What's needed in the toolbox of a marquee hirer?

At an enjoyable meeting over the weekend I was asked what should be in the toolbox/van of a marquee hirer. What’s the typical equipment you should set yourself up with?

Obviously we can supply most of these but they are reasonably standard equipment available in many places:

Snips/wire cutters. Essential for cutting down cable ties used to attach linings and lighting.
Spare cable ties – used for linings and lighting and 101 other uses
Gaffa Tape – ideally in white. Just avoid the temptation to temporarily patch PVC using gaffa tape – when it comes to permanently patching the adhesive the tape leaves prevents the glue/weld from giving a good bond.
A repair kit is always useful just in case.
Carpet cutting knife (stanley) or similar, hammer, toolbelt & nails
Detachable eyelets are useful
Sledgehammer & goggles
Stake puller of some kind make life a lot easier than trying to loosen stakes with a sledgehammer
Steps – commercial grade, shorter than 2m to work under the eaves but giving a safe working height of 3m
Some offcuts of wood – useful for chocking tables in transport, supporting the odd footplate that’s in a slight dip
Hacksaw – just in case (incredibly rarely required)
Gas spanner – if you use gas heaters
Funnel – if you use diesel heaters
Pair of spanners (if using bolted together marquee like our deluxe range)
Vacuum cleaner or leaf blower – whatever you use to clean the floor
Washing up liquid, cloth & bowl – for giving the marquee and any equipment a once over
Baby-wipes – some people use these to ensure clean hands before fitting any marquee linings
Hard hats – it’s debatable as our marquees are mostly assembled on the ground whether they are classed as lifting over head height and therefore require hard hats. From experience I can say that you come across as a much more professional outfit if you wear hard hats until the structure is complete so I view it as good practice.

You wouldn’t need all of these initially, some you may never require but having most of these in your van/toolbox will make day to day life running a marquee hire business a lot easier. It will also save dashes to local DIY stores to get whatever tool you’re missing!

Thanks for reading.

Spencer