Buyers Beware: The Truth About Hiring A Home Stager

Author: Christine Rae, President, Canadian Staging Professionals

Concern: Home Staging is a unregulated field.

The truth is it is an unregulated field, however it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be alarmed. It is all the more reason, to take care, when choosing the home stager you want to work with. 

Most emerging industries are unregulated at first, for instance home inspection industry only started in 1995. History shows eventually regulations and standards evolve. In the meanwhile, when the time is right for you to hire a home staging consultant, look for people who belong to an organization that is leading the field in standards and professionalism. The CSP(TM) program was birthed as a result of the need for regulation, standards and procedures. The CSP(TM) program is the only home staging training program to require examination, standards for completion, standards and tools for work,provides apprenticeship opportunities, and requires continuing education. 

There are people who attempt to cast aspersions about those who have certification, but really it is an attempt to have you buy into their program. The truth is you really do have to do some research. Even though the practice of home staging has been utilized for thirty years on the West coast- home staging really is a new market. It is gaining popularity and acceptance largely because of media exposure but also because more and more people are recognising home staging is a viable business opportunity and as a result they are driving the need for regulation, sooner rather than later.

People who attend the CSP™ home staging training program learn how to start and build a home staging business – they already have skills to do the staging/decorating work – usually they have been doing it for years – they just need a vehicle to turn their skills into a business. 

What qualifies someone as a credible source for developing a training program? Is it someone who has sold their own house? Or someone who has been decorating homes for many years, is it a real estate agent or is it someone who recognises home staging to be what it is:- an extension of the real estate business, and someone who studied and worked in the field of home staging for many years throughout North America? Ask yourself who would you want to be trained by?
More importantly who would you want training the consultant you hire?

The growth of the CSP(TM) network (almost 500 in one year) necessitates the evolution of standards, policies and procedures which will pave the way for the industry as a whole to follow.

Graduates of the CSP™ program have attended an intensive, immersion-enrichment program, studied extensively and passed examinations with 70% or more and as they build their own business they agree to adhere to a professional code of conduct - which will revoke their designation for non compliance.

If you are a real estate agent or a homeowner looking for a credible professional home stager near you Chose one of our free home staging directories: In Canada www.findastager.ca In the USA click here or call 1 888 STAGING.