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Containing Costs
Techniques
We Love What We Do		We aren't in this to get rich. Far from it! We do this because we love doing it. Our reward is the gratitude we get from clients who realize what a great show they're getting for an insanely low price.
We Kept Our Day Jobs		We are not dependent upon our gigs for our livelihoods. We make a decent living doing our day jobs. We don't have to factor "dead periods" into our prices to ensure that we can make the rent and keep food on our table. In other words, you're not paying for the gig we didn't get next week.
We Only Charge You for the Equipment You Use		If we were accountants (actually, two people with Plantation Productions, Inc., are accountant types, but we ignore them), we'd be developing depreciation schedules and stuff like that to tell us how much we have to charge you for your show. However, we don't feel that you should have to pay a "stupid purchase decision tax" because we bought a cool toy that you have no interest in using. We've put a rental value on every piece of gear based on that gear's purchase price and the labor involved in setting it up and using it; and that's all you're going to pay for that gear.
We Have Standardized Packages		Okay, sometimes we really do charge you for gear you don't use; the end result, however, is that you pay less money for the gear you do use. This may seem like a paradox, but it makes perfect sense if you look at what it takes to run a typical event. Most events of a given size are going to use approximately the same gear. Some shows will use a few more microphones, some might not need a CD player, others don't require "direct in" boxes, and so on. We could spend a lot of time carefully planning exactly what gear you need for your show, pack that gear in the truck, and then discover when we arrive that you really could have used that CD player. So now we have to drive back and grab the needed gear. In the long run, it's less expensive for us to create some standardized packages, that take less time to locate the gear and load up, than it is for us to put together a completely custom show. Sure, you might only need two microphones instead of the four we might include with a package, but in the long run it's cheaper for us to grab a box with all of our microphones than to dig out the two that you need (and then go back and grab more when it turns out you really do need four).
We Tailor the Equipment to the Show		Another way we keep costs down is by carefully tailoring the equipment we use to the event. We would not, for example, drag a $100,000 Sound Reinforcement system to a $75 gig. The fact that we've spent $100,000 on a Pro Audio System, however, doesn't imply that we cannot do low-end jobs. Instead, we have a separate (and much more portable) $1,500 P.A. system we can use on smaller jobs. Similarly, if all you need is a little light in a dark area so the artist or speaker can be seen, we don't need to bring in 15,000 watts of lights and a generator to power them. We can inexpensively throw up some Par38 CFL lamps that take very little power and produce very little heat to do the job. We don't hit you up to cover the costs of the other equipment we have in the trailer – we charge you for the equipment you use. The bottom line is that we have packages to fit a wide variety of needs and budgets. We don't force you to use high-end (and expensive) gear for simple presentations. We have some mid-range gear that will do a great job if costs are your primary concern. For larger shows, where budgetary issues are less of a concern, we can pull the stops out and provide gear you can brag about to the sound reinforcement crowd.
We Stretch out Setup Times		If it is possible, we can reduce extra labor costs by setting up earlier and taking longer to tear down. For example, rather than hiring two additional people to help during set up and strike (tear down), and then stand around during the show, the two engineers who run the show can take 1.5-2 times as long to set up and tear down the equipment. If the venue allows this (i.e., if we can get in earlier and stay later), and it doesn't cost you any extra for the additional setup and tear down time, this is a possible alternative (not as much fun for us, but it is a technique we can use to contain costs).
We Don't Average Our Losses Across Your Job		We don't build in extra charges into our prices to cover the shows that we lost money on (or the shows we're going to lose money on). Yes, our rental prices do reflect some real-world realities, such as equipment breakage and lost or stolen equipment. We do not, however, jack up our prices because we feel we didn't make enough money on the last gig. We fairly price your job based strictly on your event.
We Won't Take on Jobs We Can't Handle Ourselves		If we're committed elsewhere, or if your job requires considerable gear that (even just renting) doesn't make sense for us to obtain, we may respectfully decline the task. Though it is possible to do two simultaneous events under very special circumstances, we generally operate on a "first-come, first-served" basis and decline jobs that have scheduling conflicts. We generally don't subcontract such jobs because that increases your costs.