Same Booth, Six Cities, Six Labor Bills.
Ship one 20×20 to Las Vegas in January, Chicago in March, Philadelphia in June and New York in the fall, and the structure never changes. The labor line does. Who may touch the booth, which tools they may use, when straight time ends and which services are exclusive all change at the loading dock. Most programs budget labor as one number. It is really a different number in every city.
Five variables decide your labor bill before anyone picks up a tool
Union rates get the blame, but the rate is rarely the biggest difference between cities. What changes the bill is how much work your own people may do, and how the rest is ordered and billed.
Who may work
Almost every venue lets an exhibitor’s own full-time employees do some setup, and some require proof of employment, such as a pay stub or W-2, and a minimum length of service. Those rights belong to your staff only. They do not transfer to a contractor’s crew, freelancers or temporary staff.
What they may use
The line between “hand tools only”, “power tools allowed” and “no tools or ladders” is drawn differently in each city. Ladder heights are capped where ladders are allowed at all. Forklifts, lifts, scaffolding and pallet jacks are off-limits to exhibitors almost everywhere.
How big a booth staff may build
Some venues let your staff build any size booth. Others draw the line at a small footprint, a single trip, or a set number of minutes, and anything beyond that needs a contracted crew.
When straight time ends
Weekday daytime windows, overtime and double-time rules, and minimum calls vary by venue and by show. A crew ordered for a one-hour task can still bill a minimum call, and in some trades that minimum runs for hours.
What is exclusive
Electrical and rigging belong to the venue or the official contractor in every major city we work in. Material handling usually does too. These lines are not negotiable, so the plan has to work around them.
Venue policy sets the outer limits. Each show’s exhibitor kit sets the working rules, hours and rates, so the same building can run differently from one show to the next. Read the labor page of the current kit before you plan anything.
How the rules typically play out in six major markets
These are the patterns we see in recent venue policies and show manuals. Treat them as a starting point for planning, not a substitute for the kit of the show you are going to.
Las Vegas
Nevada is a right-to-work state, but that does not mean your team can build freely. Major shows at the convention center restrict exhibitor work to full-time employees and keep ladders, forklifts and pallet jacks off-limits. Electrical, rigging and material handling go to the official contractor, and at some resort venues the building’s in-house team is the exclusive provider for electrical and rigging.
Where the bill growsWork outside the weekday daytime straight-time window, crews held to a minimum call, and late cancellations that still bill. Our Las Vegas venue guide covers what each hall allows you to build.
Chicago
Reforms at McCormick Place changed the picture for exhibitors. Full-time employees may now work in any size booth with ladders, hand tools and power tools, install their own signs and graphics, and plug in their own equipment. Lifts, forklifts, scaffolding and motorized dollies are still prohibited. The reforms also widened weekday straight-time windows for several trades and made two-person crews the default.
Where the bill growsIllinois is not a right-to-work state, contracted labor rates are among the highest in the country, and weekend and holiday work is billed at premium rates. Details by hall are in our McCormick Place guide.
Orlando
Florida is a right-to-work state, and full-time employees can generally assemble displays with tools, set signs and graphics, and plug in once power is delivered. The convention center itself is the exclusive provider of electrical, rigging and other utilities, and bundles that labor into its flat utility prices.
Where the bill growsMechanical equipment and material handling remain with the official contractor. All overhead signs are hung by the venue, even if your team assembles them.
New York
The tightest of the six. Exhibitor staff may typically erect only small displays, around 250 square feet, without tools or ladders unless approved in writing in advance. Carpenters, freight handlers and electricians each work under their own union, with their own straight-time hours and minimum calls, some of them several hours long.
Where the bill growsLong minimum calls, separate crews for separate trades, and strict hand-carry limits on vehicle size, carts and time at the dock.
Philadelphia
Labor agreements turned the Pennsylvania Convention Center into one of the most exhibitor-friendly union venues. Full-time employees may set up and dismantle any size booth with their own power tools, ladders up to six feet, and their own dollies and hand trucks. Weekday overtime applies only after eight hours of work, whatever the start time.
