Does anyone here rent out tents and/or party equipment?

[vanjonti]

My girlfriend is hosting a hen do for one of her friends here in the U.K. It’s in a big teepee tent in the garden. The tent cost £250 per night and includes blow-up beds, decorations, fairy lights. One person from the company set up the whole tent and decorations in 2 hours by themselves and then will take it down tomorrow in 2 hours as well. Seems like a pretty good business idea to me?

 

[naturefanatic79]

@vanjonti The idea sounds OK but I'm surprised at the relatively low cost for what's at least 2 hour setup + some time to take down + time/vehicle/petrol for delivery and collection and of course purchase, maintenance and storage of the various bits.

Having worked at festivals I've also seen some dicey situations with marquees in the wind so I'd be looking at PL insurance too.

I'm not saying it's an unworkable idea - just make sure you factor in all the ancillary costs.

I do reckon there would be good scope for selling extras though.

 

[victory4me]

@vanjonti I don’t own a company like this but know someone who does.

It does seem like a good business overall, but it’s not that easy. The name of the game for him is inventory. Because everyone wants something different. So you need a variety of tent sizes. Chairs in multiple colors, because people want to pick their color. Tables in various sizes. Etc etc.

And then of course with any scale at all you need a truck and some people to do setup/tear down. Plus a solid system in place for storing everything accessibly and making sure everything makes it on the truck.

Overall I think it’s a solid business, but I’m in New Orleans where people rent stuff like this constantly so I’m not sure how big other markets would or wouldn’t be. But overall I really like the business. Just need a decent little warehouse to really get growing because you need a lot of items to cover the demands you’ll get if you start marketing yourself.

 

[lisas]

@victory4me I assume everyone wants something too at the same time. Like graduation season or wedding season or the various holidays.

 

[victory4me]

@lisas Yeah he does a lot of graduations and backyard weddings. Also does a lot of private parties for wealthier people who just like having fancier parties with more of a setup.

And like you say, it’s highly seasonal. Not just with graduation time, let’s say, but also general weather conditions.

Plus you have to juggle people who want to rent chairs and tables but not tents. What if it rains?

But as he explained to me, inventory is his biggest limit. If a busy time comes, it’s possible too many people want the white chairs and he’s out. And there are so many little variations at some point you accept some amount of lost business simply because you’d have to double your inventory for that last little 10% of business or whatever.

I still think, post covid, it’s a fantastic business. All of the challenges are surmountable.

 

[samanthashellyy]

@victory4me My wife and I rented a big tent for our outdoor wedding. This company just did tents, so no tables owed chairs or other mess. Multiple tent sizes can be achieved by adding multiple tents (like two 20x20 tents makes a 40x20 space).

We paid about $1,500 to rent a tent that retails for about $6k. Good margins considering how many times that tent can be rented.

 

[charlesjm]

@vanjonti This is about $300USD (cause that's my reference point on costs). This is for 4 hours on-site labor plus 2-trip travel and I assume some cleaning/checking of things. I'd figure 6 hours total.

If you're doing it yourself, I'd guess 6 hours total time invested so you're clearing $58/hr (£49) minus expenses. There's cost of tents, storage, vehicle, time booking and dealing with reservations, etc. That's for unlicensed, uninsured, no employees. There are additional costs to go "legit".

And to clarify, that's not me saying it's bad at all. I'm just saying I'm not sure it's as good as you might think.

 

[rooseanistonn]

@charlesjm Well the guy who set it up is probably like a 12 or 15 buck an hour type guy but yeah still doesn't sound that great. I think a big bouncy house type thing would be better. Takes just 20 minutes to setup and blow up, then you can leave and come take it back later. Still at probably at least a couple hours to drive out and do that but now you are closer to like 3 hours at 100 bucks an hr.

 

[charlesjm]

@rooseanistonn Yeah $15/hr cash off the books employee and the owner is gonna make a few bucks each weekend.

 

[ineedhelp0]

@charlesjm Oof that is some pretty low profit, seems it would be hard to grow the company.

I must be wrong though, I've seen lots of rental companies do pretty well.

 

[chimakwa]

@vanjonti A similar service was featured on CNBC, https://www.picnicnchill.space

Their website.

 

[ineedhelp0]

@chimakwa I'm assuming there must be some liability with supplying food, because if you could those prices could be much much higher.

Seems like a solid small business if you have a large market.

 

[havert]

@ineedhelp0 When I did it, we just contracted a caterer who handled all that.

 

[kristyjo413]

@vanjonti I'm looking to rent or buy a 20 foot by 20 foot tent here in the states. Just the tent! I've seen plenty of vendors online but none with a phone number or sales rep. I think a personal touch would go a long way.

 

[havert]

@vanjonti I used to do this, it was in conjunction with a rental business, think anything from glassware to snowblowers.

Not really feasible on its own due to a variety of factors. You could, but there's a lot of luck involved in that. Full constant year round bookings, seasonal, doesn't scale well. Right off the hop you need a crew of at least 2 and it just snowballs from there. Lots of costs, lots of work. You can make easier money faster.

It's more of a value added thing than its own. However, getting invited to party with bridesmaids and stuff is a nice perk.

 

[joyofthelord7]

@vanjonti A friend of mine does exactly this and I've worked in a similar role. He (plus one) goes out, sets up the tents for whatever occasion, then he pays somebody else to theme them. In terms of ease, yes it's fairly easy in simple terms, it's all the bits you don't think of that make it difficult.

• Getting yourself known to enough people to make money back on them (tents aren't cheap to buy up front and renting them from somebody else long term is pointless)
• working awkward hours because, for people to have it set up for dinner on a Saturday night, you may have to start early Saturday morning and collect Sunday morning/midnight
• storage. The tents need to be dried when it rains, but they also take up space when they aren't in use. It's a while before you can simply take a tent from one site to another.
• getting busy. If you want to cash in during high season, you will have to pay for somebody else to work one site whilst you are at another.
• it is physical work. You have to be relatively fit to sustain the work during high season.

Events are definitely a lifestyle, not a 9-5 job. You will work awkward hours and miss many things in life but it can be good money if you invest back into your business wisely. If you can work under pressure with a clear head, you are already half way there. Good luck if it's what you go into!

 

[peony]

@vanjonti I would think more along the lines of bounce house rentals. If you can service mid to higher income communities. My father’s friend stared renting bounce house/water slides out of his garage. Less then 6 years later he has 6 trucks. As others have mentioned set up is quick and easy. Children birthdays are bread and butter, wife wants a bounce house (happy wife happy life). He said the great golden nugget he quickly realized is recurring rentals every year for birthdays and super easy leads due to other parents being at the party. Having said that locations that snow might put a wrench in rentals. All I can say is if you live in a location that sees good weather most of the year and no one has dominated the bounce house rental, give it a shot.

 

[tkd]

@vanjonti How do you compete with FB Marketplace with 30 plus peeps renting out chairs for less than a dollar and packages that include chairs, tables and tents for less than 10 dollars?