Home Staging Blog by Jennie Norris

We just Staged 2 vacant houses, and De-staged 1 house all in ONE AFTERNOON!  We started at 11 AM and were done and back home by 8:15 - including an hour dinner break and about 2 hours of drive time.

We loaded up our truck starting at 11 AM - and after one pit-stop to get water, gas and bathroom - were off by 12:20 PM to Stage the first project.  Driving 40 minutes to get there we parked and unloaded.  We Staged the house and were back in the truck and ready to go to the next project by 2:00 PM.

We arrived at the second house at 2:30 - and unloaded the rest of the truck.  We cut the movers loose at 3:30 PM (they returned our truck and gassed it up for us) and kept Staging.  At 5 PM we went to get a bite to eat (hadn't had lunch or breakfast) . . . and took an hour to do that, as well as swung by our unit to grab a few extra accent pillows and minor decor.  We got back to the house at 6:15 and were done with our Staging and driving away just before 7 PM.  Went back to the unit and unloaded the extras.  For this house, we had to remove many window treatments and hang others - so took longer than normal for us in the house, and yet, we still were in and out in our goal time.

We then went to our third project for the day - a De-Stage - loaded it up (artwork, trees, rug, decor, etc.) and drove off - back at home by 8:15PM.  The great thing about these projects is that they were both small to modest size houses, all the inventory is our own so we keep all the money, and you CAN crank out more than just one project per day - or one project per 2 days. 

As the last post related to this shares (2 Projects - 2 Stagers, 2 Movers, 5.5 Hours - HOW is this possible?), it's all about Planning - the LIST, and focused time management.

The productive time on this day (with deleting time for dinner and driving) - was ABOUT SIX (6) HOURS! 

Profit on the projects: All inventory is ours, had to pay for movers and the truck.  After the dust settled - we netted about $150/hour each.  Take THAT to the bank!

Here is the breakdown:

Loading time:  1.5 hours (11-12:15)

Drive time: 40 minutes (12:15-1PM)

PROJECT 1: Unloading and Staging:  1 hour (1-2 PM)

Staged 4 rooms in the house (including bathroom)

Drive time to House #2:  40 minutes (2-2:40 PM)

PROJECT 2: Unload: 1 hour (2:40-3:40)

Staged 9 rooms in the house (including bathrooms)

Staging: 1.5 hours more (3:40-5PM)

Dinner: 1 hour (5-6-PM)

Finish Project: 30 minutes (6:15-6:45 PM)

PROJECT 3: De-staging: 30 minutes (7-7:30 PM)

Drive time: 30 minutes (15 min each way) (7:30-8PM)

Again - there are Stagers that are meeting this type of timeframe for Staging - we are not the only ones - and yet I post these types of examples to prove that it CAN be done!  All it takes is PLANNING and having a vision ahead of time.  If I were to take closeups of our Staging - you would see the special touches - the little fruit in the bowls or glasses, the fun way we tie towels, the window treatments, etc.  It is not about being a Staging robot, but it about what I call "COMMANDO STAGING" (and I don't mean Commando as in no underwear!)  GET IN - get the PROJECT DONE - and Move out!

Here are the photos of the after results of the projects.

PROJECT 1:  CONDO/TOWNHOUSE - 1,000 SQUARE FEET - 4 ROOMS STAGED

PROJECT 2: SINGLE FAMILY HOUSE - 2,200 SQUARE FEET - 9 ROOMS STAGED