Interactive example · Hire & events
Hire bookings that know what's actually on the shelf that weekend
Most hire businesses take bookings by phone and email, check stock against a whiteboard, and find out they're 20 chairs short on the Friday before a wedding. Use the version below, for a fictional Daylesford event hire business: book a wedding as the customer, then load it and check it back in at the yard.
In short
A custom hire booking system shows customers live availability by quantity for their exact dates, sizes the marquee and furniture from the guest count, takes a deposit online, gives the yard pick lists and a delivery run, and checks returns in with breakages charged to the bond and damaged stock held out until it's repaired.
Interactive demo: Bookings, stock and returns for event hire
Live demo · Hepburn Event Hire, Daylesford is a fictional business with sample data. Nothing you do here is saved or sent.
- Build a hire orderEnter 80 guests for the wedding. The marquee, tables and chairs are sized for you and checked against that weekend. The white chairs are short; take the suggested swap.
- Hold it with a depositChoose delivery to Trentham, accept the hire terms and pay the deposit. The stock is reserved for everyone else straight away; the bond is held later, not charged.
- Load the truckSwitch to the yard. Friday's run has your order as a pick list by bay. Tick it off and send the truck; the customer gets an arrival window.
- Check it back inMonday's return: two chairs came back broken and a tablecloth stained. Record them and settle the bond; the chairs go to repairs.
Example site
Hepburn Event Hire
3 Duke St, Daylesford · (03) 5550 3380
Hepburn Event Hire is fictional. Stock, prices, other bookings and the delivery run are sample data. Marquee sizing is a rule of thumb for the demo, not an engineering or permit assessment. Payments, the bond and texts are simulated.
Built for party, event and equipment hire businesses
Three people it has to work for, and what each is hiring it to do
- OwnerNever double-book a marquee, and get paid for every broken chair
- Yard and delivery crewA pick list by bay, a truck loaded once, and returns counted without paper
- CustomerSee what's free for their date and book it at 10 pm, without three emails
What you just used
How Hepburn Event Hire runs, screen by screen
- Stock checkedSystemBy quantity, for those dates
- Bond settledSystemStock to repairs or laundry
How the work moves through Hepburn Event Hire: who does what, and where the software takes over. Steps with a mint mark are ones you can do in the demo above.
Availability by quantity, for the exact dates
Stock is counted, not just marked busy. Two hundred chairs with 150 at another wedding that weekend means 50 free, and the order says so before the customer falls in love with a layout. Delivery and collection days are part of the hire, so a Friday drop and a Monday pick-up hold the stock all weekend.
Sized from the guest count
Eighty guests seated for dinner need about 108 square metres, so a 9 × 12 m marquee; add a dance floor and it's 9 × 15. Tables, chairs and linen follow from the same number. Your sizing rules, not the customer's guess.
A swap when something's short
When the white chairs run out, the order offers the next best thing that is free, at its price, instead of failing at checkout or being discovered on Friday. Which items stand in for which is your rule.
Deposit now, bond before delivery
The deposit is paid online and the booking holds the stock from that moment. The bond is held on the card just before delivery rather than charged, and the terms, cancellation rules and delivery window are agreed in the same step.
Pick lists by bay, one run sheet
The yard sees Friday's orders as pick lists sorted by where things live, and the truck's run in delivery order. Once the last line is ticked, one tap sends the customer an arrival window, so nobody rings to ask.
Returns that settle the bond
The crew counts it back on the tablet. Breakages and stains are recorded with a photo and charged at your rates, and the rest of the bond is released. Damaged stock goes to repairs or the laundry and stays out of availability until it's back.
Built for you
Your rules, not a template's
The demo is one yard and one wedding. Built for your business, it carries your own:
- Your catalogue: items, kits and packages, with quantities by depot
- Hire periods and pricing: weekend rates, multi-day, seasonal and trade pricing
- Sizing rules for marquees, furniture and power, and which items stand in for which
- Delivery zones, install crews and time windows, and what needs a site visit first
- Deposits, bonds, cancellation terms and damage rates
- Repair, laundry and servicing turnarounds, so stock comes back into availability on time
Connects to what you already use
Where a tool offers an API or a calendar feed, the build talks to it directly. Your data stays in accounts you own.
