Why does a table and chair company need different books?
Tables and chairs are a volume business. Each item rents for a few dollars, and a big order can mean hundreds of pieces. That makes the handling cost huge compared to the price.
Every chair gets counted, loaded, carried, set, stacked, brought home, wiped down and put away. Linens get washed, pressed and checked for stains. Some chairs come back broken. None of that shows up when your books just say "rental income" and "payroll."
We set up your books so you can see what a 150-chair wedding actually made after the work was done.
What does handling and cleaning really cost?
In the profit models we build for rental owners, we use about 60 minutes to clean 100 chairs. That's a little over half a minute per chair, before anyone loads, sets or stacks them.
Here's an example. Say a wedding orders 150 chairs at $3 each and 15 tables at $12 each. That's $630 in rentals.
- Cleaning 150 chairs takes about 90 minutes. Say tables take another 30.
- Setting up takes two people about 90 minutes. That's three hours of pay.
- Teardown takes two people about an hour. That's two more hours.
At $18 an hour, that's about seven hours, or $126, before anyone drives the truck. On a $630 order, labor alone takes about 20% of the rental income. If your setup fee doesn't cover setup time, the rental price is covering it without anyone noticing. We'd rather you see it.
Want to dig into the labor side? Read our guide to job costing labor in event rental.
How should broken and lost chairs be tracked?
Two different things happen when a chair breaks, and the books should show both.
- If the customer pays for it, that damage charge is income. It goes on its own line, separate from rental income.
- When you replace it, that's a cost of staying in business. We track replacements so you can see how many chairs, tables and linens you replace each year.
That replacement number matters. If you replace a chunk of your chairs every year, that cost belongs in your price. Each chair has to pay itself back, pay for the space it takes in your warehouse and pay for the chair that replaces it.
Your CPA decides whether a big chair purchase is equipment or a regular expense. We make sure every purchase is recorded with its invoice, so they have what they need to decide.
Are your packages actually making money?
Packages sell. "Tables, chairs and linens for 100" is easier for a customer to say yes to. But a package discount comes straight out of your profit, and the work doesn't get any smaller.
We keep separate income lines for tables, chairs, linens, delivery and setup fees, and damage charges. That way you can see what each part of a package brings in, and whether the discount is buying you more orders or just giving money away. To work on the price side, read how to price your rentals for profit.
Which items should you stop carrying?
Most table and chair companies have stock that barely rents. A chair style that was popular five years ago. Specialty linens in a color nobody asks for. Table sizes that sit on the shelf all season.
That stock still costs money. It takes up warehouse space every month, it ties up cash you already spent, and it has to be counted and moved around the items that do rent.
When your books and your booking history line up, you can see which items earn their space and which don't. Selling the slow ones can free up cash and room for the items customers actually want. We call that list the dead weight, and almost every rental company has one.
What about linens?
Linens have their own costs. Laundry, pressing, stain treatment and replacement all add up. Some owners send them out. Some wash in-house. Either way, we track laundry costs next to linen income, so you can see what a tablecloth really earns after it comes back clean.
How do wedding season and slow months fit in?
Most table and chair companies live on a few busy months. Weddings, graduations and holiday parties carry the year. The rest of the time, rent, insurance and loan payments keep coming.
We help you see how much cash you need to hold to get through the slow months, and we keep customer deposits for next season separate, so you don't spend money you still owe. Read our guide to seasonal cash flow for party rental.
