How much would you pay for this service?

[giraffecrossing]

I live in a non-English speaking country, where there is not a great choice of home furnishings etc, and it is just through trial and error that I have learned the best places to shop.
Many expats arrive here with no idea where to start. There are also many foreigners who buy holiday homes.
I have had the idea of offering my services as a buyer, particularly for people who want their place kitted out before they get here. I think I have a good eye and have been told I have good taste. But I have no idea what to charge for this service. How much would you be willing to pay for this? (Imagining you're the kind of person who has bought a holiday home in a tropical destination).
Any ideas on how to market myself would also be appreciated.
Thanks for any input.

Work out how long it would take youz work out what you need to earn. Have a look at any competitors.

You could approach it a couple of ways. Flat fee or percentage. I would probably Look at in the region of 10% mark up on the cost of the furnishings. Just a stab in the dark though based on the other sorts of things similar.

It depends a bit on how much effort you'll have to go to - are the furniture shops spread all over the place, so you'll be incurring travel costs and quite a wodge of time to go all over?

How much hassle would you be willing to go through? I assume, rather than a blank cheque being handed over by the arriving ex-pat, you'd expect to meet with them (phone/Skype) and get an idea of their taste, budget, which items they needed, then do a reccy to the various furniture shops, take photos and then have a second call to agree which things they wanted .. I can imagine some clients having you running around endlessly. How do you make sure the service isn't open-ended, I guess I'm saying.

It sounds like you probably need to get in with the local estate agents who are selling to the ex-pats, if they're mostly coming in as holidaymakers rather than through international businesses/diplomatic corps or whatever (I just have visions of you in the fictional country in Ambassadors for some reason!). You may need to cut them in on your first few sales? Other than that I would guess the ex-pat forums must have a section for adverts?

Can you align charges to the cost of renovation management?

As well as estate agents you would need to market yourself to relocation agencies. Many people moving relocate from work would be managed through HR departments and may be tough nuts to crack. That said, there's a lot of expat press where I live who are always good on promoting local businesses to help people settle in. Also the local council do a lot as well in terms of having services for new expats.

Your costs need to include marketing. Would you be buying all the stock and then invoicing for the whole cost - if so a project like that needs to factor in extras such as travel, overheads, and something extra to ensure you make money. Normally the true cost is around 25%-30% of project cost. But realistically will people pay that. I have always struggled to get 15%!

Sorry for not tr

Aargh!
...replying sooner, but your responses are read and very much appreciated. This is just on the back burner at the moment...