Staging Designs by Deborah LLC

This post was written by Lisa McIntee, a stager from Canada. I copied it because so many in the Lansing area have no idea what costs are involved in the staging process. I hope it helps you understand my fees. I try very hard to keep my pricing affordable. Because we don't live in Toronto, Canada, I am able to do it for less than Lisa. However, I still need to make money.

Getting into the spring market, Lots of people inquire about staging costs so here’s how it works:

1. Staging is broken down into 3 parts, the delivery/removal, design & staging (this includes our time to design, pack, and unpack as well as onsite set up - the time you don’t see is extensive), and the monthly furniture & decor rentals.

* delivery/removal is not per item, a truck required is simply a truck required, time is time and it’s fair rates. We cannot deliver you a sofa for $50. Sorry.

Furniture rentals all depend on a few things:

1. Availability - we are not a store, rather have a warehouse of rental items and access to rental companies. These items come and go and we specialize in using these items properly in a design to pull a finished look together. Please trust us to do what is best given available rental products. Please do not request certain styles, colours, sizes - trust us to do the best and keep it affordable for you.

Yes, we will purchase a piece or pieces if required to complete the look - we don’t just “make do” - but this is always our discretion as we know our business model inside and out.

2. Pricing can vary based on the price of the item. And inexpensive MDF coffee table wil be cheaper than a large scale glass coffee table. Some items work in some spaces, others do not. We consider both budget and end result when pulling rentals together. Yes we can play with some items to control pricing, but ultimately the end result matters 🙂

The cost that goes into having a staging business can be heavy - we have to maintain stock (constant purchasing can be thousands and thousands of dollars), warehousing (rent, utilities, insurance and all those continual rising costs 😭), help - we need help, our movers aren’t cheap and having them available at all times to meet the demands comes at a cost. You want a job asap, we can make it happen but don’t forget how it happens!

We can fully stage dozens of homes at a time, but consider the purchase for a very basic living room set up that is effective for staging:

Sofa $800-1000
Accent chairs $500 each
8x10 area rug $500
Coffee table $400
2 lamps $200
Side tables $150 each
Large art $250
Accent pillows (6) $180
Artificial tree in planter $200
Decor pieces $150

Total cost to stage one basic living room with affordable pieces (not high end) Is just under $4000. Add in additional spaces and you can see how running a staging business can get insane with the purchase prices. Trendy and high damage items cost more to rent because of the shorter life span.

We charge rentals and need to profit off them in order to continue to serve our clients.

A realtor this past week told me pricing for staging is expensive and insane, but what is insane is expecting me to do all of this for them, and provide a good return, at a loss.

You don’t have to stage your home, or use a stager, but if you want to go this route please respect the process and business and we will help you achieve your goals 🙏 we got you!

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