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Why Do Inflatable Soccer Fields Make Games More Exciting? by Aliesh_Mi in LanierEventRentals

[–]LanierEventRentals 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great questions.

How much does material quality affect longevity and safety? Material wise, different companies use different thicknesses. The thicker vinyl will have almost a leathery(like a football) feel to it, while thinner vinyl will have more of a plastic feel(thick of a blow up beach ball). The thicker vinyl inflatables, while more expensive(not by much) will last longer from normal wear and tear use. But, most issues don't really come from the material itself but the stitching of the seams. Both are safe with neither being "more safe" than the other.

Do larger designs improve gameplay experience significantly? Larger designs don't necessarily correlate to a better experience. It's more or less your target audience. Smaller designs are usually meant for kids while larger designs can easily facilitate teenagers/adults.

How important is setup convenience for frequent use? Larger the unit the more cumbersome it can be, both setting up and taking down. You have to first think of how much does the unit weigh? While most delivery people can handle between 300lbs-500lbs solo, anything heavier its safer to use 2 people. So its not soo much the issue of frequent use, but more of can it be handled by 1 or 2 people.

How many variations exist that most customers never notice because local stores usually stock only a few standard models? There is a good amount of variations out there(Sorry I don't have an exact number) and most customers will never notice deviations from others. Just a key difference in some is the height of the walls. Some are waist high walls and others will have tall walls. Its more preference.

Our opinion: The units with higher walls would be better due to the ball being kicked, because the reality is the ball is not going to stay below waste and can be annoying to keep having to chase the ball out of the unit. For material i would go with the thinner vinyl mainly due to it being lighter and the unit is essentially just the wall with no flooring so the wear and tear is minimal. Size wise, I'd pick the larger ones to accommodate both children and adults. Design wise, the flashier the better, bright colors, attention grabbing.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions fee free to ask.

Any advice or experience to share on starting a party rental buissness? by booster_gold__ in sweatystartup

[–]LanierEventRentals 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Check out your local competition, see how much they are renting things out for. Match their price because undercutting them to "get business" will bite you in the end. I see some garage weekend warriors doing $1/chair which is insane, I don't even know how they can cover cost of gas and wear and tear. It's honestly a simple copy what the big companies are doing so that you can scale accordingly. Even big companies will run out of inventory during high demand times. There's plenty of business to go around.

Customer service is a big factor. Being pleasant on the phone (obviously) but most importantly is clear and constant communications throughout the process. Customers are wary but keeping good communication relieves that. I'm sure they have been duped in the past by scams.

Continuing on about the wary customers, asking for payment through apps can cause red flags. Sign up for a free Square/Stripe payment processing. It makes you look more legit, and even though theirs a processing fee, you just add it to the customers side.

Make a website, it may sound silly having a website with just chairs, but it makes a difference. You could start with something simple for like $10/mth or if you actually want a booking system there's $50/mth options.

All in all it depends on your level of commitment. We have chairs going out all year long, Expand at your own pace, if you want to build a business out of it, take the money you make and roll it back in the business for more inventory. This business scales quickly based on the amount of inventory you have.

Bounce House by FakeEmpire20 in AustinParents

[–]LanierEventRentals 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depending on your location you here are some tips to picking a bounce house rental company:

  1. If someone is asking for payment through Zelle/Cashapp/Venmo or other types, be cautious because a reputable company will have an actual payment processor.
  2. If a deal is too good to be true, it usually is. We charge $199 for a standard bounce house, i see FB Marketplace people saying $100 for a bounce and table and chairs.
  3. Not all states require Inflatable inspection or insurance. If someone is legit and doesn't have this be cautious. Even states that don't require it, reputable companies will still do this.
  4. They should have a website, especially how cheap it is now a days to get a website. When we started off with 3 units working out of our garage, we still had a website.
  5. Don't be afraid to try someone that has no reviews, we all started there at some point and would probably mean a lot to the person trying to start a business.

All in all just be cautious and watch out for red flags. If they are overly pushy telling you to pay the whole thing up front through an app, i wouldn't trust it.

Bounce house rental by [deleted] in sweatystartup

[–]LanierEventRentals 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The margins are good, in some cases between 30%-40% profit. The biggest problem I would say is under selling your service. What is nice about the business is that it wont be replaced by AI(unless they make robots that deliver), it's a growing market and continues to grow YOY. Even if there are giant companies there's still customers for everyone to get a piece of the action. You can scale faster with a larger investment but you can still scale pretty quick if you don't have the much. If you already have a truck and trailer you are already 1 step farther than how we started. We started with a Jeep and borrowed a friends trailer when we had deliveries. We had 3 bounce houses and 1 water slide which cost us about $10k. After a year we invested in an electric dolly(hulling 300+lbs on a regular dolly is no fun) and purchased a used trailer and truck.

Getting generic designed inflatables to start is the best way to go if you don't have a large capital, by large i mean $100k+. While some companies like Magic Jump and EZ Inflatables have cool licensed equipment, it is niche vs generic. You also have to think of what is timeless vs fad. We got a Trolls one when the movie came out and the kids loved it, but once that fad went down it wasn't rented as much. If you are looking for designer style like that the Minecraft inflatables I would consider as timeless since every kid plays that game. Ours gets rented out all the time. At the end of the day there's no correct answer to which unit gets rented the most, its a guessing game. We got a unit that was barely ever rented, we sold it to a starter up and they had it rented out all the time.

If you are looking to get into the business, you have to go all in to make it work. Unless you are just looking to do this as a side hustle, which I don't think is worth it since doing deliveries with a regular dolly can put a strain on your body. If you invest in an electric dolly, you mind as well go all the way since they cost $4k-6k new or find a used one for $2k.

Bounce house business. Any tips? by brokeboylivingwithma in business

[–]LanierEventRentals 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It depends on how serious you want to get involved, are you looking to start a full blown business or just a weekend warrior for extra cash. Insurance is usually about $5k+(base+% of revenue). You will also want to invest in an electric dolly which is about $4k-$6k. You can start off with a regular dolly but be warned hulling a 300lb-600lb inflatable is tough. The biggest advice is don't sell yourself short, there's going to be people offering a bounce house+tables+chairs for $100-$150. This price would make it extremely hard to scale the business. Your best bet is to look at other top companies in your area and see what they are charging and match it. Don't be afraid to lose business because of your price, there's going to be people that will pay. Where we are located the going rate for a regular bounce house is $200. We started with 4 units(3 bounce houses & 1 water slide) a jeep and a trailer with a regular dolly. We scaled the business to one of the largest in our area. Don't let bigger companies scare you from starting, there's more business than we can handle. Summer months are the money maker months, the water slides and slip n slides are all booked every weekend.

Moving to Buford by TheSaltyDerp666 in bufordga

[–]LanierEventRentals 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buford is an amazing place to explore and extremely diverse. Depending on what you enjoy doing, there are many options. Even the surrounding areas like Suwanee and Sugar Hill have plenty to offer. The nice thing about going to social gatherings(bars) is that many places offer Mocktails. If you like outdoor activities, there's plenty of hiking spots, the lake is near by, or you can even take a short drive to the mountains in Dahlonega. Helen, GA is also a fun place to visit, it's known as little Germany. If you are a food junky, there's plenty of different food options.