All Forum Posts by: Demetrius Harrell

Hey David, 

I own an event venue (Encaptivating Events) and have been in operation for almost 2 years and I am a part of a large group of event spaces owners. What general questions do you have about building/operating and event venue?

Feel free to send me a direct message.

Hey Vaughn, 

My event space is 2400 sqft based on size you have a good size venue to start off with.

Websites: It will be hard to find a good website, or books.

You can find some videos on YouTube but more people in the event space industry sell courses to get access to the information.

Where should you market your event space:

This varies so you should try a few different ones and find which ones work best for you.

These are some that I use. THIS IS NOT AN EXTENSIVE LIST these are just enough to get you going:

Google my business (FREE)

Google Ads (Paid)

Eventective (Paid)

Event UP(Paid)

Peerspace (Takes a percentage of your booking but FREE to list your event Space)

Splacer (Have not used yet but currently setting up my profile)

Yelp (FREE)

Gigster (FREE to list you event space)

Facebook market place (FREE)

Instagram (FREE)

LinkedIN(FREE)

Your local Chamber of commerce

Partnerships with local planners

I do not know your exact area in Idaho so I cannot give a definitive comment on your pricing but $250 is typically what you would pay for a community center which is different from a dedicated event space.

You also have to factor in cleaning your venue which can take about 2 to 3 hours if doing it yourself so you should price that into your rental price.

Also, with a price point that low, yes, it is accessible to more people but you open yourself up to more people that will not respect your event space and would be more prone to damage the building potentially.

Because you have a full kitchen and bar you could operate it as a ghost kitchen. You could also rent it as a production space, meeting space, co-working space, etc.

Given that you are not looking for a lot of business but just a little bit of extra cash flow doing one (1) rental per day is easy for 1 person to manage so I would not worry about attempting to have 2 events per day so maximize profits.

As for add-ons that will be based on the quality of product you provide and what the going rates are in your area. For example, I include a Bluetooth sound system and upgraded chairs but I charge to rent my projector and screen but some of the other venues in my area include a projector but charge for upgraded chairs. You will have to play around to find out what works best for your market.

If you will be running it as a business it would be best to get your business license for it. Alcohol laws vary state to state and city to city so since I am not in your state I cannot give a set comment on that but typically you will have to have a licensed bartender onsite which is also good for you for insurance purposes.

You can get a $2 million dollar insurance policy for the entire year for around $1000 it would be better for your peace of mind to get it for the entire year.

Thank you everyone for the advice and encouragement. I am going to do my homework and I will keep you updated on how it goes.

I would like to self manage to start so I can understand and know how to set my expectations of a property manager.

my father-in-law has is own HVAC company so I am covered there and between my father who has experience building homes and me being generally handy minor (non-electrical) repairs we can handle but I do have connections to licensed electricians because of my job.

I am just nervous about screening tenants myself since I have never done that I am not sure where to start, including well written rental contracts.

It used to be my in-laws primary residence (4 bed, 2 and half bath) until the just recently moved and they are leaving the property to me and my wife to manage. After running the rental comps in the area and taking into account (mortgage + insurance, CapEx, Maintenance, Vacancy, property manager) expenses on the property on the low end should be about $400 per month in profit.

I have property in Conyers, Georgia that I would like to rent out but I am nervous and it has overwhelmed me a little bit. I appreciate some advice and recommendations for properties managers in or near the Conyers area.

 There is a lot of potential to make more smaller wedding venues charge $4000 on the low end per wedding plus reception.

 Hey @John Underwood,

I own an event venue (Encaptivating Events), if you decide to allow weddings you should definitely charge extra typically wedding venues charge $800 to $1000 just for the ceremony which includes setup, facility and staff costs. You only have facility cost so you could charge less if you wanted and as others have mentioned have them get event insurance and add you as a beneficiary to protect your investment. 

I would not allow receptions to be held there because you cannot control every person's actions and especially when drunk. Given Airbnb's party policies it may be good for you to take this on a case by case basis and get a wedding contract.

Get details such as: Date and Time of the event, include your properties capacity limits, cleaning fee, how damages will be handled, what is and is not allowed on the property, what vendor services will be on the property the day of the event (Catering, DJ, Alcohol, etc.) , Liability coverage.