Bouncy Castle hire

[Bobb1979]

Hi all

We have investigated and are considering starting a party style business initially renting out bouncy castles which fits perfectly around our present business.

I'm interested in anyone else who runs a similar service , how do you find it ? There's no such service in our area and through our other business the referrals will come

Pm me if you prefer !

 

[Greg_Thomson]

Hi Bob

Hopefully I can help here. Last year we set up a bouncy castle business as something on top of the other business. We brought good quality castles rather than the cheaper ones however ultimately customers didnt seem to take much notice of this and unfortunately most of the time it comes down to cost.

There are a lot of cowboys who you will have to compete with. When I say cowboys I mean companies who dont have their castles safety checked yearly, no insurance, poor quality castles and will be willing to do it for peanuts.

Having said all of this there is a good demand for castles providing you can get your name out there. We sold the business earlier last month. The reason for this is simple. Firstly my other business got busy and it makes more than bouncy castles. Secondly unless you have a few castles out in a day it is not very profitable. Average hire is say 15 minutes away. The castle takes say 20 minutes to set up and 20 minutes to pack away. So its basically nearly an hour from leaving to set up plus an hour to collect. The average castle is say a 12ft by 14ft for a childrens castle and will make around £50 - £60. Its just not really worth it for the time involved. However get 4 or so out in a day and its not too bad.

The second and probably biggest problem for me personally was that I work a reasonable amount in the week. This was meant to be something we could do as a family at the weekend ie. put the castles out in the morning and collect in the afternoon with the rest of the day to ourselves. However we found people often want them just for a few hours during the day and this eats into your weekend. For me the weekends just became too important and I would rather spend them with my partner and little one than hauling castles around.

All I would say is if you are already working weekends and are happy with this then it is not a bad idea - especially if you are already sorting out some other items for the party. We did buy an adult castle which is a lot more profitable as you can get a reasonable amount more for them with similar set up times. The only problem with these is that they are heavy so was a 2 person job.

Good luck if you choose to go with it. It can be pretty good if you can get a few out every day.

 

[Bobb1979]

Hi Greg

Thank you for the useful information , the points you raise are things I was thinking to be honest.

It would definitely not be as profitable as my weekday business and, like you say it eats into your weekend.

Did you find it worthwhile though or was it just a headache for little return ?

The main thing I worry about is someone trying to sue or try to get a refund/damage etc ?

 

[mginflatables]

Hi Greg

Thank you for the useful information , the points you raise are things I was thinking to be honest.

It would definitely not be as profitable as my weekday business and, like you say it eats into your weekend.

Did you find it worthwhile though or was it just a headache for little return ?

The main thing I worry about is someone trying to sue or try to get a refund/damage etc ?

hi there, i run a bouncy castle hire business, i started it with my brother not even a year ago. we both own another cleaning business together also and do the castles at the weekends. and i can assure you as long as you advertise well and have a good selection of castles you can have no problem making £400 plus over friday and saturday. we have 8 castles 4 slides, 1 combi castle and a 45 foot assault course. we do costume hire and face painter / balloon modeller. thats our lot and for being the newbies on the hire business, we are flat out hiring. we based in larne but i was surprised at how much business we get in belfast. please pm me and i would be happy to give you all info you need and can put you in contact with sum very good people. by the way you can get public liability insurance at a very low cost. google: leisure insure they are cheapest, around 6 inflatables insured for roughly £500 per year honestly.

 

[Talay]

I was involved in something similar overseas many years ago and though we did take them to venues, the greater profit was from permanent summertime location in a tourist resort.

If you can dovetail it with a another business for the winter, it can be a good idea and though you work flat out for all the summer months, you get extended breaks between seasons.

 

[brianbt79]

Hi mginflatables, i was wondering if you could help me
i too was thinking of starting a bouncy castle business
got a quote from Airquee for £1950 for bouncy combo but a chinese form gave me the same castle for £100, is it worth the risk ? have you in the past any Asian imports castles ?

 

[lehalvi]

Hi - i want to know the easy way to carry the castles and load in the car or van.

secondly, before buying the stock, i had a view that i'll be able to fit the castles (deflated) in my car but it's bigger and heavier so do you think buying or renting a van is a viable option?