Home stagers can earn $70-125 per hour but hourly rates in that range would turn-off many home sellers. When taking calls from potential clients I'd prefer to give a range, for example your fee would be "in the range of $100-175 depending on the house", you could say. Of course you do have to ask a few questions to get a sense of the size of the house and then you could narrow it down more before you see the home. I have heard of home stagers charging by the square foot.

Personally, I would not charge per square foot--that works for installing carpets but not necessarily for doing staging. A 3500 square foot home could be in need of just the basic recommendations, while a 900 square foot home could be in need of every trick in the book. Giving people an idea of the fees over the phone and then nailing it down once you're there is the best, without using a strict "per hour" or "per square foot" formula.

If you want to do "hands on" staging you can do the same thing. As to the exact price range, it does depend on your local market of course. $100 is a good price for you to do a consultation/walk-through and do a "report" (list of your suggestions). The reports go faster and faster each time you do them because many of the recommendations will be the same for each home so you can copy/paste items from a master list on your computer, so you don't have to re-type everything each time.

Once you do a walk-through you will be able to sell the owners on what the particular home really needs. And don't give away the particulars of what you'd do in a hands-on staging--make sure you get paid for your knowledge by selling at least the consultation first!

I'll be back with more on fees and giving quotes very soon.

Jackie Riley of http://www.redesignforprofit.com loves to help folks get started in the home staging business. Her new site http://www.homestagingsuccess.com may be helpful if you're interested in making a very good living with home staging.