Should I buy or rent event equipment?

Whether you’re organizing a small party for a family member or you’re a large event planner organizing an occasion for hundreds or thousands of people, the issue of whether to hire or buy is always a debate. Hopefully the article below will help you make your mind up as to what will work best for you, especially when it comes to event equipment such as furniture, for instance.

In many cases, the deciding factor is whether you are planning a one-off event or a regular monthly or annual event…and even this sometimes doesn’t help!

The investment

Large events attract thousands of people, and these people need to be catered for, whether it’s a conference for which you need chairs, a country fair where you need to provide a sit-down picnic or catering zone, or a corporate sit-down dinner where you need tables, chairs, tableware and much more. With a single picnic bench costing upwards of £150 and a single conference chair costing over £100 to buy, if you decide to purchase furniture, then expect to receive a hefty bill. Have you got the hundreds of thousands of pounds required to buy your event furniture, or maybe you could look at hiring furniture instead? To hire a picnic bench is around £50 and to hire a conference chair is around £7, so a fraction of the price. However, of course, instead of owning it, you’re merely borrowing it for a period of time.

Lead times

If you’ve decided to buy furniture, then do you even know where’s best to buy it from? A lot of furniture is made in the Far East, and you’ll always get best prices by going direct. However, despite living in these days of advanced communication, this is sometimes easier said than done. And what price should you be paying for your furniture? What constitutes a good deal and a bad deal? Only with some experience of procurement will you be able to approach this with any degree of confidence. Whether you need indoor or outdoor event furniture hire, you need to be armed with the right info! You can also expect a delivery time of at least 6-8 weeks, so make sure you factor this into your decision.

Changing trends

Imagine if you did decide to buy thousands of conference chairs of a particular style in anticipation of using them regularly moving forward. A good investment? Well, perhaps yes, over a LONG period of time the chairs might eventually end up paying for themselves. However, it’s worth noting that trends and fashions change, as does the economic climate. What happens if your management board or your client want a different style of conference chair this year, or even a different colour in line with the company’s new logo and branding? And what happens if the board decide to not even hold the conference this year for budgetary reasons? If it came to selling thousands of chairs, would you know how to do that? And you can bet your life that you’d be having to stomach a hefty loss!

Storage

In-between events, it’s important to factor into your decision-making that you will need to store your chairs! You can be sure that storage space per square ft for event furniture hire in London can be an expensive business! So, not only have you got to factor in the initial cost of the chairs to buy, but also the cost of storing them in between your events.

TLC

TLC stands for ‘tender-loving-care’, and chairs and furniture regularly need this as much as we do. After all, furniture gets worn, scratched and damaged the more it is used, so if you decide to buy furniture for the long term, get ready to start having to replace upholstery on chairs, for example, where it is worn and faded or where there’s a pen mark, coffee stain or red wine damage. Again, this is all additional cost, stress and headache!

Having read and digested all of this, you may well now have come to the conclusion that – especially for temporary events – event furniture hire is usually the best way forward. The best event hire companies will regularly update and modify their product ranges in line with ever-changing trends and fashions, and so you’ll be able to draw on the style of furniture you need, in the quantities you need, at great prices and with the minimum of fuss. Indoor and outdoor event furniture hire London, for instance, is well catered for with the best event hire companies in the region.

And guess what…you can then send it back after your event and forget about it until your next event – easy and hassle-free!