect one another as professionals. If I’m getting a number of jobs from a realtor over time, and we mutually respect each other, then offering a discount now and then helps to foster a successful partnership between us.
Leah, I agree with you but here’s a modification I would suggest for those special circumstances where you might be tempted to negotiate:
You said “I’ll discount my rate on this job, but I would be looking to be brought in for consults on two more of your listings this season.”
Since you never know about those future jobs (just as they have no idea how many listings they’ll get), I’d switch it around to say, “To reward you for continuing to use my staging services, I’ll discount my rate on the third listing I stage for you this season.”
Yes, I too have run into the pricing war! Just recently I was asked to quote on a nice vacant home that they wanted staged. I went through the empty home and made notes about what I thought would accent it’s best features and so on. When I contacted the agent to give her my quote, she informed me that I would be bidding aganist 3 other stagers. So, I knew that she would be picking it on price!
I gave her my quote (which she didn’t even look at) and said my price was too high. She then showed me a stager on her computer that advertised home staging services starting at $100!!! I almost laughed at her! What do you get for $100 in a vacant house?!!! NOT much!
It IS frustrating when they are looking at price alone – and the houses DO sell! I have started offering a range for them to choose from. How have others handled this? Do you only offer your full staging and stick to your price? Do you offer any other services that are less costly? I find that with my fee, delivery cost of rented furniture and my cost for accessories, there isn’t much room to play with when you start adding furniture.
I definitely prefer working on occupied homes. I can go in, give them my consultation and go from there. Some will use more of my services, some are ready to do it themselves!
It’s a crazy business but I love what I do!
I think pricing is hands down the hardest component of owning a home staging business. I played around with consultation fees, etc. in the beginning, talked to agents about what the market would bare, and eventually came up with a fee structure that works for me. I still get calls from prospective clients who initially balk at my fees, but after explaining what they get for their money, they usually end up hiring me. There was only one other stager in my area, and she offered free consultations. I haven’t heard her name or seen her work anywhere, so I think she’s out of business already. I WILL NOT work for free and I do not want to be known as the “WalMart” stager. I let my work speak for itself, and my best advertising is referrals from clients. I’m making a profit for the work I do. Aren’t we in business to make money doing what we love to do?
Staging To Sell
231.690.0398
Jill R. Monczunski
President/Designer
jill@designedbystagingtosell.com
Michigan USA
Like Heather, I have also noticed more pricing pressures lately from the ‘discount’ stagers.
Recently a real estate agent (who’d never used a stager before) invited Bloom to bid on a vacant condo job. As it turns out, he invited 7 companies to bid and he ended up picking the cheapest – which wasn’t my quote. Once I knew how many competitors were involved, I knew I wouldn’t be the lowest bid, but stuck to my pricing model and vision for this high end unit.
It can certainly be challenging when you know the competition is so stiff, but building a quality business reputation is the key to long term success.
I ask upfront in a situation like this how many stagers they are getting estimates from and explain that I am likely to be one of the most expensive quotes.
I explain that I don’t compete on price, that my clients hire me because they value my expertise and understand that as with most things in life, you get what you pay for.
I thank them for their interest in my company and explain that clients who are only looking for the work to be done as cheaply as possible really aren’t a good fit for me. I say I am too booked up with the right clients to change that approach and then I decline to participate.
Arrogant perhaps, but a huge time saver that allows me to spend my time on the people who value and are prepared to pay for what I can do. Interestingly, I have agents that save me for their more important clients and then use the cheap guys for the listings they don’t care so much about!
Heather, thanks for those great observations.
Love that you were warned to “watch out” by the new cheap stager in town. Interesting marketing strategy she’s got on many levels! LOL
Congrats too on all your success. You and your partner do great work and you’ve paid the right attention to building and maintaining a professional image in the marketplace. This will always serve you well!
Debra
We run into this issue quite often. Recently a home stager emailed me and told me to “watch out” because they were going to undercut us and steal all our business. I simply responded by saying that she was only doing herself a disservice – because by setting a precedent like that she was telling other new stagers that it was okay to charge less and less for what we do. Eventually I told her, she would be working for FREE just to remain “competitive”.
I’m not worried. The realtors we work with know the quality of our work and while we’re not the most expensive stagers around, neither are we the cheapest. We are raising our rates for the 2010 season as business is great and we are going to have to hire a part time stager next year.
With so much media attention on home staging and all kinds of new stagers popping up on a month to month basis, its no wonder these things are happening. Regardless of the type of business, it generally takes a few years before the business starts running a real profit so undercutting your prices at the beginning when its most critical is one of the best ways to ensure that your business won’t be around long.