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Pop Up Marquee for sale Handy Tips

Furniture:

• Unlike marquees, furniture is often too expensive to buy so hiring is usually the best solution
• For a formal atmosphere use larger round tables (5ft for seating 8/9, 5ft6in for seating 10)
• Use a mixture of smaller tables to create an informal atmosphere (see this article on seating)
• You can get away with fitting more people in a marquee for a party than for a wedding, a wedding requires more space, but you can squeeze people up a bit at parties.
• A marquee can hold more people standing than seated (generally around 1.5 times the number seated) but it’s always worth having some seats in rows against the sides of a marquee even if you are leaving the middle completely clear for standing (or using it as a dance floor area)
• For formal seating remember an easel for table plans (or two for larger functions)

Dance Floors:

• Do you want your party to be mainly about the dancing? In which case put the dance floor in the middle so it is very much the centre of attention. If you want it as an option, then put it at one end.
• Like furniture dance floors can be prohibitively expensive to purchase hiring or making yourself (18mm plywood screwed to battens and stained) are the most common solutions
• Alternatively, if your marquee is to cover part of a patio or decking area that can be used as a dance floor

Other:

• Set the marquee up several days in advance and test the lighting and heating (if applicable) at the time of your function just to make sure both are sufficient.
• People (mainly blokes) will always congregate around the bar. For this reason, always position it near the evening’s entertainment to avoid having two parties. Always aim to keep everyone in one place to maintain the atmosphere so avoid putting the bar in the house or a separate marquee
• Always have lighting on a dimmer, this gives you the flexibility to supply lighting to eat by and mood lighting to dance by
• In October to April you will need to heat the marquee  have the heating on for an hour before people arrive to ensure they walk into a wall of warmth
• In May to September, you might need a heater just to take the chill off in the seating area later in the evening
• Think of how your guests will arrive – a simple path of carpet with flower pots makes an attractive and inviting entrance to the marquee
• Think of how your guests will leave – it’s likely to be dark so some form of lighting will be needed to guide people back to their cars
• You would normally allow one toilet per 40-50 guests. If you don’t have enough available then consider hiring a luxury toilet unit
• Give neighbours plenty of notice especially if you plan on partying until the early hours
• Notify the police, it may sound extreme but it allows them to give informed responses (such as finishing time) to any complaint rather than come knocking on your door

Contact DIY Marquee for sale to find out more about their Classic DIY marquee range

The Showmans Show 2016 review

Our 3x4m Commercial Demi DIY Marquees are ideal for covering entrances to buildings or mobile toilet units. Our Commercial Demi range is far superior to the Classic Range with thicker 500gsm PVC The entrance height is 2m with a height of 2.6m on the tallest side. The marquee is modular meaning you can extend or reduce its size in 2m sections to suit your needs.

An excellent 4-season marquee (can be used year round though additional precautions should be taken in snow and extreme conditions) ideal for sustained use in the domestic market or marquee hire industry. We recommend the use of tie down kits unless you have your own method for anchoring the marquee down. As with all DIY Marquees should the unforeseen happen any replacement part is available to purchase separately and our experienced customer service staff are always available for any advice you may require.

This marquee is made up of one piece, not by connecting multiple marquees.

Our 3x4m Commercial Demi DIY Marquees feature:

• 500gsm Rip-stop Duracoretex PVC Roof cover
• 500gsm Rip-stop Duracoretex PVC Side Panels
• Unbranded
• Flame retardant to BS5438 & BS7837 for safety
• High frequency welded PVC joins for complete waterproofing
• Strong up to 38mm galvanised steel framework
• Roof braces at either end for added strength
• ‘simplex’ design (only 2 different length poles used throughout the marquee) for ease of erection
• Groundbars included
• 3m wide wall panels with zipped entrances at either end
• Individual window panels on both sides
• Wind-stop velcro sealed joins for all side panels
• 12 month warranty and full spares back up service for peace of mind
• Can be extended for future expansion

The rain in Spain (and France) can be a pain

One of the joys of running DIY Marquees is I get to chat to people from geographical areas that I have no experience of. When I ran a marquee hire business the area we covered was as compact as we could make it (for obvious logistical reasons) so it’s great hearing about other people’s experiences especially if it’s something I can share to others on this blog.

It’s fair to say that France and other parts of Europe have had a bit of rain recently. Torrential rain is always a headache in the marquee industry, it’s a pain dealing with wet equipment and a party is always better in the sun than rain.

From a waterproofing point of view rain shouldn’t be an issue however the weakest point will always be a join -this is why nearly all DIY marquees use roofs that are all in one piece. Providing guttering has been fitted correctly and tested then it should cope with all but the most extremes of downfalls.

Something that has been highlighted in discussions with some customers in both France and Spain recently is what about the run off from other buildings? Whilst most houses in the UK have guttering that is often not the case in other parts of Europe or even on outbuildings or barns here in the UK.

If you are putting a marquee up against any building then it is always wise to look at what would happen if it rained – could the water run off the building? If so where will it go? Could it overload a guttering system (theirs or yours)? If you use roofs that come in sections (as I say, our main marquees don’t have this problem) then will this compromise the waterproof integrity of the join?

