The Lemon Fool

I mean you hiring out one that you own.

The Parish Council is considering buying an 8 x 4m marquee for village events.

There is also thought of hiring it out to defray the cost
I have concerns about this; it seems to me that unless we go and take it down and collect it, there is no way to know whether it has been damaged by the hiree.

Any experience?

V8

They will need public liability insurance and that is likely to cost more than you will get in occasional rentals.

I would have thought that PL insurance is a bit of a red herring but do not try to reinvent the wheel. Someone can surely give you advice on the pros and cons of renting it out. It is not that unusual.

Dod

It depends on how easy it is to erect and dismantle. We had colour coded poles, laminated instructions and a checklist. You can also make a video of the up down process.

This helps if you are loaning it out to others on the fly. You would need to consider how it will all be checked for parts and damage post loan. Can you buy spares and within a timely turnaround time? You could buy some extras before hand ie poles and ropes

I assume it would be loaned fairly locally so you could offer an erect and dismantle service if you have enough fit and able volunteers and space in a vehicle. I would also consider who it might be loaned too. Scouts, guides, Woodland up keepers etc. Groups might take more care than say bunch of 18 year olds celebrating a birthday whilst mum and dad are away.

If you are considering going down that route I would take a second look at the marquee to see if it fits into the criteria above rather than some cheap plastic pole job that will last two minutes in a summer breeze, more outlay granted

I'd have thought a big problem might be whether it was packed away wet.

When my local scout troop comes back from camp, regardless of the weather the tents all get unpacked and left spread out in a hall so they can dry before being packed away again until they are next needed. IF you don't do something similar with a marquee I'd suspect it'll end up being covered in mould once it's been packed away for the winter.

rhialto wrote:I'd have thought a big problem might be whether it was packed away wet.

When my local scout troop comes back from camp, regardless of the weather the tents all get unpacked and left spread out in a hall so they can dry before being packed away again until they are next needed. IF you don't do something similar with a marquee I'd suspect it'll end up being covered in mould once it's been packed away for the winter.

I suspect that a marquee or a tent could still be damp from condensation (inside) or dew (outside), regardless of the weather, simply from being left outside overnight.

Thankyou all.

Methinks it has the potential to become a white elephant. Or end up blowing into someone's back garden.
When one adds up the cost of a decent quality marquee plus a hold-down kit, it ain't cheap.

And as said, one has to have the willing manpower. After a couple of go-rounds, I can imagine the willingness evaporating. We have quite enough trouble getting up a team to cut not much grass.

Hmmm.

V8

88V8 wrote:Methinks it has the potential to become a white elephant. Or end up blowing into someone's back garden.
When one adds up the cost of a decent quality marquee plus a hold-down kit, it ain't cheap.

You can often get these marquees secondhand from wedding hire places and suchlike, who tend to replace them after a single season. Ebay is full of them. But I suspect that your instinct is right, and that the damn thing will just end up cluttering up the cricket pavilion and going gently mouldy.

It takes six to eight people to put the canvas types up, and it's only fun the first time you do it. The second time, the arguments and disagreements start, and by the fifth time the team will have acquired a knack of making themselves suddenly scarce when needed. Don't ask me how I know.

BJ

All things considered, it seems to me that it would probably be cheaper in the long run, and far less hassle to (continue to?) hire one in when needed.