Where the bill growsHard-wiring still needs a venue electrician, and power-actuated tools are never allowed. The exhibitor rights do not extend to an exhibitor-appointed contractor’s crew.
San Francisco
California is not a right-to-work state. Recent show manuals at Moscone allow exhibitor setup only for small, quick jobs. Once a booth is larger than a 10×10 or taller than ten feet, takes more than about thirty minutes, needs tools, or needs more than one person or one trip, labor must be ordered.
Where the bill growsAlmost any custom or island booth falls into contracted labor, so the labor order is the core of the install plan rather than a supplement to it.
The labor bill is decided at the drawing board
A booth that travels needs to be designed for the most restrictive building on its calendar, not the friendliest one. Every hour you engineer out of the install saves money in every city, and most in the expensive ones.
Frames, panels and graphics that lock together by hand cut install time everywhere, and keep more of the work within what staff may do in the stricter cities.
Every rigged element pulls in an exclusive crew, a rigging plot and a minimum call. Ask whether a freestanding tower or header can do the same job as a hanging sign.
Electrical is exclusive everywhere. A clear power plan, submitted on time, avoids the on-site waits that keep the rest of the crew billing.
Weight matters too, because the same decisions that set your drayage bill also set crew size and hours. We cover those choices in freight by design, and what the install actually looks like hour by hour in move-in day, hour by hour.
Six decisions that keep the labor line where you forecast it
- Read the labor page before you read the floor plan.
Note who may work, the tool and ladder rules, straight-time hours, minimum calls and cancellation terms for this show and this building.
- Decide who installs: your contractor or the official contractor.
An exhibitor-appointed contractor brings a crew that knows your property, but it needs its own approval and certificate of insurance. See the three approvals an island booth needs.
- Schedule into straight time.
Move-in targets that land inside the weekday window are the single cheapest lever you have. A target set for the afternoon of the last move-in day almost guarantees overtime.
- Order crews to fit the minimum call.
If the minimum is four hours, plan four hours of work for that crew rather than ordering a short task and paying for the rest.
- Submit electrical and rigging early.
Late orders cost more and get scheduled last. Our show services guide maps the deadlines.
- Use staff rights where they exist, and nowhere else.
Let your team handle graphics, merchandising and plug-in where the rules allow it. Do not stretch those rights in a strict city; a dispute on the floor costs more than the crew.
Stop forecasting labor as a percentage
A flat labor allowance applied across a calendar will be too high in some cities and too low in others. Forecast labor per show, from that show’s rules, and the variance finance sees at year-end shrinks.
The same discipline helps when you defend the budget. Showing that a Chicago or New York install costs more for structural reasons, and that design choices have already reduced it, is a far stronger conversation than explaining an overrun after the fact. The costs that sit with the venue and the show, rather than your exhibit partner, are mapped in half your trade show bill is outside anyone’s control.
The rate is set by the city. The hours are set by the design and the plan. Only one of those is yours to control.
Show labor FAQs
Can our own staff set up our trade show booth?
Usually, within limits. Most venues let an exhibitor’s full-time employees do some setup, but what they may do varies widely: some cities allow any size booth with power tools, others limit staff to small displays without tools or ladders. The current show kit’s labor rules decide it.
Why does installation cost more in some cities than others?
Rates differ, but the bigger factors are how much work exhibitor staff may do, straight-time windows, minimum calls, and which trades are exclusive. A booth that staff can partly build in one city may need several contracted crews in another.
Does our exhibit contractor’s crew count as exhibitor staff?
No. Exhibitor work rights apply to your own full-time employees. A contractor’s crew works under the venue’s contractor rules and needs to be approved by show management, usually with a certificate of insurance.
Can we do our own electrical or rigging?
No. In every major US venue we work in, electrical and rigging are exclusive to the venue or the official contractor. Exhibitors can usually plug in their own equipment once power is delivered, within the limits the show sets.
Different rules in every city. One fixed number for each show.
We install across the country and plan every show around that building’s labor rules, from tool-less design to straight-time scheduling, then price it as one all-inclusive number, so the city does not decide your budget.
Plan Your Next Install →
