Rent a tent start-up idea

[Mummyplus2makes1]

Hi, I was wondering if you would give me your views on my business idea to rent out tents, for people that want the fun and pleasure of camping in the great outdoors without the whole erecting the tent and storing loads of gear issues, also for those that don't have a vehicle or are just passing through the area, (my eldest and her friends do this, we call them camp hoppers) we have many excellent camp sites within a 25 mile radius that we have used many times over the years.
I also would like to provide cute little bell tents for kids parties in the garden or parties in the park (yes this is possible :), I was filled with joy when I found this out as we lived in a flat at the time and had many excellent birthdays right by a suitable play area Awesome!) and Glamping Slumber parties for the older girls and boys. I am just transferring my love of camping or could this be a viable business that will get me back to work.
Thank you.

My one word of advice would be to avoid, at all costs, renting to the Festival crowd, unless you really know the festival concerned.

Ds3 went to T in the Park last year, and told me that many people abandon their tents when they leave, because they have been wee'd on by drunken festival goers. And I got the very clear impression that the T festival goers didn't take any care at all of the things they took with them - and the last thing you'd want is your valuable business assets being destroyed.

The business model has worked well for Eurocamp - go for it!

I Like this idea. We don't have a tent, we have looked into it and to get a high standard tent plus equipment we worked out that we could go youth hosteling five times per year for five years and it would be cheaper. But I would hire a top of the range tent and equipment if the price was right, but still think youth hostel cheaper, a hostel is around £50-60 per night usually. Hire or purchase of camping gear plus campsite fees amounts to more?

Hi yes we too have done the festivals as campers and are aware of the jovial horrors that take place so would totally avoid that! The theme for the business would be aimed at families, I am hoping to work with my personal favourite camp sites as well so I could focus on the family and young couple market.

How many tents are you thinking of starting with?

Would they be permenantly pitched on campsites or only when you've got people booked in them?

If you bought just one tent plus equipment, and pitched it on one site with all the associated costs (take into account you'll need insurance, you'll be doing a 'changeover' between clients - cleaning, washing of equipment and sleeping bags, depreciation of the tent and all the gear - if any of it gets damaged and needs to be repaired/replaced - will you be doing all of that yourself - what will you 'pay' yourself per hour?), what would you need to charge and how many nights would you have to have people in it before you made your money back?

TywysogesGymraeg Sat 11-Apr-15 10:47:07
The business model has worked well for Eurocamp - go for it!

Hahahahaha! thanx :..)

It's a nice enough idea but when you draw up an actual business plan, to make it viable and to earn any real money you'll have a hell of a start up cost and will need to do it on a vast (Eurocamp) scale.

Very quick figures in my head...
One tent rented out every single day from April to October = roughly 210 days, but realistically that's not going to happen. I reckon if you get it rented out 100 days you'll be doing well (your client base is very limited - you need to find people that want to camp, in your specific area, and that don't already have their own gear). Say you charge £50 a night (and I think that's expensive, bearing in mind it's camping!! and you're competing with budget hotels and youth hostels), that's £5k you've made.

Minus campsite fee, if you do a deal with a campsite and they charge you £10 a night for a basic pitch with no EHU (and if any site is as excellent as you say, they'll be fully booked in school hols, etc, so won't be quick to do you any favours when then can rent a pitch out themselves for full price) now you're down at £4k.

Take out cost of the tent - a decent tent that people are actually going to be willing to rent will set you back minimum £500. Groundsheet, carpet, SIM's, camp beds, sleeping bags/blankets, cooker/BBQ, table and chairs, plates, cups, cutlery, electrical equipment and the million other bits and pieces you'll need - and it can't be cheap crap, it's got to all be of a standard good enough to rent out, I reckon that's at least another £500. Now you're at £3k profit.

Wear and tear on your tent and equipment - because people won't look after it as well as if it was their own so I'd plan on £500 per year for replacements/repairs. £2.5k profit.

Insurance. and PAT testing of electrical equipment - havent a clue how much this will be, lets say £100 but I'm sure it would be more, now you're at £2.4k profit.

Your time, effort, and not to mention fuel setting all this stuff up, cleaning it and taking it down between bookings. Take into account cancellations because of bad weather, taking the tent down in the rain and carting it home to dry out then storing it before getting it out to set it up again 2 or 3 days later (unless you're going to pay the campsite to keep it pitched even though it's not rented out).

Seems like a lot of work for very little return unless you're doing it on a large (UK wide) scale.

ActingBusy Sat 11-Apr-15 11:13:33
How many tents are you thinking of starting with?

Would they be permanently pitched on campsites or only when you've got people booked in them?

If you bought just one tent plus equipment, and pitched it on one site with all the associated costs (take into account you'll need insurance, you'll be doing a 'changeover' between clients - cleaning, washing of equipment and sleeping bags, depreciation of the tent and all the gear - if any of it gets damaged and needs to be repaired/replaced - will you be doing all of that yourself - what will you 'pay' yourself per hour?), what would you need to charge and how many nights would you have to have people in it before you made your money back?

Hi Actingbusy,
At the moment we have 4, 1- 2 sleeper the 4 sleeper and the family sized 6 sleeper these are our ones from the time we have been together and are in excellent condition we have a 4m canvas bell tent that we use for the kids parties and used to be used for my big girls slumber parties, I would increase this if it proved popular however in reality with 2 young ones I don't want to invest more than I could afford to lose, naturally I would get the appropriate insurance, and more furniture, I really appreciate your in put it has been really helpful, I am plucking up the courage to speak to the campsite managers about either having a permanent pitch or or just advertising their site on my web page as a suggested option I would like both as a guaranteed pitch could be great? as I am so very new to the whole running your own business thing my head is in a bit of a spin as to how to go about it? It is so easy to get excited about the possibility of doing something you love for a living, reality can seem like a big fat spoil sport, lol, so the quest for financial independence continues.

Thanks everyon, I think I will rethink.