Reading a home staging agreement with a damage deductible sitting on the homeowner
A staging agreement for a spec build finishing in about five weeks might include terms like a 9,800 dollar install fee for 11 spaces, a 90 day minimum term, 1,450 a month after the minimum, a 900 dollar de-stage fee, and a 15 percent restocking charge for cancellations inside 14 days of the scheduled install. An optional damage waiver at 6 percent of total contract value is common, and declining it typically means a per-incident deductible, say 2,500 dollars, sits with the property owner rather than the staging company. Many agreements also require a certificate of insurance naming the stager as additional insured on the owner's policy for the duration of the contract. A less common clause worth watching for: if a buyer wants the staged furniture to convey with the sale, the owner may be able to purchase the package at a discount off stated retail, but if that retail figure is never disclosed in the document, it is worth requesting before signing rather than after. The practical issue to focus on is insurance continuity. A builder's risk policy that converts to a vacant dwelling policy at certificate of occupancy may or may not name an additional insured for personal property the owner does not own, and confirming that with the carrier before signing avoids finding out the hard way in an empty house. The 90 day minimum term itself is standard and rarely worth negotiating hard; the deductible sitting on inventory the owner does not control, in a vacant property, is the term worth pushing back on.
