In my past hiring life I erected marquees over swimming pools, sunken gardens, flowerbeds, ponds, rockeries, trees, statues, just about anything you can find in a garden we covered at one time or another. The result can be stunning but the method can be tricky.

Some things to consider if you’re incorporating parts of a garden inside a marquee:

• Allow longer to put the marquee up
• If a tree needs cutting to fit inside then offer to cut it while erecting the marquee – this ensures the minimum amount is cut off (an unnecessarily trimmed tree can lead to an unhappy customer, I know from experience!)
• Pools and ponds need to be completely covered by one marquee with enough space to walk round
• Hedges and walls can be partly incorporated but this often means cutting a wall panel to fit around them – keep any old side panels for this kind of work or contact us as we often have marked walls we can sell cheaply
• Plan how the marquee is to be erected while on site, failing that take some photos and email us and we will advise how we would approach the problem.
• People pay a fortune to hire in small trees and bushes in to marquees, incorporating existing plants inside can really add a feature (especially covered in fairy lights for example) so it’s often a good sales pitch.
• Remember that anything incorporated in to a marquee will cut down on the available floor space so decrease the maximum capacity accordingly.

Typically the best way to erect a marquee over any obstacle is to only partially erect the marquee. Say you’re putting up a 6x12m marquee and there’s a small tree at one end I would erect most of the marquee (6x10m say) leaving the last bay over the tree off completely. The most important bit – I would have the roof up on the framework attached on as much as possible so when the last bay is fitted (tall steps required) the PVC roof can just be pulled along that last bay to fit.

What you want to avoid is trying to lift and fit the PVC roof on to a fully erected framework, it is a very tough and heavy operation.

Thanks for reading

Spencer

The recent weather is causing a lot of problems for marquee hire companies and events all over the country with Ireland especially hard hit. So should you as the hire company call off a booking? My opinion is no, it should be down to the customer.

If you start calling off an event then you might get hit with all sorts of legal implications/challenges from the other related costs of the function with deposits lost etc. This doesn’t stop you warning customers or offering advice along the lines of ‘if it was me..’

Assuming you have typical t’s and c’s along the lines of: Cancellation of a booking over 14 days is 20% to pay, 3-13 days 50%, less than 3 days then 100% I would write every customer a letter stating:

• There has been exceptional weather conditions this year and as a consequence marquees can take longer to erect than planned. Please be patient with us, we will erect your marquee and won’t let you down -this allays any understandable fears they may have
• Should you be concerned over the suitability of an area badly hit by the weather we are more than happy to come out and view the site to discuss how the marquee would be affected -better to pre-empt/warn of likely issues to save waiting round on erection day
• Should the site prove unsuitable then we can erect the marquee at an alternative local venue at no extra charge (subject to a site survey)
• Should you wish to cancel the event if it is 14 days or more before the event then you will only lose the 20% deposit already paid. If the notice period is less than 14 days then although 50% of the booking fee is due we are offering our customers a 20% discount off any future booking to compensate, this has proved a fair solution to a headache often faced this summer – I’m not sure of the wording or amounts on this but you get the idea, you’re stating their obligations whilst also trying to help
• Please be aware that soft access surfaces may get damaged when delivering and taking away the equipment -this pre-warns them of any ruts you may leave getting in and out of the job

Like I say this would just be what I would do, I’m a firm believer in that pre-warning of any problem means if it arises it becomes a constructive chat to resolve rather than conflict.

Thanks for reading, I’m not sure that’s really the positive post I promised last week!

Please note that the factory will be closed on Friday afternoon from around 3:30pm as the Olympic torch is coming past

We have an article on connecting a marquee to a house but there’s an additional consideration. Check for any lighting on the house that you might cover up with the marquee.

We butted a marquee up against a house once (gable flush against the building) and as happens quite often the marquee covered over an outside floodlight. Imagine our surprise when we came back to collect the marquee and a large hole had been melted through the end of our marquee where the floodlight had been left on. Whether fortunately or unfortunately the customers were out when we were dismantling.

So the lesson to learn is always point out that any lighting touching the marquee should NOT be turned on (they may not even notice if it is). If it does happen to you (or something similar) then it’s not the end of the world, one of our marquee repair kits should patch up the marquee.

Thanks for reading.

Spencer

If you read about brand awareness then experts claim there are three categories of people, those who will only buy brands, those who can be convinced of buying brands and those who refuse to buy brands. It has to do with how people wish to be perceived by their peers. Don’t ask any further, I’m already teetering out of my depth.

So relating this to marquee hire you’re going to face some potential bookings where they just keep wanting to negotiate the price down, it may even just seem a point of principal (see the recent apprentice contestant getting 1p off a £365 top hat!).

Just speaking from my experience this isn’t about the customer saving money, it’s generally about them being able to say to their guests what a good deal they’ve got.

For that reason I found it much more successful offering people something for free rather than giving them money off. For example say you’ve got someone trying to negotiate over a booking for £1500. It’s much better for you giving them an entrance tent say worth £200 rather than knocking off £150 off the price. It’s only adding a bit of time for you rather than taking money out of your pocket. The customer (I’d say 9 times out of 10) is just as happy, they can say to their guests that they’ve got a £1700 marquee for £1500 even though originally they didn’t even want the £200 extra you added in.

