The most common cause of customers falling out with a supplier is getting stuck on site and ruining their grass. I’m hearing lots of stories along these lines with the recent poor weather so it’s not just restricted to Winter.

This really comes down to planning beforehand – driving on wet grass is always going to be risky with vehicles (vans & lorries) that are not renowned for their off-roading abilities.

• Don’t take any chances, if it looks like it might be muddy then walk it however far it needs walking. Paying everyone an extra hour or two will be cheaper than having a lawn professionally repaired.
• If you are going to drive on the grass then take the (driest) widest route possible, obviously avoid driving in front of the marquee.
• Customers will be far more prescious about their grass before an event than after so it might be you can drive to the marquee on the take down – just keep in mind getting on site with an empty van is a different ball game to getting one off-site with a marquee loaded
• Make sure any subcontractors (furniture, toilet or generator suppliers) are pre-warned before they get on site. Spending an extra day carrying all of a marquee across a lawn only to have the furniture suppliers tear up the lawn was a particular highlight of my marquee hiring career!
• Don’t assume the ground will be in the same condition when you price a job to when it comes to erecting the marquee months later.

Thanks for reading – first mention of The Showmans Show on 17th & 18th October, put it in your diary.

Spencer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012 at 3:42 pm and is filed under marquee hire advice, showmans show. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.