Exhibition stand cost: what stand building costs at Qbooth
Exhibition stand 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 an exhibition stand
Included in our stand building price
- Design and 3D visualisation of the stand
- Construction and production in our own hall in Made
- Banners, prints and graphic finishing in your house style
- Transport to the fair and back
- Build-up and dismantling by our own installation team
- Removal of packaging and leftover material
- Applications and coordination with the fair organiser
- Project management with one fixed contact person
- Storage between fairs, if you reuse the stand
Not included: this you pay to others
- Floor space and registration fees from the fair organiser
- Connection fees for power, water and internet at the venue
- Catering, hostesses and stand 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 build-up are often missing there.
What moves the price
These choices make the difference between a 20 m² stand for a modest figure and a 20 m² stand for three times as much:
- Square metres: more floor means more wall, more floor and more build-up hours
- Row, corner or island stand: 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 metre on your stand
- Raised floor or not: a raised floor with cable ducting costs more than a flat floor
- Distance to the fair: Utrecht or Düsseldorf is a different transport from Barcelona
- Build-up days: a fair that only gives one build-up day requires a larger team
- One-off or reuse: the second fair with the same stand is considerably cheaper than the first
Reuse: what makes the second fair cheaper
At the first fair you pay for everything. At a second fair with the same stand, the design, the construction and the production of the custom elements no longer apply. What returns are transport, build-up and dismantling, the applications with the organiser 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 hiring or buying is cheaper for you, read buy or hire an exhibition stand.
Guide prices per square metre
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 stand | 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 stand builder
The biggest setbacks on a trade fair budget usually do not come from the stand itself, but from the items around it. The organiser's floor space rental is separate from the build price and adds up quickly at large international fairs. Power you apply for separately with the fair, and a high-power connection costs more than an ordinary socket. If you want to hang something from the ceiling of the hall, you pay the organiser 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 fair 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 fair
Name and edition, so we know the build-up days, the height restrictions and the rules of the hall. If your fair is in our trade fair calendar, we already have those.
The stand size
The number of square metres, or the stand number if you already have it; then we take the size from the floor plan.
The type of stand
Row stand, corner stand, peninsula or island stand. This determines how many open sides the stand has.
What you want to show
Your house style, your products or a short description of your goal at the fair. 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 stands 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 taking part in a fair, including floor space and the items that are not ours? Ask us: we will gladly put all the cost items of a fair participation in a row for you.
Hire, buy or a combination
The cheapest exhibition stand is not always the hired one and not always the purchased one. If you exhibit once a year, hiring is almost always cheaper. If you exhibit more often with the same stand, buying pays off. The trade-off, item by item, is on buy or hire.
A popular middle way: you buy the base that returns every fair (the frames, the walls, the counter) and hire per fair what changes, such as an LED wall or extra furniture. That way you pay once for what stays and per fair for what changes.