What is the first question anybody asks when they are looking to hire an outdoor festival stage? How much is it going to cost me to hire a covered stage for my event......

Well this website should hopefully answer this question and many other questions you may have quickly accurately & honestly. As mentioned above mobile stage hire is part of the outdoor stages company & we stock four sizes of stages: 6m by 4m | 7m by 5m | 10m by 8m & our largest 12m by 10m stage.

The cheapest, smallest mobile stage that we currently offer is our 6 meter by 4 meter mobile stage which has an internal usable area of 24 square meters this stage can be built on 2ft staging legs or 1 meter stage legs & the same goes for our 7 meter by 5 meter mobile stage as well but our bigger 10 meter & 12 meter stages are built using 1.2m or 1.5m high stage legs.

The cost of hiring a small 6 meter by 4 meter covered outdoor mobile stage is £700 plus the delivery & crew charges for building the stage. Now obviously depending on where your festival is plus any logistical issues you might have gaining access to the festival site might affect the delivery and the crew charges but this website gives you a very good indication as to how much it will cost you to hire an outdoor mobile stage.

We would recommend budgeting around £1,200 for a 6 meter by 4 meter mobile stage, a budget of around £2,000 for a covered 7 meter by 5 meter mobile stage, then we suggest budgeting £6,000 for a 10 meter by 8 meter outdoor stage and around £9,000 for a 12 meter by 10 meter covered festival stage. Now depending on the location & the time of the year these pricing parameters can change but good deals can always be done with good people who plan ahead.

Please note that the above stage prices are based on our 2019 fuel & crew costs.

One of the most common questions we are asked is ''Do you have any pictures of your outdoor mobile stages? or ''Can you email me pictures of your mobile stages please'' the answer is yes of course we do & we do our best to catalogue all of the different mobile stages we stock. We try to photograph not just the largest of mobile stages and the biggest of productions but also the smaller local festivals and as you'll see our 6 meter by 4 meter mobile stage & 7 meter by 5 meter mobile stage are becoming very popular with festival organisers. The easiest way to document all of these pictures is by using Instagram and you'll see at the top of this website a tab that says ''Gallery'' and as you would expect here you will find our Mobile Stage Hire Instagram page showing you a whole host of outdoor festivals we have worked on.

This next question which is common when somebody is enquiring about one of our mobile stages and they are unsure about what size stage to hire is ''How many artists or How many people can fit on the stage at one time'' this is a very tricky question to answer because you can have a 6 piece jazz band or a 6 piece vocal only backing track group or you can have a 6 piece dance & all of these artists would require a different size mobile stage so here we will document what the meterage is of the all our mobile stages and then we will also converted that into square feet so you're fully aware of the usable / internal stage size.

The next piece of information may also help you decide which mobile stage best suits your festival's needs: So a 6m by 4m mobile stage has an internal stage size of 24 square metres which is 258 square feet, now this stage uses 12 panels of stage deck and each stage deck can hold 2 people so you could have up to 24 people standing inside a 6m by 4m mobile stage with no instruments. Hopefully this will now give you an indication as to how many people could fit on the following mobile stages.

Our 7m by 5m mobile stage has an internal 35 square metres of usable stage area which converts to 376 square feet then it is a big jump to our 10 m by 8 m stage, as this outdoor stage has an internal area of 80 square metres which gives you a huge 861 square foot of usable stage area.... and then the mother of all festival stages! Our 12m by 10m fully mobile outdoor festival stage with a massive 120 sq metre stage area you will see these stages at festivals like Reading and Leeds - This stage has 1291 square foot under its roof!

So now what does this actually mean... well below we will give you our recommendations on what size mobile stage you might need:

Music breakdown of our recommendations so with a 6m by 4m stage we would recommend no more than 8 artists as we are compensating for instruments being used. Our 7m by 5m stage can hold a full 12-piece band and this is one of the main reasons this stage is so popular because hire cost for this mobile stage with a basic sound and lighting package is £2,500

The 10m by 8m stage is suited to larger events where you need additional stage space for backline techs to work on stage & monitor engineers have to set up additional equipment on the stage. The only artists that won't fit on a 10 by 8 m stage are normally very large orchestras.

