Marquee Hire Business

[rebellion]

Hello everyone,
This is my first post so please be nice!

Anyone out there know anything about the above biz? Can't say i know an awful lot about it, but would appear to be relatively low risk to start and with good profit margins given the initial capital outlay etc. A friend of mine mentioned about starting in this area recently and the more i think about it the more i think it could be a nice little part time earner. What do you guys think? Anyone any experience or thoughts?

Thx

Reb

[annethedonn]

My brother runs an events company and thought about this himself - might be worth a collaboration?

Try paul.donnelly@corporateeventsuk.co.uk and mention me - can't promise anything but worth chatting to.

Anne

[rebellion]

Thx Anne I'll drop your bro an email.

[FE]

I was involved in the sale of HSS Event Hire to Johnsons.

OK Eventhire did more than just marquees but it was very seasonal and needed a high labour cost.

The events are very emotive (i.e. weddings) where teh price of failure / late delivery / problems comes very high (penalty clauses) not to mention the disgruntled groom wanting to kill the manager!

The summary from the old Director was if you run it by the book (i.e. working time directive, H&S, Tachograph hours etc etc) the markup / profit is very minimal. Mainly due to it being so seasonal you need 10 units in summer and zero for 8 months of the year (but your capitol / labour line is still on your balance sheet).

Don't want to put you off but it certainly not the easiest game to make a good annual profit.

FE

[hdowling]

Hi there,

Sounds like you should research the idea to see whether it would work or not. Doing this would allow you to make that key decision before you spend a lot of money finding out for real.

As this is what we specialise in, I can help with this. Let me know if you would like to have a quick chat - 0845 644 9371 or info@exceptionalthinking.co.uk.

Best regards
Helen Dowling
www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk

[Top Hat]

We had a marquee over the weekend, not cheep.

3 guys were here this morning at 8 to take it down, they finished at 1, had a lorry and a van

[barry.hynd]

Hi There,

I have to agree with FE. I sold up my catering company last year and had a number of dealings with marquee companies. The message I got from them was very similar to the one FE has put across.

Seasonailty is a big problem and it's hard to find how to diversify there use over non-peak times. I guess it depends how you set it up. If it's only a part time thing then you may decide to set it up just over the summer months when they are popular.

[rebellion]

thx for the info/advice guys

[William Wilson]

We use a large marquee every year and I can vouch for the above comments, but you could hire a firm to supply and erect for you and you take over the management of the hire that way you get to know the business and not looking at tying up capital and dormant assets 8 months a year.