In relation to how often this situation may arise this is a minor issue, it is however something you as a professional marquee hirer should be aware of, it is much better to learn from our experience or those of our customers rather than make the same mistake yourself.

If in doubt then as always, take some photographs and email them to us – we’ll happily advise as best we can.

If you are wanting to view DIY Marquee’s range of marquee for sale look no further than the leading experts and their large range of party tents for sale

We love DIY Marquees blog posts, they are not only informative but make an interesting read from the experts who have been in the industry for many years; having tried and tested every area of marquee for sale business.

I found these interesting articles especially for those that would like to set up their own small marquees for sale business.

Why are most marquee linings ivory?

In the UK marquee industry now just about all professional marquee linings are ivory, this has come about from years of experience and customer feedback not just from us but from all lining manufacturers in the country.

From a customer’s point of view ivory just adds a touch of class to the marquee, if you have two lined marquees side by side one with white and one ivory customers choose ivory every single time – whether they go for flat/shaped, pleated or ruched is personal opinion and another matter altogether!

From a hirers point of view ivory is much lower maintenance than white, marks and creases show up far more on white than ivory. It also ages better than white – we used to have 10 year old ivory linings right next to brand new ones without any issue. Try putting  a 10 year old white t-shirt next to a brand new one and see the difference!

The only down side to ivory used to be there were many many different shades of it from different material suppliers in the marquee lining industry, fortunately in the last 10 years or so everyone has settled on a similar shade generally referred to as mid-ivory.

That’s why 99% of professional marquee linings are ivory now.

Especially for marquee companies for sale

Check list for completed marquees

Its good practice when you’ve finished a marquee (and before the event) to have a check list, one copy for the customer and one for you.

What goes on a check list is entirely up to you but here’s some suggestions:

• Sign to say that they are happy with the marquee. It won’t cover you completely, they may find something and call you back but it does help to have a paper trail should anyone try to take action against you after the event (I’ve never heard of this happening but it’s simply good practice).
• Sign to say that all furniture is there (by sign I mean one signature for everything)
• Sign to agree to take responsibility for all of the equipment (unless you have separate insurance/damage waiver).
• Sign to say they have been shown how to use any marquee heating and/or lighting.
• A note to say where any equipment can be plugged in (and not to plug in anywhere else)
• A note asking for any decorations around the marquee not to be attached using staples or non-removable tape.
• A note mentioning no metalwork should be removed and side panels only removed if good weather.
• A note asking for pets (dogs) not to be allowed in to the marquee. There were a couple of occasions I can remember finding presents from the family dog, they were not pleasant experiences!

It’s also good practice to have the emergency contact number on the bottom.

Note this is a check list for the customer (they have a copy, you have a copy) which may be separate from your own erectors check-list, something the team leader might fill in ensuring everything meets the required standards. Flooring is well fixed down, all straps are done on the outside of the marquee, no lighting or heating could come in to contact with PVC/lining, furniture all laid out, dance floor laid flat etc etc.

For those who are starting out this may all understandably be a bit of overkill. If you’re in charge and just putting a 6x6m shell of a marquee then that’s fine. The above should always be the aspiration though, as you get bigger, as your equipment becomes more diverse, the jobs become bigger and when more of the responsibility is delegated to others having check lists is simply good practice.

Some see setting up a marquee hire business as very easy. Others see setting up any business as a potential headache. At DIY Marquees we work very hard helping people set up marquee hire companies by taking a lot of the stress and worry out but promoting good practices so they can thrive in the long term.

As you may have noticed our website has changed, this is due to our expansion in to other ranges of marquees. We now have five ranges of marquees across 23 different sizes of marquee culminating in over 70 different marquees to choose from, we believe this means we have the largest range of marquees available for sale in the UK and hope to have the marquee to suit any requirement. We also now stock a heavy duty range of pop-ups and pagodas.

Our two new cheaper ranges probably won’t be of interest to you as a hire company – the party tent range including DIY Party Tent and Pop-Up DIY Marquee range uses PE fabric (only suitable for occasional domestic use) and our new Classic range is made using 500gsm PVC but without the features we believe are essential to hire companies – I wouldn’t recommend hiring out a 6m marquee without eave braces for example.

Our new Professional range should prove popular in the hire industry; it is based on our Commercial framework but with a heavier duty 650gsm PVC roof.

As always our new products and ranges come from feedback from customers (thank you) and our own experience. This is why we are one of the leading designers and suppliers of marquees in Europe. Which we’re quite chuffed about to be honest.

We always like to hear feedback regarding our marquees or website so if you have anything to add or any new product ideas please always send them along.

Thank you to everyone who visited us at The Showmans Show last week. For those that didn’t make it we displayed one of our new pop-up marquee for sale including linings, we also had a new pagoda style marquee that will be a standard stock item next year. We’re confident both will prove popular and really add something to the marquee hire industry.

The Show itself was again very quiet, personally I think a change to Fri/Sat would really help increase visitors. I know ourselves and many other suppliers will be monitoring the leads generated carefully as it’s becoming increasingly difficult to justify the large expenses incurred. 

As an erector of smaller marquees it is always a joy to see what can be achieved in larger structures, some of the two story marquees are very very impressive. Saying that I wouldn’t like to put them up!

Thanks for reading.