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Home Staging Offers High Income in Slow Economy

Debra Gould
April 15, 2009
If you´re trying to find out everything you can about being in the home staging business, you´ve probably heard of a program guaranteeing employment as a home stager at a rate of $24-$30 per hour. While that might sound like a lot if you´re used to earning minimum wage, it´s actually a very low salary for a home stager.

Many expert home stagers earn more during a two-hour consultation than a lot of people earn for a full week´s work. Earning a six-figure income as a home stager within two years is entirely possible if you are committed to building your business and you don´t approach it as a hobby.

The knowledge and expertise of a home stager is extremely valuable to a home seller, and billable rates reflect that even in an economic recession. Take the case of Staging Diva Graduate Elizabeth Englehart of Ohio-based Moving Designs. Her first staging project was worth $8,000 to stage a vacant home that had been on the market for two years.


Home stagers can earn between $250 and $800 for an initial consultation, if they know how to properly market their services.

Many home sellers will hire a stager just for their advice and then do the rest of the work themselves. If the stager is charging properly for their consultations, it´s possible to earn at least $1,000 a week just doing these short appointments. And it´s quick money because the stager gets paid as soon as the service is delivered. Every day is "pay day" when you work this way!

After an initial consultation, a home stager can make at least $1,000 more if the client wants help implementing the stager´s recommendations. This number can climb to $5,000 or $10,000 depending on the needs for that property, as well as the stager´s level of expertise and the geographic location.
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Debra Gould

Debra Gould, aka The Staging DivaŽ, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program.

Gould has trained 4000+ Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start their own businesses. All shared a natural talent for decorating and interest in real estate, but didn't know how to make a living in their own house staging business before learning her secrets.

Debra Gould's mission is to inspire and empower others to use their natural talents to earn a living. She followed her dreams and wants to teach others to be able to do the same.

Gould pursued an MBA in Marketing and began a corporate career before moving to advertising. In the 1980s, she launched one of the first integrated marketing firms, which she ran for 10 years. Wanting a more creative life, Debra gave it up to design home accessories. She created the Debra Gould Home Collection, landing a magazine cover story and book feature, followed by her first of several HGTV appearances.

Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a new staging career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since that time she has staged homes for hundreds of clients in addition to providing home staging training.

Gould is the author of "Staging Diva Ultimate Design Guide: Home staging tips, tricks and floor plans", "Staging Diva Ultimate Color Guide: The easy way to pick colors for home staging projects", and "Staging Diva Ultimate Portfolio Guide: Winning clients with the perfect home staging portfolio".

In addition to HGTV, Debra Gould's media coverage includes: CityTV, GlobalTV, CBC, CBS Radio, CNNMoney, Wall Street Journal, Woman's Day, Reader's Digest, MoneySense, Entrepreneur, House and Home, Home & Decor, Style at Home, Centre of the City, USAA Magazine, FabJob Guide to Become a Home Stager, Home Style, National Post Homes, This Old House, Home Business Magazine, Globe & Mail and others.