Bouncy Castle business

Dick_here

Inspired by the 'buy a bouncy castle for 70p' thread, I started thinking about how 'easy' it would be to buy two or three at normal price and hire them out. They seem to be able to be hired out at £50-£100 per day according to a quick google search.

Easy money to be made, or is there a catch somewhere ?

Badger_Lady

Have you considered the quality of the bouncy castle? My understanding was that the ones you hire for events are much more substantial and cost upwards of £500 to buy.

You also need to consider the overheads, such as public liability insurance, maintenance and taxes, and the market demand for castle hire (is it purely seasonal, how many days of the year can you expect it to be used, is the market already covered by another supplier?).

Probably as "easy money" as most businesses

Taadaa

Damn it I was going to say if I get my 70p one I will let you hire it :rotfl:

Good points by Badger Lady though, I mean kids are always bouncing right off them aren't they, then who's fault is it if someone really gets hurt?

abimonster02

We have our own bouncy castle hire business and believe me it is not easy or cheap to set up. It has taken a few years to establish.

Bouncy Castles that are made for hiring out cost more than 70p although some people do try and hire out the kind you can buy on auction sites that are only any good for domestic use:rolleyes2 . We paid out over £500 for some of our units and they were second hand when we bought them. There is a heck of a lot more to it than buying a couple of castles.

Points to think about:

Set up costs include the extra items needed to set the castle up.
Public Liability Insurance
Advertising Costs
Storage for the castles, somewhere to wash and dry them
How will you transport them around?
Annual Safety Tests
Terms and conditions of hire

It's great on a saturday morning putting your equipment out knowing how much it has made you but what about on a saturday night or sunday morning when it's persisting it down and you are getting soaked as you try and roll the castle up and move it? Or it has been left in a state from the kids party that it has been used at and is going straight back out on another hire? It is also seasonal until you are well established and even then hires over the winter are few and far between. Also most hirers have a no fee policy when cancellations occur due to wet weather and last year it lost us loads of bookings.