Home Staging Blog by Jennie Norris

Photos of our work as Stagers are a key part of our marketing - and we all usually take our before and after photos to demonstrate our skills as a Home Stager. We may even share our photos with our Realtor clients for their use in marketing the property.

But do you realize that photos serve completely different purposes too?  Not only do they help us keep track of inventory, they help us keep track of where things were placed when we completed our Staging project. And they are visual proof of our inventory used in a client's house - which is needed if we have to make an insurance claim.

For liability, what happens is a house cleaner or rug cleaner moves our stuff and then does not put it back right - perhaps in the process of moving things does damage to the house?  I have found that individuals that work in the house are not aware of putting things back just as they found it.  So it is very easy to show things have been moved by examining our after photos and comparing to the way things look in a house when moved around.

We had one seller that tried to hold us accountable for a large 18 inch gouge-scratch in his wood floors that happened as a result of the large sofa in the room being dragged into a diagonal position.  When he said he wanted us to take care of the damage "we had done" I simply said, "We were not the ones that moved this sofa.  When we left, the sofa was squared off against the wall where we placed it.  Someone else came in and moved this sofa, and scratched your floor."  It was his daughter-in-law who put on her "Stager hat" that day and adjusted our Staging work.  Not only did it not look good, but she damaged the floor.  Our photos clearly showed where we had placed the sofa - and he admitted it was not our fault.

Then we had a client that had us Stage their partially vacant house - and we brought in a dining room set for the Staging.  The seller had the carpets cleaned after the Staging was complete.  When the furniture was put back in the room, the carpet cleaner did not use plastic protectors for the wood feet of the table - and since the carpet was damp, the wood table transferred stain on the carpet.  We got the call and the "blame" from the Realtor for stains in the carpet.  I know that those stains cannot happen unless the carpet gets wet.  So I asked, "Have the carpets been cleaned in this house since we Staged it?"  The Realtor said yes, and I shared that the carpet cleaners were most likely resonsible.  Our photos proved that point as I was able to show that the table had been moved and put back in a spot other than where we placed it originally.

So - photos are useful for not only our Marketing - but also as a protective measure against possible claims of damage against the house.  With many people in the house - buyers, sellers, Realtors, workers - even with provisions in our Agreement to not touch or move our things, it can still happen.  My photos are proof of where and how we placed things.  And they have proven valuable when confronted with a claim of damage that we did not cause.  We keep track our inventory with our photos.  And our photos would provide proof to an insurance company if we had to make a claim of loss or damage.

The moral of the story is ALWAYS take photos of your work - to demonstrate that your inventory is in a house or that you have Staged the house a certain way - it could prove to be a very valuable step in your business process, and help protect you against false or inaccurate claims.

- Jennie