where are you mike? could be tempted to use ur services )…thinking of having another place somwhere else…id also like to do it all myself just never learnt how…best let the professionals do it )…
no no no…thats press and media…all is normal…still sitting drinking cof over the canals…nothing has changed…forget about that…thats politics…life continues peacefully as normal.
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The visa process seems quite complicated but doable.
Why did they throw our diplomats out? Of course I know the US is doing the same to yours.
Glad to hear it’s normal and peaceful. But good for US tourists??
I am in Bozeman, MT, USA, but we operate in NY, and MT. Developing a 6 unit STR outside of Yellowstone National Park. I am very stressed about it, but it is getting along on its own now. It is commercial property, so by state law, I am not allowed to do things like plumbing, electrical, HVAC, foundations, and basically everything which can save me money.
I only do hands on type stuff in Bozeman, MT and the surrounding area. I’m a licensed sales agent in MT, who specializes in ABB type rentals. I know my market inside out and have 11 years of real estate investing experience here. Just starting to take clients! Everything else has been in the family.
We’ve had a lot of regulations get dumped on us as of last Jan/Feb, but I register STR’s for my clients. It’s expensive now, which is unfortunate, but there are ways around these laws.
@Helsi – It’s quite difficult to come up with a cost estimation on based on a general description of a place, there is a lot of things to consider when pricing for a project, me personally, I preffer working with flat fees based on an estimation of the effort I’ll have to put in that project, and that comes after a consultation and after we decide all the services that the owner asks.
- there are people that require 3D renderings because they cannot imagine how the place would look like from floorplans and when it comes to the 3D renderings alone there is also at least a 2 way of doing it:
o you can either sketch up in some user friendly software that would give you an idea of how the place would look like but the furnishings and accessories will be similar to what you sourced, not exactly the same - this option it’s less expensive because it’s not that time consuming
o or you can make the rendering from scratch in professional software where you will have to build/customize the exact items that you sourced and that takes time and I would have to hire a professional to do that, so I’ll have to charge the client extra for that service - also, there is the number of reviews requested that I’ll have to take into consideration, because there are lots of people that change their mind in the middle of the project and you have to redo the entire project, or most of it
the discounts could vary from 3% to about 10% depending on the vendor and the quantity of items I purchase from them (not just for your project for example, but for all the projects that I’m using their products for example)
It’s not a standard “recipe” all I was trying to do is to point out that there are ways of working around any budget and I was giving some examples on how that could work.
@dpfromva – thank’s for the idea with airbnb plus services, I’ve looked into it a bit and they don’t seem to offer that in my area at the moment, but probably in the future, since it’s a touristy area.
At this point I’m not trying to sell anything, I’m just doing my homework whether this is an area worth investing time and resources in, because in my mind it is, but I just need to confirm it with real business owners that could be potential clients and see where their mind is on the subject because it’s more important that what I think. And yeah, you’re perfectly right about the benefits 
@Rolf – I don’t recall using any links to my business in this thread and I definitely think that it’s nothing but a way of saying your thoughts (on, I say, an important subject for a airbnb host) and just argument your choice. For me it’s deffinetly research to see how actual potential clients would see the matter, because in my mind, based on my airbnb experience as a client it should work, but it’s not my opinion that matter here. And the whole idea of participating into a research is completely your choice, if you think the researcher is worth your time to write an answer or if maybe you would be interested in the topic as well and maybe extract a few ideas that would help you in the future, why not, it’s completely up to you, it’s not mandatory or anything.
@GutHend – you’re absolutely right and I really appreciate your comment, it’s exactly on point and well argumented. What I was trying to do on some of my previous responses was not to convince anybody to hire me, or an interior designer in general (I for example would NEVER ever take a project with a client that had to be convinced to use such services, because they will be a nightmare to work with and it’s just not worth the effort because they will always be skeptic and will challenge everything you make). I was just trying to offer a point of view, and maybe educate a bit people on why such services could be important or could add value to them (it’s definitely not something guaranteed, in my opinion in this particular niche, it’s more like an investment and it’s totally up to the owner to do their homework and decide if it’s worth the investment, because it’s not something that everybody should just do, it’s something that you should research on, maybe looking at similar listings to yours that are a bit more well put together and where you could see a designers touch there, and see if those work out better In terms of price and occupancy for example).
Regarding the location restrictions, yes I’m well aware of the fact that it’s an issue, but I was thinking more of providing remote services, maybe for other areas here in Spain that are not near me and it’s not justifying the trip there, but would be doable for me to source furniture, finishes and accessories online, or in specific shops that are available nationwide, and on a larger scale in the idea of extending the services to other countries, I wouldn’t have to do it for every single country, I could just choose some countries where it would make sense to do my research on terms of product sourcing, for example in Europe won’t be such a hassle since there are lots of brands and shops available in most of the European countries, and I don’t see that as much of a barrier anymore. In terms of floor plans, the owners would have to provide the plans to start with, it’s a common practice when working with a designer remotely.
@Allison_H – it’s perfectly normal to start low when you’re not sure if it’s going to work, as I said, this type of service it’s not for everyone, it’s more like an investment for you as an airBNB owner and you have to decide if it’s worth it, maybe it’s not worth the risk in the beginning, but after a while when you see how things evolve could be worth it …
@konacoconutz – agree on the “industrial strength stuff”, the durability and quality of things is a thing that you should keep in mind when sourcing for an AirBNB. About the affording this type of services to me it seems that people see such services are only super expensive, in my opinion there is also a lower budget option for consultancy let’s say, when you have an interior designer come in and give you a couple of ideas, or validate yours, or just add some finishing touches to optimize the place.
