Requirements For Bouncy Castle Rent

JosephDoyleIre

A friend of mine has come to me and asked if I'd be interested in doing a bouncy castle business with him. He has sourced the castles, but doesn't know what legal requirements there are - insurance, register the company, etc.

I don't think that there's much of a gap in the market, so I am encouraging him to do it on a smaller scale. I thought, but one or two castles, just do it around our area, we would probably make our money back after about 25 orders. So, I need to know what extra costs would be involved on a smaller scale. We have a van we can use, so I'm still talking about insurance, legal stuff, etc.

Graham

Any of the companies selling inflatables should be able to point you in the right direction. Might also be worth trying an insurance broker.

Believe it or not there is also the Irish Inflatable Hirers Federation (who knew), www.iihf.ie
Bounce Ireland also have a Start Your Business post but as they supply the inflatables they're probably a little skewed in their outlook.

Sounds like it could be a tough game to make money at, on the iihf forums there's mentions of a few redundancy cheques being used to buy inflatables.

JosephDoyleIre

Thanks Graham, I've sent them an email.

DubTony

Graham wrote: »

Sounds like it could be a tough game to make money at, on the iihf forums there's mentions of a few redundancy cheques being used to buy inflatables.

So are you saying that some of the people being let go in that business are going into it themselves?

Or is it that people who've gotten redundancy elsewhere are going into it, and therefore making it tougher to get business?

Graham

DubTony wrote: »

So are you saying that some of the people being let go in that business are going into it themselves?

Or is it that people who've gotten redundancy elsewhere are going into it, and therefore making it tougher to get business?

good point, perhaps I paraphrased that badly.

I think the post I read was referring to the latter, new people entering the business.

You would have to be a fairly special kind of optimist to be made redundant by a bouncy-castle operator and think to yourself "now there's a great business to get into".

handlemaster

when a business has low barriers to entry the competition is always going to be tough

endacl

Graham wrote: »

You would have to be a fairly special kind of optimist to be made redundant by a bouncy-castle operator and think to yourself "now there's a great business to get into".

Most people bounce back. The business has had its ups and downs, but is generally quite buoyant. Until things go bang.

handlemaster

endacl wrote: »

Most people bounce back. The business has had its ups and downs, but is generally quite buoyant. Until things go bang.

or a kid falls off and you get sued by a parent who didnt want to pay you the 2.50 to use it in the first place

magic_murph

Whats would the USP be?
Guaranteed your kid will jump 17% higher than the competition :-)

Graham

magic_murph wrote: »

Whats would the USP be?

Inflation busting prices, guaranteed!

We won't let you down.:D

Gloomtastic!

As a professional childrens entertainer, bouncy castles have always been our biggest competition. Kids love them. When you get to a venue and you see one, your first reaction is 'f@ck!'

Luckily, most times I can now insist that the castle goes off during my show.

I know entertainers that also have bouncy castle businesses and they do ok. It is seasonal however, you'll be busy from Communions in May 'til September. The rest is just luck.

Get the client to sign a waiver beforehand and all responsibility for accidents is theirs.