Complete Virtual Staging Solutions Review: Pros, Cons, and Alternatives
Virtual Staging Solutions is a software company that specializes in virtual staging, virtual renovations, and virtual construction. They are considered one of the most popular virtual staging companies, although there is an extremely limited number of reviews online. To help you decide if this is the best virtual staging software for you, read on. We’re going to cover:
- Virtual Staging Solutions Pricing and Services
- Quality of Virtual Staging Solutions’ Virtual Staging Designs
- Who is Virtual Staging Solutions Best for?
- Pros and Cons of Virtual Staging Solutions
- Virtual Staging Solutions Alternatives
- Comparison of Virtual Staging Solutions and Stuccco
Virtual Staging Solutions Pricing and Services
According to their website, Virtual Staging Solutions (or VSS) offers four types of services; virtual staging, remodel, envision, and prints. Virtual staging is the process of using software to add, remove, or replace furniture and decor to a room or an exterior photo. It’s a more affordable, more versatile, more convenient, and more effective alternative to traditional home staging. You can read more details about what virtual staging is in the full guide to virtual staging.
Every virtual staging company categorizes their staging services differently. Since VSS offers more structural virtual changes than some other companies, like removing walls and creating realistic renderings of properties that don’t exist yet, these services, in general, are divided between the Remodel and Envision services.
Interestingly, VSS categorizes changing cabinets, countertops, and flooring into their Remodel service and not within their virtual staging services - which means they cost much more. In addition, their virtual staging services are broken down even further into Basic photos and Pro photos. If you plan on purchasing virtual staging from VSS, pay very close attention to what is and is not included, or you may be disappointed.
Here is a breakdown of all pricing from Virtual Staging Solutions:
- Virtual remodel: $159 per photo
- Virtual construction: $299 per photo
- Prints: Ranging from $15-$55, depending on size
- Virtual staging pricing: $75-$99 per photo, ranging from $300-$693 for packages of photos (Full pricing below)
Quality of Virtual Staging Solutions’ Virtual Staging Designs
In our full comparison of the best virtual staging companies, Virtual Staging Solutions received one of the highest design scores. The quality of the actual image and of the interior designs from Virtual Staging Solution are clear, realistic, and well-optimized for real estate listings. You can see an example below of a virtually staged photo from VSS compared to a photo from a different virtual staging company, Stuccco.
Example of a virtually staged living space from Stuccco
Example of a virtually staged room from Virtual Staging Solutions
Who is Virtual Staging Solutions Best for?
VSS is designed to be used by real estate professionals who want to sell homes for the most money. It can be used by real estate agents or brokers to sell properties, although it is neither the most affordable, highest quality, nor the fastest.
For that reason, VSS is best for professionals in the construction or architecture industries. The virtual remodeling and construction services make it easy for contractors to generate renderings and plan renovations. Plus, the bulk discounts are only available for more than ten photos, which would primarily benefit construction companies who may need tens of renderings at a time.
Pros of Virtual Staging Solutions
As a well-known virtual staging software, VSS has a few unique features that can benefit real estate and construction professionals. Here are their best features:
1. Virtual Construction Capabilities
Within the Envision service from VSS, you can order floor plans and renderings of new properties that haven’t finished being built yet. This is a unique and highly useful feature, and it’s not offered by many virtual staging companies.
This is because it requires a slightly different type of expertise and software in order to generate images of brand new properties, as opposed to redesigning existing photos. These services are what make VSS an ideal choice for construction companies.
The inclusion of these services is undoubtedly the reason why their virtual staging prices are so high, which does not benefit real estate agents and brokers who are selling residential homes and properties.
2. Availability of Prints
Using virtually staged images in combination with physical home staging is the best way to make the biggest impact on buyers and increase a home’s perceived value. That’s why printing is such a unique and useful feature from VSS. It simplifies the order process, since instead of placing two orders on two separate businesses, you can simply add this to your cart during checkout.
However, the cost of printing with Virtual Staging Solutions is higher than other printing options. Plus, the turnaround time of virtual staging will impact the delivery of your printed photos. Read more details about the problems with the turnaround time below.
3. Discounts for Bulk Orders
The prices for staged photos from VSS are $75 or $99 per photo for up to seven photos, then you must contact them for bulk discounts. For remodels or construction, the price stays at $159 or $299 per photo for up to ten photos.
If you look in their FAQs, they recommend virtually staging an average of six photos for each property listing.
At their prices, six virtually staged photos would cost either $450 or $594, and you wouldn’t be eligible for any discounts. This is another reason why VSS is not the best virtual staging company for real estate agents, but better suits the needs of construction companies.
4. Revisions and Refund Guarantee
Since virtual staging is still a relatively new and unfamiliar concept, it can feel like a risk for real estate agents or home sellers the first time they fork over the money. By offering revisions and a refund guarantee if you are not satisfied, you can feel more confident that this risk will pay off.
However, make sure to look into the limitations on revisions from VSS, which are detailed just below.
