Event hire business calculators
Hire businesses live or die on utilisation. A stock item that hires ten times a year and one that hires forty times a year have completely different economics, even at the same hire price.
These calculators combine per-hire profit with stock payback so you can see how many hires an item needs before it earns its purchase price back.
Calculators for event decor and hire companies
Costs that belong in every booking
- Stock purchase price
The capital cost of each item, spread across its expected hires.
- Utilisation rate
Realistic hires per year per item — the single most important input here.
- Delivery and collection
Two journeys per booking, plus loading time and any waiting on site.
- Installation labour
Setup and takedown crews, including travel time you pay for.
- Cleaning and refurbishment
Laundry, repainting, repairs and consumable replacement between hires.
- Storage
Warehouse or unit rent allocated across the stock it holds.
- Damage and loss
An allowance per hire, distinct from any deposit you take.
- Finance on stock
Interest and repayments where stock was purchased on finance.
Common pricing mistakes
- Assuming optimistic utilisation
Payback maths built on forty hires a year collapses when the item hires twelve times.
- Free local delivery
Delivery and collection is two journeys plus loading, and it is rarely free to you.
- No refurbishment budget
Items degrade every hire; without a refurb allowance the stock quietly becomes unrentable.
- Pricing per item, ignoring the minimum order
Small orders can be loss-making once delivery is counted — a minimum spend protects the round.
Worked example
Illustrative example — a £2,400 stock item at £180 per hire. These figures are an illustrative walk-through of the formulas below — they are not survey data, benchmarks or a real customer result.
| Hire price | £180 |
|---|---|
| Delivery and collectionFuel plus 2 hrs driver time | £55 |
| Install and takedown labour | £40 |
| Cleaning and refurbishment | £15 |
| Damage allowance | £8 |
| Storage allocated per hire | £10 |
| Contribution per hire | £52 |
| Hires to repay stock cost£2,400 ÷ £52, rounded up | 47 |
| At 20 hires a year | 2 yrs 4 mths to payback |
| At 35 hires a year | 1 yr 4 mths to payback |
The hire price is not the problem here — utilisation is. Payback more than halves between twenty and thirty-five hires a year, which is why utilisation belongs in the buying decision.
How the figures are calculated
- Contribution per hire = hire price − delivery − labour − refurbishment − damage allowance − allocated storage.
- Hires to payback = stock purchase price ÷ contribution per hire (rounded up).
- Payback period = hires to payback ÷ expected hires per year.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I estimate utilisation for new stock?
- Start from your existing enquiry data for similar items and be conservative. Then record actual hires and revisit the payback figure — a real number after one season beats any estimate.
- Should delivery be charged separately?
- Where delivery is a significant share of the order value, zones or a minimum order value usually protect margin better than an all-in price.
- Cash or finance for new stock?
- The equipment finance calculator compares total cost and payback month for both, so you can see what the interest costs you against the cash flow it protects.
Related guides and tools
Results are planning estimates based on the figures you enter. They are not financial, accounting or tax advice.