Renting Gear

[stantonsound]

To follow up on the thread about buying gear, what do you do when you need a piece of equipment that you don't have? Do you borrow it from another theatre or do you rent it? If so, where do you rent from?

I know that there are large lighting houses in NY and in CA that specialize in renting lights to theatres all over the country, but shipping usually makes it cheaper to rent locally.

[icewolf08]

Ultimately, I think it depends on what you need and how long you need it for. For us, we have two decent rental shops in town, but you still have to weigh the rental cost vs. purchase price. On many items we feel that if the rental is going to cost more than half the value of the item we will buy it because chances are we will use it again.

It really comes down to budget though. It is possible that you could need the same equipment once a year but never have enough money in the yearly budget to buy the item, but you do have enough to rent.

I don't know about everyone else, but generally it seems hard to borrow equipment from other theatres. This is often due to conflicting schedules, but also, most theatres are in need of money in some form, and want to get something in return. Here at Pioneer we rent out scenic drops and costumes. The only people we really let borrow anything is the University of Utah, then they let us borrow things that we need.

[soundlight]

Beg, borrow, or temporarily abscond with.

I had to get a mixer that had at least 6 channels and direct outs for a concert that I was recording tonight, so I went and borrowed one from my church, the old one that they aren't using (Soundcraft FX16). Always good to have a church that recently got a new sound system, because their old one is usually available (unless they sold it).

Otherwise, beg for it from Harrison Bros, Borrow it from a friend or another school, or temporarily abscond with it from any number of undisclosed locations.

[JSFox]

When doing rent/buy decisions don't forget to take in to account maintenance and replacement costs which can often make rental seem a real bargain. Should also think about obsolescence - buying something on a 4 year payback that will be useless in 2 years ain't so good.

For things we rent fairly often at one school we purchase 1 or 2 of the exact same units (Shure UHFR, VL1000's, ColorCommands, etc.). This way everyone gets to play with them and learn them on a regular basis so the rental stuff is all homey feeling. On large rental hangs this also allows us to push the hang date out a few more days since we can do a fair amount of programming with our own stuff.

[TechiGoz]

All of the above comments are on the right track, if not spot on. It all depends on what you want to hire/use and where you can get it from. If you can borrow it locally from friends or other locations, do that cause it will save you a fair bit. Otherwise just hire it locally.
Remember to take into account and remember to check if anything needs to be fixed or repaired. For the most part though, the rental companies are pretty good.
Hope this helps.

[stantonsound]

Wow... I thought that this was an easy question, but I guess not. Let me rephrase. Say you really need 6 follow spots for a show next weekend, but you only have 2 (or need 45 lav mics, 200 Source Fours, 24 moving heads, etc...). How do you go about getting what you need? Do other theatres in town let you borrow these, is there a local company that rents them, or do you use the national rental companies that will ship them to you (if so, who do you use)?

I understand that cost and availability are factors, but if you were to need them right now, how do you get them?

[avkid]

Options in order of my preference:
Borrow
rent from other companies
rent from rental houses
buy

[Peter]

about the *how*.... start calling people... starting with the people I know personally, and moving on to the names I find in a trade magazine / yellow pages / whatever.

[BillESC]

If you're in Charlotte, VA Barbizon in Washington, DC would be your best bet.

Rent a truck and pick them up as that will certainly save on commercial shipping costs.

What size (model) followspots do you need?

[Footer]

Originally Posted by stantonsound

Wow... I thought that this was an easy question, but I guess not. Let me rephrase. Say you really need 6 follow spots for a show next weekend, but you only have 2 (or need 45 lav mics, 200 Source Fours, 24 moving heads, etc...). How do you go about getting what you need? Do other theatres in town let you borrow these, is there a local company that rents them, or do you use the national rental companies that will ship them to you (if so, who do you use)?
I understand that cost and availability are factors, but if you were to need them right now, how do you get them?

For that large of an order, very few theatres have that in stock, you will have to go to a shop, and sometimes multiple shops. It is pretty common practice for one shop to rent units from each other then re-rent them to their costumer. I have picked things up from shops in chicago and get 3 companys road cases.