Cons of Virtual Staging Solutions
Although VSS is one of the most popular virtual staging companies, there are a few things you may want to consider before making a purchase. These are the six biggest drawbacks:
1. Cost of Virtual Staging Solutions
As you can see by the pricing, virtual staging is the least expensive service offered by VSS. You can’t purchase a virtually staged photo for under $75. Out of the top six virtual staging companies on the market, this is the second-highest cost.
Learn more about the cost of virtual staging services.
And in most cases, you won’t be paying only $75 per photo. That’s because of their basic vs pro virtual staging options and limitations...
2. Basic Virtual Staging Limitations
When virtual staging with VSS, you’ll find there are basic photos and pro photos. Basic photos ($75 each) are completed in 1-2 business days, include two rounds of revisions, and offer the standard satisfaction guarantee. This does not provide information on what types of photo editing is included, like image enhancement or day to dusk. It does state that virtual staging includes furniture removal.
Pro photos ($99) include:
- Customizable furniture and style
- Option to paint walls
- One-on-one consulting and order help
- 24-hour turn around
- Option to change flooring
This means that after paying $75 per photo (already a significantly higher price than virtual staging alternatives), you cannot make any design requests. You also can’t access someone from customer support, and the extent of your designs is limited (no paint color or flooring changes).
Screenshot of furniture customization only available with Pro photos
Essentially, basic photos only allow you to send in an image of an empty room. You don’t get an opportunity to ask questions or make even the simplest request. Of course, you can opt for the next pricing tier, but for $99 per image, you could be paying three times more than necessary.
In addition, things like debris removal (shown in the image below) do not come standard with their professional virtual staging services.
3. Turnaround Time
For your photo delivery, the amount of time you can expect it to take depends on the service. Here’s a breakdown of VSS services and turnaround times:
- 1-2 business days for virtual staging
- 2-3 business days for virtual renovation
- 5-14 business days for virtual construction
- 2 business days for prints
If you are a real estate agent, it’s likely that one or two days is about the maximum amount of time you will have between taking pictures of a property and listing it. If everything in your order goes perfect, you could have your virtually staged photos ready for the listing within 48 hours, and then receive your prints a total of four days after your initial order.
BUT, problems can arise if you need revisions on your virtually staged images or if there are any shipping delays. For example, if you happen to place a staging order on a Friday, you may not receive your photos until Tuesday. Then, hopefully you won’t have to do any revisions (let alone multiple sets), which would take a minimum of 24 hours to be delivered. Then you can finally order your prints and expect them to come in two days.
Even without shipping delays, you’re then looking at ten full days between placing your virtual staging order and receiving your printed photos. If you’re trying to sell a house quickly, that timeline is unacceptable.
On the other hand, if you placed a virtual staging order with Stuccco on a Friday, you’ll receive your staged images within 24 hours. You could order the prints on Saturday at Walgreens or Walmart - and potentially even have them ready for pickup within one hour. That is a timeline that fits the real estate industry much better.
If you really want to order staged photos from VSS, you can get your images rushed for an additional fee of $75 - the cost of an additional photo. Even then, you’re out of luck on the weekends.
4. Revision Limitations
In the virtual staging FAQs, you’ll find some more interesting information about your photos. While you receive up to two revisions with even a basic virtual staging image, you cannot change the furniture style. If you choose to change the furniture, it will count as a new photo with the additional cost of a new photo.
When you take all factors into consideration, it feels like you’re being nickel and dimed.
5. Limited Customer Support
VSS is one of the few virtual staging companies that does not offer 24/7 customer support. In fact, their hours are limited to only 9 am - 5 pm on weekdays. This may be an obstacle when you’re trying to list a house as quickly as possible.
6. Lack of Customer Reviews
Potentially the most concerning piece of Virtual Staging Solutions is the absence of customer reviews. You can search on Google (that might be where you found this article), G2, Trustpilot, Indeed, or any other review platform, and you will not find any customer reviews.
In fact, Virtual Staging Solutions has disabled their review section on their Facebook page. Usually you can find customer reviews published on any software’s website, and there are none to be found. Since 93% of customers read reviews before making a purchase, this should be a high priority for every business - therefore, this absence of reviews should be an important consideration.
Virtual Staging Solutions Alternatives
Now that you know the pros and cons of Virtual Staging Solutions, let’s look at the best virtual staging option.
Welcome to Stuccco!
Here are just a few of Stuccco’s features that customers like the most:
- $29 per virtually staged photo
- Guaranteed 24-hour turnaround time
- Unlimited revisions
- 24/7 customer support
- Money-back guarantee
- Membership options available to unlock discounts
- Images staged by professional interior designers
- The only virtual staging company that enables buyers to turn virtually staged designs into reality via Stuccco online interior design
- Named the best Virtual Staging company of 2021 by The Spruce
Comparison of Virtual Staging Solutions and Stuccco Features
Read our other virtual staging company reviews:
You can place a virtual staging order with Stuccco in less than five minutes, and then receive your designs in 24 hours. Ready to see the impact of virtual staging on your business? Place your order now.
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