Construction
How much does it cost to hire a marquee long term?
September 5, 2023
By Trafalgar Team

If you need a marquee for a month or more, especially if you’ve never hired one before, the first thing you’ll want to know is how much it costs. In fact, you’ve probably arrived here by Googling ‘How much does it cost to hire a marquee long term’! Well, you’re in luck, we can help….

How much does it cost?

If all you need is a simple price, then head to our clever Marquee Calculator for a personalised estimate for your event. However, if you’d like to know what’s involved in the cost of hiring a marquee and which elements will make a difference to the overall price, then read on…

The 7 key factors that influence the cost of hiring a marquee

1. Installation and dismantling

Our marquees can be erected in as little as 24 hours and can be taken down just as quickly. The biggest costs here are our trained staff and transportation. Any marquee you hire has to be installed and that means:

  • Transporting it to your location
  • Erecting the marquee
  • Taking it down again after your event
  • Putting it back into storage

2. The width, and length of the marquee

When calculating the cost of hiring a marquee, the overall size is not the most important factor. The width is. The wider the marquee is, the more complex the building and dismantling becomes.

Almost all of our marquee installations will be single-width marquees with one peak in the roof. The widest marquees we have are 25 metres wide. Putting up a wide marquee involves more manpower and takes more time than narrower one.

Also, the longer the marquee, the more time it takes. If you’re considering hiring a marquee, we would always recommend choosing a long, but relatively narrow one, over a wide but shorter one.

3. How fabulous you want it

All our standard marquees are made with white PVC panels, but that doesn’t mean you have to have a standard marquee. We can add…

  • Clear walls and ceilings: These let people see into the marquee, let the sunshine in or let your guests enjoy the views.
  • Starlight roofs: If your event goes on into the evening, how about a starlight roof? Panels with little lights create real wow factor, but they do mean you’ll pay a little bit more for your marquee hire.
  • LED bars: If you’re holding an event, you’ll probably be serving drinks of some kind. And, whether it’s tea or champagne, have you thought about serving it from a light-up LED bar? They look fabulous!
  • Dance floors: What sort of dance floor do you want? Will a wooden dance floor work for you, or do you want the full John Travolta?
  • Anything else you want! Of course, if you have further thoughts on upping the fabulousness, give us a call. We’ve brought in trees and we’ve even positioned one over a garden fountain to really add a feature to an event. Your imagination is your only limit!

4. The number of guests

When hiring a marquee, the more guests you have, the bigger the marquee needs to be. Our Marquee Calculator starts at 10 people, and goes up to 1000. It will automatically calculate the space you need and give you an estimate accordingly.

5. The facilities you need

If your event is going on for a few hours, and there are no suitable buildings near by, you will need toilets. If you’re offering food, it may make sense to add a smaller catering tent next to the main event space. If your event is in the colder months, we can even heat the marquee for you. Of course, all of these will add to the cost of hiring a marquee.

6. How it’s secured

Depending on where you want to put your marquee, we have to ensure that it’s safe and cannot, for example, blow away. The simplest method of securing the marquee is to use the equivalent of long tent pegs, but these have to be driven into the ground. Unless you’re on grass, this is going to damage the surface. If there is a plentiful water supply available, we can use water ballast tanks. If not, we may need to use concrete blocks. As these weigh approximately XXXkg each, there is a cost to installing them that will impact your marquee hire costs.

7. The duration of your event

Lastly, you might expect the length of hire to have a significant impact on the cost, but it really doesn’t. Whether your event is for one day or three, it actually makes very little difference to overall price.

So, we hope we’ve helped you understand the variables that go into the cost of hiring a marquee. Making changes to the first six factors will make a difference to the final price, but changing the duration of the hire period has the least effect.

For more information try our clever Marquee Calculator to get an estimate. Then give us a call on 01932 620060 or contact us to chat further about your specific needs and let us find you the right marquee at the right price.

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The Bespoke Furniture Company

Fantastic support to us
Trafalgar Structures have been a fantastic support to us since we reopened after lockdown. The provision of a high quality marquee to help facilitate our opening strategy meant we could cater for adult and child classes whilst following the required government guidance. The service and workmanship from the team was first class and the team were always happy to help out if any issues arose and amendments to the marquee were needed. I look forward to working with the team again and would fully recommend for any marquee needs

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‘The Lid on the Lawn’ installed by Trafalgar Structures enabled us to reopen safely after the July 2021 easing of the government guidelines, within 10 days we had a fully operational table service outdoor restaurant. Such has been the successful transformation of the outside space, we have kept the marquee for a longer term hire. The demand for outdoor dining and eventing has increased exponentially and the marquee has enabled us to confidentially offer weather proof ‘outdoor events’. This is now a permanent fixture with an additional full takeaway facility for visitors to the estate. Team Trafalgar are always on hand and have also reacted extremely quickly to the last minute nature of corporate event enquiries. Many thanks.

Jeannette Simpson
COO, Denbies Wine Estate LTD

I cannot find fault in anything they did

We used Trafalgar Structures at the start of lock down. We were very fortunate to be able to remain fully working however, as everyone did, we had to make some major adaptions on our site to accommodate the 2m distancing. I came across Trafalgar Structures and I found them to be extremely helpful, knowledgeable and helpful. We had constant changes to the brief but that didn’t matter to James and his team, they were very accommodating and continued to be very helpful and help fulfil the works we required as well as give a lot of suggestions to make this work. The team that erected/ dismantled the marquee were extremely professional and friendly and helpful throughout the 2 days. I would highly recommend Trafalgar Structures and I would certainly use them again. I cannot find fault in anything they did. Thank you all so much for your help and guidance

Logistics Manager
Clipfine Limited

Trafalgar Structures came to the rescue when the school needed additional outdoor teaching and testing facilities during the Covid pandemic. The cost of hire was extremely competitive and more than reasonable, particularly when you consider their services are much in demand. From the MD to the installers on the ground they were easy to deal with – nothing was too much trouble. Even last minute changes, and their after sales service was just as good. Its not every day you hire a marquee, but if I have to in the future, Trafalgar will be my first port of call. A huge thank you to James and the team!

Neil Lowe
Lady Eleanor Holles school