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[Scott Holtzman]

Hey team what would you rent a 7.5k Eico HD projector, SDI card, two sdi to HDMI converters.  40 to 120 zoom lens and fly bracket along with a 16' x 9' fast fold with both screens (front and rear projection) and the factory dress kit?

Thanks in advance.

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[Brian Jojade]

Dry rental rates typically would be 10% of retail on the equipment rented for a daily rental.  Discounts for longer durations, or valuable clients.

[Scott Holtzman]

Dry rental rates typically would be 10% of retail on the equipment rented for a daily rental.  Discounts for longer durations, or valuable clients.

I don't think anyone gets 2000 a day for a projector and screen.

Thanks Brian anyone else have some input?   I was thinking $500 + the tech.  They are a good friend and another production house.  I rent a lot of lights from them.

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[Steve Eudaly]

I don't think anyone gets 2000 a day for a projector and screen.

Thanks Brian anyone else have some input?   I was thinking $500 + the tech.  They are a good friend and another production house.  I rent a lot of lights from them.

In my experience, the whole "X% of purchase price" formula tends to fall apart as the items go up in value. That being said, larger format projectors and screens are items that I feel warrant a higher rental rate due to their relatively high maintenance costs and risk of getting damaged in the field versus, let's say, a speaker or distro. You've got lamps to replace, filters to clean, screen surfaces that can get dirty or torn, soft goods to clean and keep fire certs on, etc. etc. Projectors also become obsolete faster than just about anything else in our world as formats change.

7.5k isn't particularly bright, but it's usable in a lot of scenarios. That's a nice large screen, too. I think something in the ballpark of $500/day for the projector (you could say the SDI/HDMI distribution is included at no charge as a bonus) and another $500/day for the screen with dress kit is not out of the question.

Of course, this all depends on what market you're in, how often you think you can rent it, and of course who you're renting it to. As you said, this client is a friend and colleague you often work with, so why not try to show some love with discounts when you can. $500/day for the whole package seems a bit low for the reasons outlined above.

I presume you're asking this because you have a chance to purchase these items and rent them to said customer. LED walls, rider-friendly audio consoles and large-format projectors/screens are all things that have pretty low ROI in my market, so we own just enough to meet a somewhat regular demand and sub-rent the rest as necessary. We own two Christie 5Ks for basic presentation work and a 10k for movie showings and smaller corporate keynote type stuff, but for everything else we sub-rent. We don't own any screens as I don't think it's worth it unless you're willing to buy a variety of sizes right off the bat. It's just a rabbit hole I'm not willing to go down.

That all being said, if you can get the gear at a fair price and think this client (and potentially others) will keep it busy enough to justify it, then go for it.

EDIT: My example pricing was under-valued. Corrected.

[Steve Ferreira]

It all depends on what your clients are also willing to pay. Keep in mind the rates if you need to ever cross rent. I wouldn't want to rent my gear out at say $500 for everything only to have to cross rent a projector last minute with a cost of $700. I work in the corporate market, here are some ballpark numbers:

Epson laser 8k laser projector $1100 with no lens. Lenses are $200ish
Epson 12k laser projector $1600
We also carry $4000 projectors.
A 4k projector runs for about $350
Screens are $200ish for dress kits and $300ish for frame with surface.

These are all day rates.

Depends on your market also

[Steve Eudaly]

Epson laser 8k laser projector $1100 with no lens. Lenses are $200ish
Epson 12k laser projector $1600
We also carry $4000 projectors.
A 4k projector runs for about $350
Screens are $200ish for dress kits and $300ish for frame with surface.

These are all day rates.

Depends on your market also

Wowee, I wish we could get those rates for projectors around here. They are absolutely fair in my opinion, for the reasons listed previously regarding purchase and maintenance costs of projectors. Screen/dress kit rates are on par with what we do, of course, it varies with size.

