Choosing the Right Bounce Houses For Your Inflatable Business

One of the most overlooked aspects of starting an inflatable rental business is choosing the correct inflatables. The correct assortment is so important to your businesses survival. Remember, you only make money when your rental fleet is rented so you need to focus on items that appeal to the masses.

It is appropriate at this time to review the type of inflatables that are available to purchase. All inflatables used for your inflatable rental business need to be made for Commercial use. The main categories of inflatables are:

• Bounce Houses
• Bounce Houses with Slides (often called combo units)
• Inflatable Slides
• Water Slides
• Obstacle Courses (both toddler and adult size)
• Inflatable Sports Games (ranging from basketball to batting cages)

Obviously, as a start up business or any business for that matter, you have budgets you need to adhere to. Since budgets are unique to the individual business, I will not begin to touch upon this subject. I will instead walk you through the priority process for adding inflatables.

Since your objective is to rent your units as often as possible, you need to select units that are most popular. From our experience, bounce houses rent the most often followed by combo units, water slides and slides, inflatable games and then obstacle courses. Depending on your budget and how many units you wish to begin with will determine what types of units you would want. Another factor is your location. For example, if you are in Texas, water slides carry a lot more weight as far as rental value then say if you lived in Wisconsin. That being said, I will use two examples, a three unit start up and a five unit start up.

Three Unit Company

• Bounce House
• Bounce House
• Combo Unit

Five Unit Company

• Bounce House
• Bounce House
• Combo Unit
• Combo Unit
• Water Slide

These two assortments will give you flexibility while catering to the masses. Remember, you will never appeal to every one’s needs when you first begin. Your goal is to survive and grow to the point where you can add more units.

Now that we have tackled the assortment, it is on to as equally important of an issue, the themes you should choose. Like your assortment selection, you need to appeal to the masses. Traditional themes such as castles, fun houses, sports, Disney, and Mickey Mouse themed inflatables have a much higher rental rate then say pink castles, lions, and birthday cake inflatables. While all inflatables rent, we are only concerned with purchasing the most widely rented units while you begin your business. Once you feel the need to add additional inflatables you will know exactly what to add based on customer requests and shortages you have had with your own rental fleet. Just because I am advising you to stay away from more niche specific units to begin with does not mean you need to once you are ready to expand.

The inflatable rental business can be a very successful business. You need to treat it as a business and not make emotional decisions. All decisions you make, not just the items you purchase, need to be done with the business in mind. Good luck and Happy Bouncing!