There seems to be an interesting trend in recent blogs discussing stagers owning their own inventory, a topic quite close to my staging heart.
There is absolutely no question that it is imperative for a stager to have access to good quality items to place in our client's homes, a point well summed up by Craig in his recent post, but it is an expensive process to gain stock, right? Or is it?
I am based in the smallest (and indeed most isolated) state of Australia and I know the difficulties in not having short term rental options, and the fact that there are only so many houses that one particular style of bed will go with IF you can convince he home owner to go with a 3 month rental for the property presentation period. It is one of the biggest risks and drawbacks we in isolated areas take when starting in a buiness like this.
There are some ways around the cost outlay though. As Shift by Design is a registered Australian business, I have built up an impressive list of wholesalers and importers that are only a call or email away from processing an order for me for the latest look vase for a modern home, or a traditional table lamp for a Victorian era home. These suppliers normally need a higher initial order to get the account started but the amount of inventory you can get for this money is extrodinary, even compared to shopping at the likes of Targets and K-Marts (can we mention brand names here? Oh well, sorry, too late!).
As an example, I recently attended the leading design and furniture expo/trade fair in Melbourne (yep, had to leave the peace and tranquility for the 'big smoke') and made so many new contacts it was not funny. Armed with my trusty credit card I ordered away on items I could not afford to buy locally at retail. I ordered two house lots of furniture that I could get for the same price as one at home - and it was all amazing quality.
This is the key to smart business. Don't buy retail and rent your stock out at XYZ% of that price. Buy wholesale and rent out at XYZ% of retail. Your recover your initial outlay faster, you grow your inventory library faster and as such, have more and more stock on hand for those difficult jobs. And let's not forget that our inventory is passive income working away while we look for more work for our inventory to do.
Get out to trade fairs, go to furniture expos, develop a list of importers (and here's a tip - check the bottom of vases or tags on rugs or artwork and half the time you will find the importers name and web address anyway. That's half your work done!) and you will soon have a reletively inexpensive inventory library working hard for you.
Happy shopping.
Adam Luttrell, Shift by Design - Australia
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Adam, that's a great strategy! I'm going to look into it. In most places here you will need a resale licsense but they aren't too hard to get. Thanks