- Stripe
- Square
- Xero
- Google Maps
- SMS
- Google Calendar
Custom build, hire software, or the whiteboard?
Booqable, Current RMS and similar platforms handle hire bookings and stock well, and for many hire businesses they're the right answer. The question is whether their availability, sizing, delivery and bond rules fit how your yard actually runs.
| Criteria | Hire software | Custom-built | Phone, email and a whiteboard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to start | Days | Weeks to months | Already running |
| Availability | By quantity, usually | By quantity, with delivery days, cleaning and repairs held out | The whiteboard, if it's up to date |
| Sizing and packages | Bundles you set up | Sized from the guest count, with your swaps when stock is short | Someone's experience |
| Delivery and install | Basic scheduling, or an add-on | Pick lists by bay, runs, install crews and arrival texts | A printed list and a phone |
| Returns and damage | Check-in screens | Counted on a tablet, charged to the bond at your rates | Noticed later, hard to charge |
| Cost model | A monthly fee, often by tier or location | A fixed build, then hosting and support | Missed charges and double bookings |
| Best when | Standard hire from one depot | Marquees, installs and rules a template can't hold | A small catalogue, for now |
How we'd build yours
Fixed price, agreed before we start
Spend a Friday in the yard
We watch the orders get picked, the truck get loaded and Monday's returns get counted, and write down every rule that lives on the whiteboard.
Fix the scope and the price
A written scope: catalogue, availability, online booking, payments, runs and returns in the first version, and one fixed price you approve before we start.
Stock and availability first
Your catalogue and quantities go in first and the office books against them, so availability is right before a customer ever sees it.
Then online booking, the yard and returns
Customers book online once the numbers are trusted. The yard tablet takes over pick lists and returns after a few weekends side by side with paper.
What moves the price
Custom work is quoted individually, at a fixed price, once the scope is written down. These are the things that make the biggest difference.
- Catalogue
- A few hundred items is straightforward; kits, packages and serial-numbered items add rules.
- Sizing and swaps
- Guest-count sizing and substitutions are written with your team, item by item.
- Delivery and install
- Run sheets are standard; install crews, site visits and route planning are more.
- Payments
- A deposit and a bond are standard; payment plans and trade accounts add work.
When you shouldn't build this
If you hire out a modest catalogue from one depot and Booqable or Current RMS fits how you work, keep it; they're good at this. Custom makes sense when marquees, installs and delivery runs are most of the job, when your sizing and substitution rules live in one person's head, or when breakages and double bookings are costing you real money every season.
Want this, with your name on it?
Tell us how the work runs today. We'll reply within one business day with what we'd build first, what we'd leave out, and whether an off-the-shelf tool would serve you better.
Common questions
Software that shows customers what's available for their dates by quantity, takes the booking with a deposit, tells the yard what to pick and deliver, and checks returns in against the bond. A custom one does it with your own catalogue, sizing, delivery and damage rules.
Each booking holds stock from the delivery day to the collection day, plus any cleaning or repair time you set. Availability for a date is the stock you own less everything held across it, so two weddings on one weekend can't both have the same 200 chairs.
For furniture, linen and smaller marquees, yes, with delivery priced by zone. Large marquees and anything that needs a site visit can go through as a request with the same availability check, and the quote is built from it.
Card holds only last a few days, so the bond is held on the customer's card shortly before delivery rather than at booking, and it isn't charged. At check-in, breakages and cleaning are charged at your rates with photos attached and the rest is released. The customer gets the breakdown by email.
Yes. The shape is the same: stock by quantity or by serial number, hire periods, delivery and returns. Plant hire adds hour meters, pre-start checks and service intervals; the booking and availability logic doesn't start over.
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Last reviewed .