This is part II of our tour through some strategies on how to price your home staging services. (click the underlined words to go back and read part I)
Strategy #5 – A Combination
The most common strategy used is the Combination where you take a flat rate (what NJ Maureen used to call My Get Off My Sofa Base Rate.) You would take into account the average size of home you do, and then bracket above and below. For example, “homes under 2500 sq. ft” vs. “homes 2500 and up”.
Strategy #6 – % of Retail
Here is a strategy that works very well if you have your own inventory. (or if you are building inventory) You rent the items at a % of their retail value. So, a big ticket item like sofa or dining table might be 10% of what your cost to buy it, and 20% or smaller or “trendy” items. With a 3 month minimum contract, you have to rent the sofa how many times to make back the cost of it? By its 4th outing, you’re in pure profit. You can see why some folks like this model a lot!
Strategy #7 – Package Pricing
Again, this works well if you own a lot of your inventory and have paid it off already. Now you just package your items together and decide on a package rate that puts you in profit and sounds reasonable for the value you are providing the seller. This method can make quoting easier, once you have some experience though it’s important to keep your pricing consistent. “A BR for you usually runs around $300”, for example, where you know that’s a better rate than the rental companies (or close to it.) This helps keep your pricing flexible.
That covers our most currently considered strategies that we teach for the SARs designation. Yes, you could stick your finger up in the wind and go – “$8,500 for 3 months. It should be $9,000 but I’m giving you a $500 discount because I value your business!” but to maintain your business you need strategy, precision and consistency.
In our next installment on how to price your home staging services, we will be looking at whether it’s cost effective to have an assistant or not. When to take on an assistant is a lovely decision to make, because it means you’re getting good and busy!
Donna Richter says
Info please!