How Much Does Event Lighting in New York Cost?

As a leading technical event production company, we provide full-service technical production services to special event producers throughout New York and New Jersey. One of our major markets is providing event lighting in New York. We’re often asked to provide quotes outlining our event lighting services.

There are many elements that affect the final cost of event lighting in New York. Many venues that we work with have some form of lighting that they provide, so we are often asked to supplement existing systems. Other venues need complete lighting services right down to building truss systems to act as a platform for our designs.

Let’s take a closer look at four main elements that we consider when we prepare a price quote for event lighting in New York.

Equipment Required For the Event Lighting in New York

When a client first contacts us, we start by asking a series of questions to develop an understanding of their needs and goals. Every event is different and has it’s own personality, unique needs and goals.  Event lighting is a major factor to consider when planning any event, and the basic requirement of any price quote hinges upon exactly how much equipment is needed, the time it will be needed and the complexity of the set up.

We have the capabilities to design a lighting plan from scratch including rigging, setting up trussing if necessary, lighting design, computerized lighting and special effects. Because we’ve been providing event lighting in New York for years, we know many of the venues, what they have and what they don’t and we can supplement any venue’s lighting capabilities.

We can help you to design the perfect event lighting and create magic for your audience. We will work with your budget to create lighting that will dazzle your guests and leave them talking about your event for days afterwards.

Labor

We work with your budget to build a team of technicians for each phase of your special event. We have logistics and moving experts, lighting designers, production assistants, electricians, operators and lighting technicians on our in-house team. Depending on your needs, we assemble the perfect team for your event.

When you’re planning your event, you need to keep in mind that the size of the production, the schedule and the complexity of the build are major factors affecting the amount of labor needed. Our team has experience lighting every type of event from small intimate weddings or Bar and Bat mitzvahs, to corporate business conferences and full-blown rock concerts for 100,000 people.

We work closely with you to build the perfect team to meet both the needs of your production and your budget. You can count on our staff to handle every aspect of lighting your event, from designing the system, to load-in and set-up, to operating the lights during your event and tearing it all down when it’s over.

Length of Your Event

Just like in other service-based industries, technical event production technicians and crew are paid based on a time minimum, with overtime charges after the minimum is hit. We base most of our positions on a ten-hour minimum with time and a half starting after ten hours. If an event lasts multiple days, labor is based on a per-day charge as well.

The time the equipment is out is also a factor when we’re pricing a job. Whether your event is one night, a week-long conference or a yearlong theater production affects how we price your rental. We take into account the length of time the equipment will be out of the warehouse and also the time needed for load-in and set up and price accordingly. If the set-up happens the day prior to the event, or if the load-in time is limited and additional labor is needed to get the job done on time, we factor that into the quote as well.

One way we work to save you time and money onsite is to properly prepare the gear before we truck it to the site. This can save time onsite and reduce the number of crew needed to finish the setup. While this may seem like a superfluous charge, in the end it can save you aggravation and money.

We also have an in-house sales department that can help build a permanent lighting solution for restaurants, clubs and function halls.

Location

Another  item we consider when creating a quote is the location of your event. While most of our work is event lighting in New York and New Jersey, our team has extensive experience in venues large and small, indoor and outdoor, all over the US.

Trucking charges are often overlooked when planning your budget. We often hear, “But why do I have to pay for trucking?” It costs money to ship items and even more to truck them to a site. As producer, it’s something to keep in mind when allocating your production budget.

A few logistical factors we consider when building your quote include:

1.  If a show or job requires more than one truck, additional charges apply.
2.  If you are staggering load-in times to accommodate other vendors, such as when mounting a business conference, additional charges apply if we need to make multiple trips.
3.  Some venues can’t handle larger trucks because the dock space is too small so we may need to use multiple smaller vehicles.

We have extensive experience working in many venues in New York and New Jersey. Our knowledge helps us to plan the logistics for your event and based on our prior knowledge, we can often save you time and money.

While there are dozens of other factors that can affect your quote, accounting for the equipment, labor, logistics and schedule when planning your event can help you to avoid surprises once you receive your quote. Because each event is unique there is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Each quote is always prepared specifically for your event and we take the time to work with you closely and explain all the options when putting your quote together. The team at BML-Blackbird can walk you through each step of the process with ease.

You can trust BML-Blackbird to prepare an accurate quote, taking your creative vision and budget into account. We offer our clients creative, cost effective production solutions for sound, staging, video and event lighting in New York and beyond. As veterans of the entertainment and event production industry, we’ve seen it all and we’ve done it all thousands of times. Give us a call and let us bring our knowledge and experience to your project.