Unfortunately there's another provider in our area that really hedges their rates on high-volume renting so they have devalued the projector market with artificially low rates. If/when I get the dreaded "well I can get it cheaper there" I very kindly explain to the client how expensive these assets are and why we can't compete with those rates. If they want to go rent the units elsewhere and set them up, we're happy to feed signal to them at the gig.

[Ed Taylor]

It all depends on what your clients are also willing to pay. Keep in mind the rates if you need to ever cross rent. I wouldn't want to rent my gear out at say $500 for everything only to have to cross rent a projector last minute with a cost of $700. I work in the corporate market, here are some ballpark numbers:

Epson laser 8k laser projector $1100 with no lens. Lenses are $200ish
Epson 12k laser projector $1600
We also carry $4000 projectors.
A 4k projector runs for about $350
Screens are $200ish for dress kits and $300ish for frame with surface.

good advice.
Cross rental for me has always been at a rate that gave the other house room to make a dollar..helped cover the cost of the phone call, coming to get the rig, assuming responsibility for it etc.

as to rate - direct to client, I learned early on in my 15 years of biz...we didn't want to be a front counter rental shop. You want my gear..you get a tech with it...delivery/setup.  and yes, 10% of retail purchase price was what we consistently got both for A/V and pro backline gear.  PA was far below that as a % of cost. It's what it is.

These are all day rates.

Depends on your market also

[Brian Jojade]

Unfortunately there's another provider in our area that really hedges their rates on high-volume renting so they have devalued the projector market with artificially low rates. If/when I get the dreaded "well I can get it cheaper there" I very kindly explain to the client how expensive these assets are and why we can't compete with those rates. If they want to go rent the units elsewhere and set them up, we're happy to feed signal to them at the gig.

Rental prices need to take into account the expected life of the product both from physical wear and obsolescence.  Low volume rental of things like pipe and drape doesn't matter as the product can sit for a year and not get rented out and still be perfectly OK to use.  Electronics, on the other hand have only a few short years where they are viable rentals.

If there's a competitor in the area that has gear and is renting it out regularly, I'd be looking to partner with them instead of investing in ANY gear.  If you can work out a percentage off what they charge to their one off customers, then you can make guaranteed money and they hold all of the risk.

When renting stuff out, you have the costs associated with the labor of the transaction plus the depreciation and wear and tear of gear, plus opportunity cost for the cash tied up into that gear.

Obviously, with larger ticket items, the labor part of the equation may be somewhat less so the percentages needed to be profitable can be a little lower, but it's easy to price yourself out of profitability pretty easily.

The corporate rental companies NEVER give anything away for free.  Every little line item on the rental list is accounted for.  Even if it's only a couple dollars to rent something, it's on there.

[Steve Eudaly]

Rental prices need to take into account the expected life of the product both from physical wear and obsolescence.  Low volume rental of things like pipe and drape doesn't matter as the product can sit for a year and not get rented out and still be perfectly OK to use.  Electronics, on the other hand have only a few short years where they are viable rentals.

If there's a competitor in the area that has gear and is renting it out regularly, I'd be looking to partner with them instead of investing in ANY gear.  If you can work out a percentage off what they charge to their one off customers, then you can make guaranteed money and they hold all of the risk.

I agree you need to make sure something is rentable enough to turn a profit before obsolete, but you also don't need to give it away.

This particular outfit refuses to sub rent to anyone in the area that could potentially be seen as competition. Tried several times to rent things I didn't have and/or didn't want to buy but kept getting told "sorry, the shop is empty that weekend." I eventually took the hint and now call Nationwide or one of the more friendly local companies if they have what I need. Their loss, not mine.

[Spenser Hamilton]

Wowee, I wish we could get those rates for projectors around here.

I don't think the average joe really appreciates the costs involved in mid-to-large venue projection. I regularly have to explain that the HT projector they bought on amazon is not even in the same realm as our 18K Christie and NEC projectors that we rent for a very modest fee (fixed install so we typically just charge a striking fee to cover lamp replacements).

[ProSoundWeb Community]