Furniture Designer -- should I start a staging company?

Question

Hey guys!

I own a small design/build furniture company located in Seattle, and I have been thinking about using my furniture, and my design sense, to start staging homes.  Several of my RE agent/broker friends have asked me if I'd like to get into staging, and it seems like I could get pretty steady work from them.

Since this is new territory for me, I thought I'd ask you all what your thoughts are on the challenges I may face, pricing structure, etc.  Currently the biggest hurdle I can foresee is the upfront cost of building or buying enough furniture to stage more than one home at a time.  However, I'm curious to hear your insight into the staging industry.

The furniture I design is a combination of modern, rustic, and industrial.  It's good-looking, durably, and on-trend right now in our area, so I think it would work well.

Thanks in advance for your comments!

Andy Whitcomb · Answer

Thanks for all the input, I really appreciate it!

@Julie Marquez here are a few images of a small selection of our furniture:

Julie Marquez · Answer

@Andy Whitcomb Is the point to show case all your own furniture?

I know people in the area that do small time staging (a couple of homes a month, part time) and just rent furniture from CORT (or similar event rental place). And you are also getting into the mover's world - need good transport.

Sounds like you could start your business organically, fill the requests of your friends and see where that takes you and requires of you and your furniture.

I don't know about pricing structure, inquire with the other stagers out there. I don't see a lot of staged furniture advertised with the opportunity to buy (Probably the CORT rental thing). I feel like agents could show a home and host an art gallery of furniture at the same time! Two events in one.

Your furniture sounds really nice! Post a picture!

Account Closed · Answer

Hi Andy,

If you're just looking for exposure for your product to sell it, as an alternative to providing full staging, one of the things you could consider is loaning out bar and counter stools with tags on them to select homes during open houses.  It may be that if they are the only furniture in the property, they get noticed more.  We recently sold a property in Kirkland that had 200 people through the open house on the weekend so there's some potential for decent exposure.  You could look for upcoming open houses on a site like redfin and see if any match your style and offer to loan them for the open house period.  We're doing some industrial style rehabs on rentals in central district now and we don't stage the property but would be happy to showcase some of your stools during an open house.

Timothy Tooker · Answer

@Julie Marquez

I have a 5 car garage that contains no vehicles..... Occasionally we hire movers to pick up and drop off furniture, but for the most part it is our construction workers, children and myself who are the labor.

Thank you for those kind words.. My wife designs and stages the homes and our construction company puts them together.

@Andy Whitcomb

I would say out of the 75 stages we have done in the last 2 years, probably 10 buyers have wanted to purchase some pieces of furniture.

Andy Whitcomb · Answer

@Timothy Grothuesmann  Thank you for the response, I really appreciate it!  Yes, I am also curious how often people ask to buy the furniture.  I'll message you for more info.

Julie Marquez · Answer

@Timothy Grothuesmann So cool to hear how that business model works for you! Where do you store 11 houses worth of furniture? Do you hire movers for the moving process? Do many people take you up on the option of buying the furniture? It looks like you and your wife have the whole buying, remodeling, staging and selling business down! That's an awesome looking house there in the video!

Timothy Tooker · Answer

@Andy Whitcomb

We own a Remodeling & Design Company that has a staging component to it (Homes By Tooker, LLC), down here in Pierce County. We own about 11 houses worth of furniture to include accessories (Seems to keep growing). Beginning a staging company is a great way to create income from two different sources 1. Initial Staging (Seattle staging pays great) 2. Rental income from furniture (We charge per month after 60 days). **** Bonus***** If people want to buy furniture we sell it at cost-plus.... After the first stage (which pays for the furniture) the furniture turns into a pure money making asset. If you have any questions, message me and I can get you in touch with my wife who owns the company.

This is our latest renovation that we staged:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=6847+topaz+drive+sw

Jeff B. · Answer

@Julie Marquez is on the right track here.  Your expenses will be high, damages will not be zero and the niche market of staging will require a large exposure to find clients.

IMO, use your skills to be the facilitator, not the provider.  You rent and have Cort do the heavy lifting.  You provide the designs (suggest a cook book of just a few variations) and act as the broker between your clients and the rental agency.

Andy Whitcomb · Answer

Thanks for your response Account Closed

I think we'd be more interested in the fee from renting our furniture, and off-chance that the new owner would like to buy the furniture with the house.  The exposure to potential customers, and the ability to use the photographs on our website and other marketing, would be the added bonus.

I'll consider your idea, however, as we do have some really eye-catching barstools and counter stools.

Julie Marquez · Answer

@Andy Whitcomb Beautiful furniture! Instead of moving and staging, I think you should collaborate and put your furniture in select homes and advertise a feature gallery showing along with the open house. Could be a win/win for the real estate agent and for your business. But let the Cort rental movers stick with the staging.

Furniture Designer -- should I start a staging company?

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