Home Show Booth Prices: How to Set Them

To set home show booth prices, start from your total show budget and the square footage you can realistically sell, work out a base rate per square foot, then add premiums for corners, islands and high-traffic spots and a discount for early or returning exhibitors. Test the result against what contractors and dealers in your market can earn from the leads they take home. This guide covers each step, with example rates and a worked example you can copy. Every figure is a planning example, not a market rate.

If you are still setting up the show, start with our guide on how to plan a home show. To run the numbers for your own floor as you read, open the exhibitor pricing calculator.

How Home Show Pricing Differs From a Trade Show

A home show, or home and garden show, sells consumer attention to local businesses: remodelers, roofers, window and siding companies, kitchen and bath showrooms, landscapers, pool and spa dealers, solar installers and lenders. Those exhibitors judge the show by the appointments and quotes they book, not by brand awareness. That has three effects on pricing:

• Lead value drives willingness to pay. A contractor who closes one large job from the show may happily pay for a big booth. A small decor seller may not.
• Big displays need big spaces. Spas, sheds, sunrooms and outdoor kitchens need large footprints, often outside or near loading doors.
• Category balance matters. Too many of one trade side by side, and exhibitors complain. Pricing and placement go together.

Step 1: Build the Show Budget

• Venue: Exhibit hall rental for move-in, show days and move-out, plus any venue service charges.
• Marketing: TV, radio, outdoor, digital and social ads, which for a consumer home show are often the largest line after the venue.
• Decorating and services: Pipe and drape, aisle carpet, signs and the general service contractor.
• Features: Stage, speakers or local TV personalities, feature gardens and seating.
• Staffing and security: Show staff, registration, security and cleaning.
• Insurance and permits: Event liability and any fire marshal or permit fees.
• Payment and admin costs: Card processing, software and printing.
• Contingency: About 10 percent as a planning assumption.

Step 2: Count Sellable Square Feet

Gross hall space is not sellable space. Aisles, fire lanes, entrances, the stage, feature areas and food service all take room. Lay out the floor plan first, then total the square footage of the booths on it. Apply a realistic sell-through rate: a new show may sell 60 to 75 percent of its space; an established show with a renewal list may sell out.

Step 3: Set a Base Rate per Square Foot

The base rate is the price of an inline booth, open on one side. Revenue needed from booths divided by sellable square feet sold gives your break-even rate. Add a margin, for example 15 to 25 percent as a planning assumption. Then round it to a clean number and check how it looks on a 10x10 booth, because that is the price most small exhibitors will compare.

Step 4: Price by Booth Size and Position

Booth Sizes

• 10x10 inline: The entry booth. Price at the base rate.
• 10x20 inline: Twice the space. Many shows keep the same rate per square foot; some offer a small discount to encourage larger booths.
• 20x20 and larger: Often sold as islands or peninsulas with their own rate.
• Outdoor or large display lots: For spas, sheds and vehicles. Often priced per lot rather than per square foot, depending on access and visibility.

Corner, Peninsula and Island Premiums

A corner booth is open on two sides, a peninsula on three and an island on all four. Each extra open side adds visibility and room for a display. Common approaches, as planning assumptions, are a flat fee per corner, such as a set amount per open side, or a percentage surcharge, such as 10 to 20 percent for a corner and more for an island. Flat fees are easier to explain on a small booth; percentages scale better on large ones.

Location Premiums

Booths at the main entrance, next to the stage or on the main aisle see more traffic. Price them as premium positions, or offer them first to returning exhibitors in a renewal window. Keep the premium modest and the reason visible on the map.

Step 5: Use Early Bird and Renewal Pricing

Home shows often sell next year's booths at this year's show. An on-site renewal rate, an early bird discount until a set date and a price increase as the show gets closer all reward exhibitors who commit early, and give you cash for venue deposits and advertising. Our guide to early bird booth pricing covers deadlines, discount sizes and how to avoid training exhibitors to wait.

Step 6: Define What the Fee Includes

List exactly what comes with the booth and what costs extra. Exhibitors compare shows on this list, and disputes start when it is vague.

• Usually included: Pipe and drape, an ID sign, exhibitor badges, a show guide and website listing.
• Usually extra: Electricity, carpet in the booth, tables and chairs, internet, rigging, water for spa displays, cleaning and lead retrieval.
• Optional upgrades: Sponsored stage talks, logo placement, ads in the show guide and featured listings.

Worked Example: A Two-Day Regional Home Show

Here is a hypothetical home and garden show in an exhibit hall with 180 booth spaces on the plan, all in 10x10 units, so 18,000 square feet of booth space. Every number is a planning example, not a market rate.

• Venue and services: $45,000
• Marketing: $40,000
• Decorating, carpet and signs: $15,000
• Stage, features and speakers: $8,000
• Staffing and security: $10,000
• Insurance, permits and admin: $6,000
• Subtotal: $124,000
• Contingency at 10 percent: $12,400
• Total budget: $136,400

The organizer expects $16,400 from admission and $10,000 from sponsors, leaving $110,000 to come from booths. Expecting to sell 80 percent of the space, or 14,400 square feet, break-even is $110,000 divided by 14,400, about $7.64 per square foot. With a margin, the organizer sets the base rate at $9 per square foot, so a 10x10 inline booth is $900.

• 60 10x10 inline booths at $900: $54,000
• 20 10x10 corner booths at $900 plus a $150 corner fee: $21,000
• 12 10x20 inline booths at $1,800: $21,600
• 8 20x20 islands at $9 per square foot plus 15 percent: $33,120
• Early bird and renewal discount, 50 exhibitors at $75 off: minus $3,750
• Projected booth revenue: $125,970

Those booths use 60 plus 20 plus 24 plus 32 units, or 136 of the 180 units, about 76 percent of the space, a little under the 80 percent plan. Projected booth revenue of about $126,000 against the $110,000 needed leaves roughly $16,000, which covers a slow sales year or the next show's deposits. Model your own version in the exhibitor pricing calculator.

Check the Price Against Exhibitor Value

Before you publish, look at the fee from a contractor's side. A remodeler adds staff time, display costs and travel to your booth fee, and needs enough appointments to make it worth it. Share honest attendance figures and what you do to bring in homeowners with real projects, such as advertising and features. Our broader trade show booth pricing guide covers the same value check for business shows.

Show Prices on the Floor Plan

Corner fees, island premiums and entrance positions are easier to sell when exhibitors can see them. A floor plan with every booth numbered, sized and priced, with the entrance, stage and feature areas marked, answers most questions before they reach your inbox. With booth sales software, exhibitors can pick an available booth on the map, see its price and pay online, and the booth turns sold for everyone else.

Common Home Show Pricing Mistakes

• Dividing costs by every booth on the plan instead of the space you will really sell.
• Charging the same for a corner as an inline booth.
• Pricing large outdoor display lots at the indoor square-foot rate without checking access and visibility.
• Leaving inclusions vague, so exhibitors are surprised by electricity and carpet charges.
• Discounting heavily in the final weeks, which teaches exhibitors to wait.
• Selling too many booths to one trade and losing exhibitors over crowding.

Home Show Booth Pricing Checklist

1. Build the full show budget with a contingency.
2. Subtract admission and sponsor income to find what booths must cover.
3. Lay out the floor and count sellable square feet.
4. Find break-even per square foot and add a margin.
5. Set sizes, corner, peninsula, island and location premiums.
6. Set early bird, renewal and final rates with firm dates.
7. List what the fee includes and what costs extra.
8. Publish prices on the floor plan and the exhibitor prospectus.