One of the most common questions home stagers hear is: “How much does home staging cost?”
It’s fair to ask, and I understand where people are coming from when they ask this question.
Obviously, the up-front cost to have a stager render services varies on what will be required. Each situation is unique.
This article will explain some of the factors that will affect the cost of the services and what you can expect.
Most homeowners know that home staging can help sell their home faster.
Who wouldn’t want to sell their home quickly?
Statistics show that the longer a house is on the market, the less the final selling price. And if you have already bought your new home, you could be caught paying two mortgages if your old house lingers on the market. So once you have made that decision, selling faster is definitely better.
Home staging can help.
But how much is a reasonable amount to pay for home staging?
How much does home staging cost?
What do you get when paying for home staging?
The cost of staging depends on the services you require. The services involved in home staging will range from a consultation for an occupied home to staging an occupied home (your furniture is still in the house) to a full staging of a vacant home.
First, we’ll discuss how staging works for a home that is occupied.
Occupied Homes
For a consultation, which is different from a quote, a home stager will meet you at your occupied home anywhere around the city (I have staged homes in St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Paradise, CBS, Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, etc.) and do a walkthrough of your home with you.
In the process, the stager will make recommendations about how to create more appealing aesthetics for the type of prospective buyer who might be interested in your home. Among other things, the stager will give advice about:
• improving traffic flow
• new paint colors
• cost effective updates & repairs
• rearranging, removing and re-purposing furniture
• hanging artwork
• improving curb appeal
This will be done room by room, and a written report with additional information is supplied by the stager if requested.
This written report may incur an additional fee so be sure to check with your stager about this.
After a consultation in an occupied home, the next step is the hands-on staging (if requested by the client). This is a much more involved process and will be priced separately from the consultation fee.
The stager will work with your own furniture and accessories as much as possible but may bring in some accent elements and perhaps some extra furniture pieces to make your home as appealing as possible for the prospective buyers.
Vacant Homes
For vacant homes which have recent updates or may even be new builds, no consultation is required. Instead, the stager will offer a free quote to fully stage the home.
The stager will bring in all the furniture, accent pieces and accessories that will properly complement the space. The home will be so appealing to the buyers they will be enticed to put down an offer.
How much do you get?
In reality, the question this article addresses (how much does home staging cost?) should be phrased a little differently.
Recently I published an article answering the question “Is home staging worth the cost?” The article explains that in the vast majority of cases, home staging is actually an investment.
According to an NAR survey, when you pay a home stager 1-3% of the listing price for professional staging, you can expect to receive a return of 8-10% when you sell the home. But there are several factors that dictate the effect staging will have on the final sale price, and perhaps the most important is the value of the home.
If you’re interested in how this works, it’s basically the buyer psychology. Staging can communicate the value of the home by emphasizing the major benefits and demonstrating the practicality of a home. The goal is to project the comfortable lifestyle that your house allows for the new owner.
How much does home staging cost?
Across the industry, consultations (for an occupied home) can range from $150 to $500, and written reports are usually charged at an extra fee.
1-3% of the listing price is the norm for the staging of a vacant home for two months.
Homestyling by Cathy offers competitive pricing, especially considering the quality of staging that’s offered, regularly pricing a staging between 1% and 2% of the listing price for two months of staging.
Further reading: Is home staging worth the cost?
Here are some factors to keep in mind when considering what a quote for staging your home might look like:
Price of the home
Higher priced homes generally represent a higher calibre of building materials. This means a larger size and more detailed workmanship. These homes might have special features such as imported French glass doors or boutique light fixtures. This higher calibre home needs high-end furniture to appeal to the target prospective buyer, somebody who might be interested in buying a home for nearly $1,000,000 (or more).
For this reason, staging this type of home would cost more. Also, the higher end homes are generally bigger and more furniture is needed to stage the same number of rooms. More furniture and more space require more time, as well.
The number of rooms to stage
More rooms staged will require more time and more furniture, more trips to warehouses and storage units, more hired help to move furniture around, and therefore it costs more to the stager.
Taking this into account, I generally recommend staging the main rooms (living, dining, kitchen, bathrooms, master bedroom and ensuite and entrance) for the majority of homes.
The exception would be if other rooms have an unusual layout or are really small. In that case I recommend staging them so that buyers can clearly see how they can be used. This philosophy has helped numerous homes sell quickly, overcoming the objection that “this space is too small” or “this space is too awkward” or even “this space is too big“.
For example, one of the homes I did a quote for recently has a huge open room in the basement. Particularly large rooms will be really confusing to buyers as to how they would set it up and use the space. I recommended staging that room as well, with the intention to demonstrate its usefulness as a spacious family room for entertaining guests or relaxing.
Stager’s inventory
Some staging companies will have a considerable amount of their own furniture that they will use for staging. This may result in a slightly lower price when compared to stagers that need to rent furniture. In order to pay for hired help to move the furniture, cover all expenses, and have a profitable business, home stagers will need to protect their margins when using rented furniture.
As discussed above, when addressing the calibre of a home and to target prospective buyers, it’s important to highlight again that quality counts. A stager with an extensive inventory of Walmart furniture is not going to have any suitable furniture for high calibre homes. Their furniture inventory is for small homes selling for the lowest price points. Stagers need to be able to stage your home to appeal to the target prospective buyer in order to demand serious and attractive offers.
The quality of staging
As with anything, you get what you pay for. There are people who enjoy interior decorating and have an eye for complementary and contrasting colours, so they “give home staging a try”. What they sometimes don’t understand is that home staging is an implementation of creativity combined with buyer psychology.
Certified stagers, especially those with a track record of success, are well worth the fee they charge. The homes they stage can often go for 8-10% more than comparable unstaged or poorly staged homes. This means homeowners who invest in an expert’s services receive many times their investment.
Conclusion
Remember: home staging is an investment.
Normal prices for staging a vacant home for two months range between 1% and 3% of the listing price.
There are a lot of factors that affect the price of staging your home. The factors discussed in this article include:
• the price of the home
• the number of rooms that need to be staged
• the stager’s inventory
• the quality of staging
Any of these can affect the quotes that you get from home stagers.
Homestyling by Cathy generally quotes vacant stagings at a price between 1% and 2% of the listing price of the home for two months of staging, depending on the job, as described in this post.
What’s sure is that Homestyling by Cathy’s track record for success and competitive prices for professional staging will give you the best return on the investment you can make in home staging.
Each home is different. Recommendations about which rooms to stage can vary. Call us to discuss your unique situation.
You can reach us by e-mail at info@homestylingbycathy.com or by phone at (709) 341-7115.