One of the most overlooked aspects of starting an inflatable rental business is choosing the right inflatables. The correct assortment is very important for the survival of your business. Remember, you only make money when your rental fleet is leased, so you want 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 must be made to Commercial spent. The main categories of inflatables are:

• inflatable houses
• Bouncy houses with slides (often called combo units)
• inflatable slides
• Water slides
• Obstacle Courses (for both toddlers and adults)
• Inflatable sports games (from basketball to batting cages)

Obviously, as a startup or any other business, you have budgets that you need to meet. Since budgets are unique to the individual business, I won’t begin to touch on this topic. Instead, I’ll walk you through the priority process for adding inflatables.

Since your goal is to rent your units as often as possible, you should select the units that are most popular. In our experience, bouncy houses rent most often, followed by combo units, slides and water slides, bounce houses, and then obstacle courses. Depending on your budget and how many units you want to start with, you’ll determine what types of units you want. Another factor is your location. For example, if you are in Texas, water slides carry much more weight when it comes to rental value than if you lived in Wisconsin. That said, I’ll use two examples, a three-unit startup and a five-unit startup.

three-unit company

• bounce house
• bounce house
• combined unit

Five Unit Company

• bounce house
• bounce house
• combined unit
• combined unit
• Slide

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

Now that we’ve tackled the variety, it’s an equally important issue, which themes to choose from. Just like your assortment selection, you need to appeal to the masses. Traditional themes like castles, funhouses, sports, Disney, and Mickey Mouse themed inflatables have a much higher rental rate than pink castles, lions, and birthday cake inflatables. While all inflatables are rented out, we are only concerned with buying the most rented units as you start your business. Once you feel the need to add additional inflatables, you’ll know exactly what to add based on customer requests and shortages you’ve had with your own rental fleet. Just because I advise you to stay away from more niche-specific units to start with doesn’t mean you should once you’re ready to branch out.

Inflatable rental business can be a very successful business. You should treat it like a business and not make emotional decisions. Every decision you make, not just the items you buy, should be made with the business in mind. Good luck and happy bouncing!