Nouvelles5 min de lecture
Nouvelles5 min de lecture
Renting gets you clean walls for one show and nothing to store afterward. A custom build gets you a booth shaped around the work it has to do, show after show.
Our reusable wall flat rentals come out of the same Vancouver shop where we design and build custom trade show booths. It's the shop that has fabricated scenic for film and TV for 20 years.
Which one fits depends on what the booth has to do, how many shows it will do and what the show allows.
The first is what comes with the floor space. At CHFA NOW Vancouver, the standard 10′ x 10′ booth for 2027 includes grey carpet, an 8′ black drape back wall and 3′ drape side walls.
Other shows sell the bare floor. The BUILDEX Vancouver manual for 2027 calls it raw space. You get a black drape at the back, and flooring, back walls, power and furniture are all extra.
The second is a rental exhibit. That's usually a modular display kit: a frame with printed graphics, booked through an exhibit company or the show's contractor. For a logo wall and a table, it's often the right answer.
The third is hard walls. These are real walls you can paint, wrap in vinyl or put signage on, rented for the show and returned after it. That's what we rent.
Our flats are 10′ tall, framed in aluminum and faced with 3/8″ paper-faced plywood. We developed them in-house. They come in a range of widths and connect with our Wedge Wall system instead of screws, so they assemble fast and break down clean.
For a painted finish with no visible joints, Seamless Walls have a 1″ recessed channel along each edge. The joints are taped and filled like drywall, then painted as one continuous wall. They're available with doors, windows and inside and outside corners, which is enough for a backdrop or a small room without fabricating a single panel.
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An 8′ limit is standard for in-line booths, and BUILDEX holds in-line walls to it. Island back walls and exhibits of 400 square feet or more can go to 12′, with the design approved first.
Our flats stand 10′. That fits islands and larger exhibits where the show allows the height, and events that don't have booth height rules.
Our flats are finished on one side. Against a back drape or the wall of the hall, nobody sees the frame. Anywhere the back is in view, it has to be finished.
BUILDEX requires the back of every side wall to be fully finished in a neutral colour with no logos. Your neighbour looks at it all show. An island wall needs a finished back too.
Walls aren't the whole booth. For its 2026 show, the Vancouver Fall Home Show supplied 8′ pipe and drape and called hard walls optional but strongly recommended. Exhibitors still had to bring their own floor covering, lighting, tables and chairs.
Rent when the booth is a backdrop and the calendar is short:
Modular flats make sense when you need something fast, clean and predictable. The walls go up, do the show and come back to our shop, so there's nothing to store.
Build custom when the booth has to do something a flat wall can't: a demo counter with storage underneath, shelving that carries product, a meeting spot. The ILIA x Sephora makeup station we built for a mall activation is the kind of piece we mean. It has a curved counter with a mirror and long display shelves, and a matching cart beside it. A mall isn't a show floor, but it's the same shop and the same millwork.
Custom takes what it takes. Six to twelve weeks is a good window for most custom booths, and the build costs more up front. That cost spreads across every show the booth does.
Many custom booths are built for reuse from the start. We can store, refresh or rebrand the pieces between events. Our guide to what drives the cost of a custom trade show booth covers what moves the budget.
A booth doesn't have to be all one or the other. Rent the walls and build the piece people touch, like the counter or the product display. After the show the walls come back to us and the custom piece goes into storage for the next one.
Custom builds, modular flats, or a mix. If flats are the better fit for your footprint or timeline, we'll say so.
FAQs
Renting is cheaper up front, because you pay to use walls that already exist. A custom booth costs more at the start, and that cost spreads across every show it does. If the booth will travel for a few years, compare the totals across those shows.
A show's own package is often pipe and drape, sometimes with carpet. A rental exhibit is usually a modular display kit, a frame with printed graphics. A hard wall rental like ours is the walls themselves: 10′ aluminum-framed flats that take paint, a vinyl wrap or signage. Flooring, power, lighting and furniture are usually ordered separately, so check the exhibitor manual.
The exhibitor manual sets the limit. An 8′ limit is standard for in-line booths, and larger spaces can go higher. BUILDEX Vancouver, for example, allows up to 12′ for exhibits of 400 square feet or more with an approved design. Check the manual before you order walls.
Yes, if the show's height limit allows the flats. Rented walls can stand behind a custom counter or display that does the work up front. After the show the walls go back, and the custom pieces can be stored for the next one.
For a custom booth, six to twelve weeks is a good window. Rentals depend on what's available for your dates, so ask as soon as the show is confirmed. Either way, send the exhibitor manual early. It sets the height limit and spells out what you still need to bring.
Send us the exhibitor manual and your booth size. We'll tell you whether to rent, build or do both.