Start a Party Rental Business
Rental Math & Utilization Worksheet
Companion to "The Rental Math" and "Seasons, Scaling, and Your Second Year."
1. Price anchors (verified market bands)
| Item | Band | Your local price |
|---|
| National average bouncy house rental (all types) | about $312; typical $240 to $406 | $ |
| Standard 13x13 bounce house, per day | $150 to $250 | $ |
| Combo unit (bounce + slide), per booking | $250 to $400 | $ |
| Folding chair, each (padded up to $6) | $1.50 to $3 | $ |
| Banquet table, each | $8 to $12 | $ |
2. Equipment cost anchors
| Item | Cost | Your cost |
|---|
| New commercial 13x13, blower included (list / manufacturer club pricing) | $1,495 to $1,995 / about $1,270 to $1,700 | $ |
| New combos | start near $2,450; most $2,900 to $4,300 | $ |
| Dry package (60 chairs, 6 to 8 tables, 10x10 canopy, weights), new | roughly $2,000 to $3,500 | $ |
| Obstacle courses (year-one avoid; wait for ~10 proven units) | roughly $4,000 to $6,000, largest wet-dry just under $7,000 | — |
3. Per-unit payback rows (run before every purchase)
Formula from the course: divide what the unit costs by what it grosses per booking. Worked rows: a $1,600 bounce house at $200 per booking recovers its equipment cost in 8 booked weekends; sixty chairs and six tables bought for $1,200 and rented as a $180 package do it in about 7. These are equipment-recovery numbers, not profit.
| Unit | Cost | Price per booking | Booked weekends to recover (cost ÷ price) | Payback date hit |
|---|
| 13x13 bounce house (example) | $1,600 | $200 | 8 | |
| Chair/table package (example) | $1,200 | $180 | ~7 | |
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4. Utilization: season gross under 1 / 2 / 3-weekend bookings
Worked example from the course: a $1,600 13x13 at $200 per booking across a six-month season, against a $2,000 insurance + operating year. Same unit, same purchase price, same insurance bill; the only variable is bookings.
| Scenario | Booked weekends | Season gross | After a $2,000 insurance + operating year | Your unit: 1/mo | Your unit: 2/mo | Your unit: 3/mo |
|---|
| Dead weight | 1 per month | $1,200 | Lost $800 | | | |
| Part-time | 2 per month | $2,400 | Cleared $400 before labor | | | |
| Working it | 3 per month | $3,600 | Cleared $1,600 before labor | | | |
A single unit rented hard is a business. A fleet rented softly is a storage problem with an insurance premium. Anyone who promises you a first-year figure is selling you something.
5. Recurring-cost block (per year)
| Line | Planning figure (verified) | Your quote |
|---|
| General liability, small inflatable fleet ($1M/occurrence) | about $1,800 to $2,500/yr; specialty programs set minimum premiums: one agency's startup minimum $1,790 (a figure it has carried since 2019); another broker prices genuine startups at $3,500 to $4,000/yr until loss history | $ |
| Equipment (inland marine) coverage | from about $1,100/yr at one specialty broker | $ |
| Fuel | your routes; a 20-mile booking is 80 miles of weekend driving (4 trips) | $ |
| Cleaning supplies and repairs | vinyl patch kits, cement, sanitizer | $ |
| Help (trigger: around 5+ deliveries in a day, or the first twinge in your lower back) | weekend help, paid well per day | $ |
| Total recurring year | worked scenarios above used $2,000 | $ |
6. Off-season reserve line
| Insurance + software through the months the truck sits | $ |
| Months of coverage needed (your season map: a northern market may run May through September, about 22 Saturdays) | |
| Reserve to stash through the season | $ |
Pay yourself what the season earned, and leave the reserve where the insurance bill can find it. Scaling is per-unit reinvestment: each unit that hits its payback number buys the next one. Utilization first, inventory second.