Business: Effective Inventory Sourcing And Management Of Staging Items

Apart from having good quality and beautiful furniture and styling items to professionally style properties, I would say a reliable removalist/transportation team is one of the most important components of your styling business.   

Remember, even if you decide to use contractors rather than having your own internal removalist team, they are still viewed by your clients as part of your business. How they operate and complete a job, will either reflect good or badly on your business. So choose wisely. Keep in mind, you do get what  you pay for. Cheaper is not always better. Do your research, try a few different removalist companies and then decide on one or two that you will be using continuously.

A lot of styling companies later on will get their own internal removalist teams. The benefit of this is that your variable costs per job will reduce significantly, especially if you can do more than one styling installation per day. You also don’t have issues with double bookings or availability, as you can manage your own team and allocate them between different jobs.

Furthermore, if you don’t have styling jobs, you still have to pay your removalist staff regardless. You also have to get insurance, trucks and pay for maintenance and fuel yourself. Also, if your removalist team calls in sick, you must make a plan. Alternatively, if you use contractors, they have to supply replacements for sick employees. 

Both scenarios have their pro’s and cons. You need to work out what is best for you and your business. You can start using contractors initially (only pay when you have a job) and later on as your company expands, you can then decide to have your own internal team. As with storage facilities, we recommend that you are flexible with your removalist teams, saving fixed costs over time so that you keep your overheads as low as possible.

Click on this video below to learn more about our personal experience when it comes to effectively managing our transport and logistics team: