Hire, buy or custom build an exhibition stand: cost per show

The three routes to a stand

Hire. You take a whole stand for the show and send it back after bump-out, so there is nothing to store. We quote the kit, your printed graphics and the hire period together. Exhibition hire kits are quoted for up to five days, enough for most shows including bump-in and bump-out. The food and beverage sampling kit can be hired for up to two weeks, and longer periods are quoted on request.

Buy off the shelf. You own a reusable system, such as SuperWall fabric walls or one of our numbered portable exhibition kits, and reprint the graphics when the message changes. Your own team can put it up: a 3 m SuperWall frame goes together by hand in about five minutes, and the wall packs into a bag of about 12 kg.

Custom build. The stand is designed around your space, brand and objectives, then made in our workshop. The quote includes concept design, 3D renders for you to approve, in-house manufacturing, a test build before it leaves us, then freight, installation and bump-out anywhere in Australia. Between shows we can keep it in storage and prepare it for the next event, with any changes made.

Production times run from order and print-ready artwork; allow extra time for freight. For current list prices on portable kits, fabric stands and hire kits, see what it costs to exhibit at a trade show.

What goes into the cost per show

The purchase price is the line people compare first, yet it matters less with every show you add. The same cost lines apply to every route; they just fall in different places.

• Up-front cost. The purchase or build price. Hire has none.
• Hire fee. Paid every show. Our hire quote includes your printed graphics.
• Graphics. Reprints when the product, message or show changes. On a SuperWall you slide the old skin off and the new one on, and the frame stays.
• Freight both ways. Our list prices exclude freight, and our hire kit prices exclude delivery to the venue, so price this line for every route.
• Installation and bump-out. Your team's time for portable kits, an added line for hire if you want help at the venue, and part of the quote for custom builds.
• Storage between shows. Only owners pay this. Kit left in an office storeroom tends to get knocked about and may need repairs before the next show, so price proper storage as a real line.
• Refurbishment. Repairs, cleaning and replacement parts before the next show.

Floor space, venue services, travel and staffing sit around these; our guide to managing your exhibition budget has a template for the whole show.

The cost-per-show formula

Use letters for the lines you don't have quotes for yet, then fill them in.

• Owned stand, cost per show = (purchase price + refurbishment over the period) ÷ number of shows + storage per show + graphics per show
• Hired stand, cost per show = hire quote + anything the quote leaves out
• Break-even number of shows = (purchase price + refurbishment) ÷ (hire cost per show − storage per show − graphics per show)

Freight and installation apply to both routes, so leave them out when comparing hire with owning the same kit. Add them back when you set the budget.

Worked example: one show a year vs four, over three years

Take a SuperWall Expo fabric stand: three printed fabric walls on aluminium frames, each with its own carry bag, enclosing a 3 m x 3 m space. It is priced from $5,551.80 excluding GST and freight. Over three years, one show a year is 3 shows; four a year is 12.

H is your hire quote for comparable walls, S is storage per show, G is new skins per show (zero if the message stays) and R is refurbishment over three years.

At one show a year, the purchase price alone adds $1,850.60 to each show before storage and graphics; at four a year it adds $462.65. The same stand can be the dearer choice for one team and the cheaper one for another. At four shows a year, owning pays back if your hire quote is more than $462.65 + R ÷ 12 + S + G.

The SuperWalls we hire out are also sold, so ask for a hire price and a purchase price on the same walls.

When hire wins

• One-off shows and trials. Hire lets you try a new show before you commit to a stand of your own.
• No storage. The kit goes back after bump-out, with no storage costs and no repairs before next time.
• Large-format kits. Owning a raised floor, counters and an overhead sign is hard to justify if they go out twice a year. Our hire kits bundle all three for 3 m x 3 m and 3 m x 4 m spaces, and there is a 6 m x 6 m food and beverage sampling kit.
• Graphics that change every show. If you would reprint everything anyway, owning saves less.

Not everything is offered both ways: Screenflex room dividers, for example, aren't available for single-event hire. Check our display and exhibition hire page first.

When owning pays back

• Several shows a year with the same kit. Each extra show lowers the share of the purchase price it carries.
• A stable message. If the artwork can stay, an extra show costs little more than freight and storage.
• Small, portable items. Pull-up banners and single display panels are small and easy to carry, so they are usually worth owning.
• The system is reconfigurable. SuperWalls can stand alone as a backdrop or combine to enclose a 3 m x 3 m stand, and the frame is built for repeated use at different venues. It carries a one-year warranty on non-graphic components.

If you exhibit in shell scheme, printed wall graphics are the owned item: a single set of Graphics 2 Go panels can be used over multiple shows, and a full set for a 6 m x 3 m stand fits in two carry bags.

Owning also means somewhere to keep the kit. Our logistics and storage service keeps stands in our warehouses, inspects and maintains each piece when it comes back, and sends it out clean and working to the next venue.

When a custom build is worth it

A custom stand makes sense when you go to several shows a year and want a stand nobody could mistake for anyone else's. It is also the route for elements built to your own design: custom joinery and counters, lightboxes, hanging signs, large LED screens, lighting design, and interactive or gaming elements.

The cost per show depends on reuse, so design for it from the start:

• Ask for a structure that stays the same while the graphics are swapped between shows.
• Plan for different space allocations, so the layout can be adapted rather than rebuilt.
• Agree storage and refurbishment as part of the plan, not after the first show.
• Allow six to eight weeks from a signed-off brief to the show for a typical custom build, and tell us your show date early so we can confirm the timing.

See what a build involves on our custom exhibition stands page.

A quick decision checklist

1. List the shows for the next two to three years, with stand sizes and cities.
2. Count how many of them the same kit could go to.
3. Decide whether the graphics will change at each show.
4. Decide who stores and installs the stand: your team or ours.
5. Get a hire price and a purchase price on the same kit.
6. Work out the cost per show for each route with the formula above.
7. Check the production time against the date of your first show.

Next step

Send us your show calendar and stand sizes through the enquiry form, or call 1300 240 250. Ask for a hire price and a purchase price on the same kit, and we'll set them side by side over your calendar.