In-Home Assessment.

Is it Necessary? Why do you charge for it?

  • I know that some of my prospective clients don't understand or like it when I talk about charging them for my in-home assessment. They don't want to pay extra for what they think is just to meet them and not do anything but look around and talk.
  • When I come to see you, I get to work. I don't want to waste your time, or my time. I know before I meet you, with our phone conversation, whether I can help. 
  •  It is no different than calling a technician to fix your washing machine. He is not coming to just look at your machine without touching it, just to see if you like him. His first visit is to assess the problem by checking your appliance.Then he'll order the part and come back to fix it. You pay for both visits.
  • Interior designers or decorators also charge for their visits. They sometimes reimburse those charges if you hire them, but they'll charge you if you only want them to give you ideas and do it yourself.
  • We, professional organizers are no different. I come to assess your problems in which you are in and assess your needs in your own home. I look at the tools you already have to create a system. Hearing you talk about your space, your problems, your stress, gives me lots of cues as to what is needed and what you want and who you are as a person. I ask questions about each space, about what works and what does not work, so that I can identify the problems and help you solve those problem areas. The problem is not always what you think. I take photographs, measurements, we talk about our work agreement, your expectations, your options, we talk about our strategy of what we need to tackle first and any concerns you might have. This process allows me to later find the best solution, research the best tools and be ready with what we need when we start the organizing. This planning part is an essential part of the process, just as important as the physical part of organizing which is why many organizers charge more for it. After all, you called me because of my expertise and ability to help you.
  • Whether separate or not, the in-home assessment has to be done in order for me to do my job correctly. It can last anywhere from a few minutes to 2h depending on how big the area to organize is. Because of my expertise, I only do a special assessment if from our phone conversation I feel it will take more than just a few minutes. Otherwise it will be done at the beginning of your 3h session.