One last frustrating point, if you ever forget something for that job it will always always be a component for the thing you’ve thrown in free of charge!

Thanks for reading

Spencer

I’m sure it will surprise no one that these posts aren’t planned out, they’re just my thoughts on the day. Because of this system I’ve forgotten a few things to include.

1. In 1999 I was visited by a yellow Pages rep called Gary. We spent a reasonable amount with Yellow Pages so a rep came round at least once a year, I can’t remember any other rep’s name or many of the details of any other appointment. I remember this one because I couldn’t wait to get rid of him, his breath stank. I mean really really unpleasant. So whenever I went on site visits I’d have a couple of mints on the way. Who knows if it helped or not, it certainly didn’t harm my chances.

2. It’s not something I did but looking back I think it’s a good idea – get the bride & grooms names and always refer to the booking as “Andy & Liz’s wedding on Saturday 10th September 2011″ for example. It looks better and more personal.

No doubt there’s other things I’ve missed, if so I’ll collect them together and do a part 5 in the future.

Thanks for reading

Spencer

This last list are things that I tried to do or mention at each site visit. Putting it in a list like this might make it look like I was quite cold and calculating in what I went through but I genuinely wasn’t (and probably couldn’t have listed these things at the time), they’re just things I note from looking back at what I did.

• Turn up on time. If the appointment was at 10am I’d be round the corner waiting at quarter to. You want these people to trust you’re going to do what you say you’re going to, the first impression should be turning up on time.
• Offer to take your shoes off (or insist on it if it’s muddy/raining). This act alone got me a couple of jobs
• Before going outside to measure up sit down with the bride & groom and ask them:
  • Is there anything they definately want or don’t want? Including anything they may have experienced or seen in a marquee.
  • What number of guests are there likely to be
  • How formal is it?
  • Do they need: dance floor, bar, pre-breakfast drinks, buffet, catering areas etc
• Once I had this information I’d go outside to measure (see part 1 from 2 weeks ago). If it wasn’t immediately obvious how and where to position the marquee then I’d ask the customer to give me 5 minutes and I’ll come back in with ideas. This just gives a bit of breathing space to gather your ideas together -preferably getting at least 2 suggestions.
• Come back in and discuss what’s possible and what options they would like to go for. If you heavily favour one particular layout then explain the reasons why you do so.
• When leaving I’d always finish by saying this quote will be typed up and be in the post first class tomorrow so you should receive it the day after. Make sure you stick to this timescale (or whatever you specify). Again it’s just doing what you say you’re going to do. These days I’d imagine people would appreciate it emailed, in which case do it asap while it’s fresh in their memory. In many cases we had clients who had accepted our quote and sent it back with a deposit before they’d even received others so don’t delay.

At the end of the day the most important points are:

• Listen, listen, listen to what the clients are telling you. Don’t try and sell them something they’ve specifically said they don’t want
• Make sure you make them feel important, not just another marquee in a long production line
• Come across in a manner that makes them trust you. Be genuine, honest and reassure them that you’ll do what you say you’re going to do.

Obviously you can pick and choose anything from these posts, I realise it can seem a lot initially but it just becomes second nature after a while. I can promise you this approach works. I wasn’t the best at putting up marquees, I wasn’t even the best at staying on ladders! (a couple of cracked ribs and broken fingers is evidence of that) but I had a pretty good record on site visits (conversion percentage was usually in the 80′s, sometimes 90′s).

Thanks for reading

Spencer

Last week I dealt with what to look for when effectively surveying the site, next week I’ll write about things to go through with the bride & groom. This weeks list is things between the two:

• You know what the site is like now, but discuss with the site owner what changes are they planning and also anything that may be useful or essential to you. For example if access is needed for a large vehicle they may want to start cutting back a certain hedge 6 months before to ensure it looks good on the day.
• Whilst you’re in the garden measuring you also want to look at where the guests will arrive from. You want a wow factor, they may need some temporary lighting, it also gives you some scope for suggestions – offer some red carpet as an entrance, if they’ve got pots of plants they can go either side for an easy attractive walkway.
• Toilet facilities (as mentioned by jamesmo)- see what access is like. Luxury toilets are large trailers and need a fair bit of access. Even cubicle toilets need to be close to van access though often if they’re used it’s only for the gents whilst ladies use the toilets inside. If they can only go by the entrance then reassure the bride/groom at least they won’t have 100 people asking where are the toilets..
• If you have the choice of several areas to site the marquee then you can offer a wet/dry scenario. If the forecast is bad when you come to put the marquee up then you can site it closer to the house to avoid long walks in the rain (or you can include a connecting walkway). If the forecast is good you can sit the marquee back to allow an outside drinks area in front. It may seem like a lot of work/hassle doing it at this stage but if you leave it until the day it’s going up you’re likely to create stress for the client and possibly delay your work if the decision maker(s) aren’t on site.  If you offer a Wet/Dry option then you can ask which they want when you phone to say what day it’s going up on.
• Access for DJ/Band
• Access for caterers. It’s also worth looking to see if they can use a garage or outbuilding to save on the extra marquee/power arrangements. You may think this is cheating you out of the price of another marquee but this will make your quote cheaper than competitors and more importantly show that you’re working in their best interests.

Thanks for reading.

Spencer.