@Clemkadiddlehopper – as I said to GutHend, it’s more like an investment that you would have to research on if it’s worth it or not for your market.
@janeandcharley - there are definitely people that really enjoy doing this and they’re fairly good at it I don’t know exactly how the US market works in this field, but in Europe for example, you can get special discounts form usual shops also, not just high end pumped up price ones. I definitely agree that a person that would hire an interior designer has previously made up it’s mind about the added value, I was just saying that saving you some money could also apply, it’s not a rule and it’s definitely not a reason why you should work with a designer.
@Stpetersburg – I’m really glad that this worked out for you in the past and I wish you good luck with your future collaboration As for the national design service, I partially agree with you, it’s deffinetly really important for the designer to have a good knowledge on where they can source best for what kind of items, but I thing that there are cases where you could cover a wider area, for example Europe where as I said before, there are lots of brands and shops available in multiple countries and it makes it a lot easier for you to offer your services in multiple countries.
I don’t have an actually portfolio on my webpage, there are some moodboards from my previous prjects used on my website pages but the portfolio it’s a work in progress at this moment, I recently moved from my home country (Romania) to Spain and I’m trying to start things more seriously here and start doing it as a real business, not just a passion as I was doing it back at home for the last couple of years.
@MikeBozeman – some people are naturally good at it and actually enjoy doing it and eventually transform it into a business that works out perfect for them. Good job and good luck
No, I cannot see any possible situation in which a potential host would waste money on these types of schemes. A five minute browse on Pinterest will give even the the most style blind person enough clues as to how to decorate a room. It really is not rocket science.
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I can appreciate the work that goes into setting up a home for short term rental. Some investors might use a service. The problem would be connecting with them. I like the idea mentioned earlier about a blog drawing in customers.
In my area unless it is new construction, the furniture is usually conveyed to the new owner. Any rental unit starts off with what do you keep or get rid of so a designer would be handy. I just painted my 1990’s cheap pickled oak cabinets and almost had a meltdown trying to select the perfect colors. Some decorator advice came in handy even on a small job like painting cabinets, selecting countertops, & a sink.
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I am sorry @GutHend but I don’t agree with your comment at all. There are literally millions of successful service based businesses.
Lawyers, accountants, PR and marketing people, decorators, garden designers, taxi drivers, fitness instructors are just a small sample of the many trades and professionals that provide services.
As a business, any business, it is up to you to demonstrate to your customer that you add value, provide a service which is better than your competitors and fulfills an actual or perceived need.
Your disagreement doesn’t surprise me.
All the services you have mentioned fall into two categories: NEED (or illusion of it) and/or LUXURY. Or people NEED the service because there is no way around it, or people feel they can afford the LUXURY. When it comes to any kind of design for private people, most don’t see the NEED, and almost no one is willing to directly pay all the hours that go into the service.
An architect in certain countries falls partly into the NEED category. The rest of the designers can only try and create an illusion of need, which is difficult. Most private people consider design a luxury they can or, mostly, can’t afford. Everything between “…” in my post was copied almost directly from posts above, which kind of proves my point.
The other problem for designers is that for all the hours they put in, in the end there’s not enough tangible that directly relates to their work: A plan, a mood board,… The paint is the painter’s work, the curtain the seamstress’ work, the sofa was just bought in the shop. Coordinating everything is “just a few phonecalls”. And why in hell did it take the designer 40 hours to just design a table?
I know of an architect & interior architect famous in Belgium, who does the following to make his money: He sources products, puts a different name on them e.a. Curtain007 and then prescribes this curtain for his projects. The curtain can of course only be bought in 1 store in the world and comes at a premium price: Triple the cost? He’s a talented guy with wonderful projects, but this is what he has to do to make a descent amount of money for all the time he invests in the perfection of his projects.
I stand by my point, but for your hapiness I’ll correct it to “People don’t like paying for a design service.”
I have feelings about this statement which I’m sure you aren’t interested in. Instead I’ll just say what I used to tell my government classes. Never admit to breaking the law (especially not on a public forum that is easily searchable and we know who you are IRL.)
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i like paying for design services )…hoorah for designers i say…maybe we should leave it as "each to their own’…)
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Pawling! In Dutchess County. We have a place where the Appalachian Trail winds through the backyard.
Oh, I love Pawling and Dutchess County! As you can tell from my name, I have place in the Catskills and NYC. Please send me your link in a DM. 
Yes, Pawling is exploding! They are building a large (Christian? not sure…) school by the Harlem Valley Train Station right now. Property values are already high, but now they will be through the roof. I was just out there in January scouting the area. The Quaker Hill area is known to be filled with billionaires and millionaires, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your views on that. We operate on the west side of Quaker hill right near the Pawling Nature preserve.
Help me out with the DM, I didn’t see a button on your profile to send you a link. I’m pretty new here!
But we should pop up near the top of any google search which includes “Appalachian Trail House”.
Ahh ok thanks, I was looking for an envelope on the person’s profile, not mine.
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Actually, you can’t use this forum for your personal market research. Rolf is right. We normally unlist this type of post but since some good conversation ensued following your question, we let it stand.
Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t knew that, but after all I’m also glad that it led to some interesting conversation
You are totally correct, sometimes it is worth hiring an expert to do the things you are not so comfortable doing. Little changes make a huge difference in the rates and experiences that guest can have, and also in the reviews and recommendations of your place.
It is a misconception that interior designers are only for the rich, I have created wonderful spaces with all kinds of budget. Don’t forget that guest come to your place to create their own experiences and not to live or recreate your yours, you need to have a neutral, clean, and beautiful setting for them while in your property.
Just like me, there is many designers, that are willing to help people like you to make your dream rental property a reality no matter the budget.
All the best.
xo