Home stagers and the bed bug epidemic

Are you taking all necessary precautions in your home staging business to avoid perpetuating the spread of bed bugs?

By the very nature of your career as a home stager, you´re in and out of houses all the time to make your living. You´re at a pretty great risk of coming home with a bed bug infestation if you end up staging a home under siege by the tiny insects.

If you discover bed bugs in your home staging accessories first you should examine everything thoroughly. Bed bugs are excellent hiders so you have to expose everything to make sure you´ve got them all accounted for. Then throw all of the throws, table clothes and other fabric items right in the washing machine in very hot water. When they´re clean, put them in the dryer at very high heat for thirty minutes.

Remember, bed bugs aren´t just found in beds or on items made of fabric or cloth. They can also travel on other accessories like clocks and frames too. For items you fear have bed bugs in them that you can´t put in the washer or dryer, wrap them in plastic and leave them in direct sunlight or another hot location for several hours to kill the bugs and their eggs. A steam cleaner can also work to kill the bugs.

Alternatively, of course, you may wish to call an exterminator. Probably the best way to get rid of a major bed bug problem.

I don´t want the thought of bed bugs harming your home staging business to discourage you! While the whole bed bug epidemic is unpleasant to think about, as entrepreneurs, we have no choice but to look for ways to make the best of a bad situation so let´s look on the bright side.

You can use the bed bug issue to promote your home staging services by including an informative article in your blog or newsletter explaining to sellers that if their homes aren´t in sparkling clean condition, they could be very well be scaring away potential buyers by creating a possible bed bug infestation in their minds.

I´ve spoken with many home stagers over the years who worry about competing with stagers that have their own home staging accessories so use the bed bug epidemic as a selling point for why you don´t carry your own inventory and why you prefer to use new items instead.

Debra Gould has gathered all the facts regarding the bed bug situation because of the impact it can potentially have on home stagers´ businesses. She´s compiled it into a new free report: "Don´t Let the Bed Bugs Bite: What Home Stagers Need to Know Right Now!" This ebook is available now as a free download and it contains all the tips you need to protect yourself, your family and your clients against a bed bug infestation.