Tents are a wonderful insurance policy for an outdoor event where a tent is not preferred. As we all know that if there is one day of the year (or a life time) that we do not want rain it’s going to be on that day! With this in mind it is imperative that any outdoor event have some kind of rain plan that might include rescheduling, cancellation, moving to a permanent structure, issuing wet suits and snorkels to all attendees or rental of a tent to be set up last minute.
If you decide that your best option is to tent in case of inclement weather, then your next decision is to decide if you reserve the tent from a reputable company or do you take your chances that you will be able to rent a tent on short notice. The fact is that tents are a finite commodity and each company has a set number of size and style of tents. With this in mind most tent companies are going to charge you some sort of a “holding fee” to take a particular tent out of their inventory – not rent it – and have it ready for you in case of need. These fees can be anywhere from 50% to 100% of the full rental rate. Beware of a company that charges 0% or less than 50% as they may not have your desired tent should you need it. Some customers do not understand why there is a need for them to pay for the tent if they do not use it, but that same customer is very understanding of the fact that if they buy a ticket to fly to California on an airline and then don’t use that seat they are going to pay some sort of penalty ($200+) for a change fee unless they purchased a much more expensive refundable ticket.
So what is a person to do????? It is important to know that in Texas the busiest months for all rental companies are mid March thru Mid July and then September thru November. The absolute busiest months are mid-September to mid October. If your event is during these months and the “show must go on” regardless of rain, then you are well served to reserve a tent, pay the holding/cancellation fee and have piece of mind that your event is going to be a success rain or shine. If your event is not during one of the aforementioned months, the exact size or style is not important (i.e. you just need cover for 200 people and don’t care if it is a pole, frame or structure tent nor do you care if it is 30, 40 or 60 feet wide) and you don’t mind a little risk then chances are very good that you would be able to rent a tent with 48-hours notice in your local area.
The advantage of using one of our BRATT Productions companies is that our roots are as a tent company. We have several hundred tents and installers on call 24/7. We charge 50% of the tent rental rate as long as you cancel your tent prior to it being loaded on the truck (generally 24-hours ahead of delivery but if it looks like weather is still unpredictable just communicate with us and we will work with you on cancellation). If you took a chance on the weather and you need a tent due to rain and you did not have a tent reserved we can generally help you with 6-hours notice. Since we answer phones 24-hours a day you can always reach someone for help.
We want your outdoor event to be exactly as you dreamed. We hope that this short blog on rain plans has been insightful and will help you ensure that you are ready for any weather that may come your way. Here’s to sunny skies and 70-degree days!
A special note on Severe Weather: Severe weather: tents are not storm shelters. As such if there are severe storms: high winds in excess of 40 mph, lightning, ice, snow, etc. you should evacuate all participants from the tent to a permanent safe structure. Do not be fooled tent collapses, although very rare can be harmful or even deadly. Always error on the side of safety. Visit our website for more information on Tent Evacuation Procedures.
