Trade show booth cost: what a booth costs at Qbooth
Trade show booth cost is never one fixed number, but the invoice always has the same structure: this is included, this is not, and these are the choices that move the figure. Below you can read exactly that, so you can read a quote without surprises.
What is in the price of a trade show booth
Included in our booth building price
- Design and 3D visualization of the booth
- Construction and production in our own facility in Made
- Banners, prints and graphic finishing in your branding
- Transport to the show and back
- Setup and teardown by our own installation crew
- Removal of packaging and leftover material
- Applications and coordination with the show organizer
- Project management with one fixed contact person
- Storage between shows, if you reuse the booth
Not included: this you pay to others
- Booth space and registration fees from the show organizer
- Utility fees for power, water and internet at the venue
- Catering, hostesses and booth staff
- Hotel and travel costs for your own team
- Insurance of your own products and material
In a Qbooth quote the left-hand column is always in there in full. If you compare quotes, first check whether that is true of the others as well; transport and setup are often missing there.
What moves the price
These choices make the difference between a 20 m² booth for a modest figure and a 20 m² booth for three times as much:
- Square meters: more floor means more wall, more flooring and more setup hours
- Inline, corner or island booth: every open side is a side that has to look good
- One deck or two: an upper deck requires a heavier construction and an inspection
- Modular or fully custom: reusable frames are cheaper than a one-off construction
- LED surface: an LED wall is the most expensive square meter in your booth
- Raised floor or not: a raised floor with cable ducting costs more than a flat floor
- Distance to the show: Utrecht or Düsseldorf is a different transport from Barcelona
- Setup days: a show that only gives one setup day requires a larger crew
- One-off or reuse: the second show with the same booth is considerably cheaper than the first
Reuse: what makes the second show cheaper
At the first show you pay for everything. At a second show with the same booth, the design, the construction and the production of the custom elements no longer apply. What returns are transport, setup and teardown, the applications with the organizer and, if your message changes, new banners.
Because we build on Aluvision frames that last for dozens of uses, reuse is the standard with us and not the exception. If you want to know whether renting or buying is cheaper for you, read buy or rent a trade show booth.
Guide prices per square meter
The figures below give you a feel for the range in the market. They are not Qbooth rates and not a quote: the actual price depends on your design and on the choices above.
| Type of booth | Guide per m² |
|---|---|
| Modular, largely reusable | ± €150 – €350 |
| Custom work on a modular base | ± €300 – €500 |
| Fully custom, lots of technology | ± €500 – €700+ |
The surprises that do not come from the booth builder
The biggest setbacks on a trade show budget usually do not come from the booth itself, but from the items around it. The organizer's booth space rental is separate from the build price and adds up quickly at large international shows. Power you apply for separately with the show, and a high-power connection costs more than an ordinary outlet. If you want to hang something from the ceiling of the hall, you pay the organizer for rigging points, and parking permits and exhibitor badges are often on a separate invoice as well.
We cannot pay those items for you, but we can see them coming for you: with a quote we go through the rules of your show and tell you which applications you need to make yourself and which ones we arrange for you.
How you get a price from us
For a quote we need four things. Nothing more.
The show
Name and edition, so we know the setup days, the height restrictions and the rules of the hall. If your show is in our trade show calendar, we already have those.
The booth size
The number of square meters, or the booth number if you already have it; then we take the size from the floor plan.
The type of booth
Inline booth, corner booth, peninsula or island booth. This determines how many open sides the booth has.
What you want to show
Your branding, your products or a short description of your goal at the show. On that basis we make a 3D proposal.
You receive a 3D proposal and a quote with every item written out. The proposal is free and without obligation.
Why we do not publish a price list
Two 50 m² booths can differ in price by a factor of three because of the choices behind them. A price list would therefore have you reckoning with too much or too little. What we do instead: write out every quote item by item, so you see where the figure comes from and which knob you can turn to bring it down.
Would you like a feel in advance for the total cost of exhibiting at a show, including booth space and the items that are not ours? Ask us: we will gladly put all the cost items of a show participation in a row for you.
Rent, buy or a combination
The cheapest trade show booth is not always the rented one and not always the purchased one. If you exhibit once a year, renting is almost always cheaper. If you exhibit more often with the same booth, buying pays off. The trade-off, item by item, is on buy or rent.
A popular middle way: you buy the base that returns every show (the frames, the walls, the counter) and rent per show what changes, such as an LED wall or extra furniture. That way you pay once for what stays and per show for what changes.