And to finish off we have our 12m by 10m festival stage, well here you have a stage that can hold a 50-piece orchestra & is perfectly suited for an audience of up to 20,000 people. We do also offer the additional stage cowsheds for this stage as some artists require these as part of their contract. If this is the case please let us know so we can add it to your stage. (Yes, we charge for this)

We all love gorgeous sunny days maybe even a gentle wind blowing across your face, but this is England and the reality is although a Monday or Tuesday could be 28 degrees with 0% wind by Wednesday morning there could be 3ft of snow & 70 mile winds but still we are asked what happens if it rains....... Well it would rain.... this isn't ideal for us either as moving or building mobile stages in the rain isn't much fun & we would much prefer (just like yourselves) a gorgeous sunny day but if it does rain it just means the stage platform will become wet depending on the direction of the rain and you may then need to pull back some of the stage equipment if it is very heavy or the rain is coming in from the wrong direction causing equipment to become damp and unsafe to use.

So basically common sense is all that applies here, if the weather is really bad it doesn't matter what stage you have hired it will get wet & the stage platform will get wet but over the last 18 years of supplying and building mobile stages not once has rain alone stopped a stage from being used. (wind yes, rain no) "So, what's the problem with wind?" We get asked..... well although a mobile stage is either weighted or strapped to the ground still wind is your worst enemy. There are strict staging guidelines which outline not just the recommended safety procedure for high winds but the maximum wind rating that the stage can take and still be usable. This differs from stage to stage & also depends on the type of ballast you are using & the location of the mobile stage as we also have to take into consideration the wind gust factor, but all of this is for your safety (and ours) but mostly yours!

Still though people worry that their event could be cancelled due to high winds the short answer is yes there is a possibility that if the weather is that severe it would stop your event continuing but we must stress this is quite rare, doesn't happen very often & is normally in what we were classed at high risk zone for a mobile stage. A good example of this would be festival locations near the seafront as the gust factor can be over 85mph & believe us you won't want to be standing next to 3 tonnes of aluminium in 85mph wind.

Believe it or not we have been asked to build stages in the snow..... The answer is no and same goes for hurricanes!

Of course, you need to know how long the mobile stage will take to build which is a very popular question & rightly so, it comes back to weather & location. When you hire a mobile stage, it needs to be built on a relatively flat surface now of course we don't mean snooker table flat but then on the other hand we have turned up to some festival sites in the past & it's like the Himalayas. Below we will give you a rough build time four each stage size & for the purpose of this exercise we assume two smaller mobile stages come with a basic sound and lighting package while our two largest stages would be built with no sound and lighting.

A 6m by 4m mobile stage once arrived on site is normally under 4 hours until ready to go, lights on & sound technician ready for the first band which is quite impressive considering when you see the pictures of these stage setup... next up is our 7m by 5m & we would assume that you are also going to hire the pa side wings with this mobile stage which takes is up to a build time roughly 6 hours at which point we would be ready for the first band again.

Both the 10m by 8m or 12m by 10m festival stages require a ''one day build'' which we mean one day before the event onto site to build the start building, now although the build time is only usually 8 hours on the 10m by 8m stage & 12 hours on the 12m by 10m stage we much prefer to have that window of time just in case the weather was to change or the ground is particularly bad. We like to play on the side of caution and this is just so we continue to be reliable, on time & work stress free.

If you require your mobile stage to be built quicker this is an option but of course costs more as your crew costs can add up very quickly but anything... is normally... always... possible.

This is very simple to answer, every client has a different requirement / a different vision in mind to some of our other clients. Over the years have built mobile stages 10 meters wide by 8 meters deep for corporate events where only 300 - 400 people have attended, yet we have worked with councils who hire a 6 meter by 4 meter mobile stage or a 7 meter by 5 meter mobile stage & some of these outdoor events have anywhere between 2000 to 5000 across the festival site so it really does depend on the look & feel that you want for your event.

Now if you have less than 3500 attend your event you will generally find a 7 meter by 5 meter mobile stage is fine up to around 4,000 people, at which point you may want to look at hiring a bigger mobile stage.

One thing to bear in mind is that although huge epic outdoor stages look amazing please remember.... you now need the sound & lights to go with the big stage! You need the infrastructure & good access to your festival site. With a 10 meter by 8 meter or 12 meters by 10 meter mobile stage we also require the use of a professional telehandler driver / telehandler on site.

Sometimes it's not as much a budget related decision to hire a small stage but a practical one... Maybe you have a short window of time to set up the stage, sound & lighting in which case a smaller mobile stage would work much better.

If you're still unsure about what mobile stage to hire check out our Instagram page where you can find videos and pictures of all of our stages (we also have a gallery section at the top of this website which links directly to Instagram page if you're having trouble finding it)

When you are trying to obtain a quote to hire a mobile stage one of the first questions any stage hire company should ask is ''what is the ground type that the stage is to be built on''. The ground surface that the stages are to be built on is very important & can affect what equipment is taken to site and what the total build time could be.

Ideally, we like to build on grass as there is no additional cost to you as you don't need to hire stage ballast as we use a special ground anchoring system called spirafix where ground rods up to 1.2 meters long get pinned into the ground holding the mobile stage in place.

The main difference between grass or concrete is concrete you need to hire the required ballast to hold the stage down and this can range from 250 kilos per leg up to 3 tonnes depending on the size stage you have & the location of the stage. Things like how close it is to the seafront, elevation of the ground where the festival is taking place so please never assume that we have ways of securing your stage to a hard surface.... You would definitely be asked this question by one of our friendly staff members way before anything could be booked so don't worry but if you're flicking through some stage websites wondering who to hire a stage from just remember this is a very important part to check.

Mobile stage hire is a d&b audiotechnik sound system stockists which basically means you will never have a problem with any of your DJs', artists or performers as these sound systems are recognised as one of the world's most premium PA systems on the market.

Our d&b Audiotechnik PA sound systems offer a smooth, detailed sound. All of our PA packages are scalable to your event so whether this is 100 people in front of your stage for a product launch, cooking show or 10,000 for your Orchestra / Orchestral music festival it's no problem & we promise to provide a clear, reliable PA system with excellent coverage & unmatched detail.

Many festival organisers book live music acts without fully understanding that a lot of these artists have detailed technical riders which need to be adhered to. The equipment they ask for allows them to perform but depending on the calibre of artist you are booking there always be some wiggle room in terms of compromise.

We always suggest that it's a good idea to obtain a quote for the additional ''backline'' required for the potential artist to perform this way you won't have any nasty surprises a few months or weeks before your festival. We are one of the very few mobile stage companies that takes the side of the organiser as opposed to the artist.... many of these artists can perform with minimum amount of equipment thus saving you money which allows you to spend this in other areas of your production or maybe another stage or marketing so just to reiterate always ask a professional sound hire company to look over what it is the artist is asking for & if it seems a reasonable request considering the size of the event and other parameters that may affect the advice given.

At least then you'll have the opportunity to go back to the artist management company suggesting that maybe the equipment you already have on site is more than suitable to allow them to perform & as a lot of the time these artists turn up and they have no idea what was ever asked for and it's just a generic email which is sent out with all artist management firms so be smart and save your money :)

For our 6 meter X 4 meter mobile stage we suggest a platform height of 1.5ft or 1.1 meters & the same goes for a 7 meter X 5 meter and 8 meter X 6 meter mobile stages. When you are hiring a larger mobile stage such as a 10 meter X 8 meter or 12 meter X 10 meter structures these start with a stage leg height of 1.2 meters. We can offer deck heights up to 1.8 meters but please contact us before you choose as all of these options depend on our availability / time of year as we get very busy.

You can have the stage platform any height that you wish but for custom legs there are additional charges and this can add up quickly. This is why we suggest using our standard 460mm (1.5ft) stage legs or 1100mm (1.1 meter) stage legs

I've been waiting to write the answer to ''why book your stage with Mobile Stage Hire Company'' and here is my best sales pitch to you.

Mobile Stage Hire is part of the Outdoor Stages company which is ran by a small, tight, efficient, knowledgeable, reliable, trustworthy team! We don't use any old freelance sound or lighting technician. We stock the right branded professional sound & lighting equipment & we turn up on time, at the right location & do exactly what's been asked of us.

We then pack up, tidy up & drive to our warehouse - That is why people come back to us. Starting a stage hire company is not easy & over the years there has been many that have tried but we are still here, still one of the most trusted while also always trying to improve not only the service but the staging packages we offer at a price point we feel is fair & balanced for both parties.

There are some very cheap mobile stage companies out there we all know what it is like to fly with a budget airline so now imagine they are building your festival stage which is going to support thousands of pounds worth of sound & lighting equipment not to mention people's lives.

There is a very big difference between paying the right amount of money for a very good deal or any amount of money for a very bad deal. A common call we get in the summer months are calls to us explaining that they have a problem with the stage they have hired from another company & do we have any availability? Unfortunately, the answer is often we are fully booked. Remember hire cheap, hire twice...