The Second Invoice: Every Show Service You’ll Be Billed For, and When to Order It.
The booth is one invoice. The show is another — electrical, internet, rigging, cleaning, lead retrieval, labor — and it arrives from four different vendors with four different deadlines. Here’s the full list, what each line actually covers, the traps, and the calendar that keeps floor-rate surcharges off your bill. Miss the advance deadline and most of these cost 30–50% more.
Nobody sends you one bill
A trade show has at least four parties who can invoice you: the show organizer (space, sponsorship), the general contractor (drayage, labor, furniture, carpet), the venue or its exclusive providers (electrical, internet, rigging, cleaning), and the registration vendor (lead retrieval). None of them talk to each other, and each has its own order form and its own deadline.
That’s why “show services” is the part of the budget that blows up. The booth was quoted once. The services get ordered piecemeal, often by someone who’s doing it for the first time, often after the discount deadline. We wrote about drayage separately because it’s the biggest single shock; this post covers everything else on the second invoice.
The booth is quoted once. The services are ordered eight times, by four vendors, on four deadlines.
Eight services, what they cover, and the trap in each
Electrical
Power drops to the booth, ordered by amperage and location (a 5-amp drop for a monitor, 20-amp for a video wall or demo rack). Usually an exclusive venue or GC provider.
The trapOrdering by guess. Underspec and your video wall trips a breaker on day one; overspec and you pay for power you never use. Also: the drop lands where the floor plan says, and moving it on site is a labor charge. Send an electrical layout with the order.
Internet
Hardwired drops or dedicated Wi-Fi, from the venue’s exclusive provider. Required for live demos, lead capture that syncs, and anything cloud-based.
The trapAssuming the free show Wi-Fi will carry a demo. It won’t, at 2 pm with ten thousand phones on it. A single hardwired drop is often several hundred dollars, and it is the cheapest insurance in the budget.
Rigging
Anything hung from the ceiling — a hanging sign, truss, lighting — installed by the venue’s rigging crew, with a structural review beforehand.
The trapRigging has the earliest deadline of anything on this list because the sign has to be engineered, approved, and scheduled for a crane slot. Late rigging orders are declined, not surcharged.
Labor (I&D)
Installation and dismantle crew. In union venues, some tasks must be done by GC or union labor; your own crew can only do so much.
The trapStraight time vs. overtime. Move-in that runs into evening or weekend hours bills at 1.5× to 2×. Scheduling the build in daytime hours — which starts with when the freight arrives — is worth thousands.
Carpet and flooring
Many shows require floor covering across the whole space. Rent it from the GC or bring your own; either way it’s on the order form.
The trapForgetting it entirely and discovering the requirement at move-in, when the only option is the GC’s standard carpet at floor rates. Padding is a separate line.
Cleaning
Vacuuming and porter service during show days. Booth cleaning is typically not included in the space fee.
The trapA three-day show with carpet, food, and a thousand visitors needs nightly vacuuming. Skipping it saves a small amount and makes day two look like day two.
Lead retrieval
The badge-scanning app or device, licensed per unit from the show’s registration vendor. It’s how your lead list comes back with real contact data.
The trapOrdering one device for a six-person booth, or ordering none and collecting business cards. Also: the export format. Check it before the show, not after, so the list actually loads into your CRM.
Furniture, AV, and material handling
Rented seating and counters, monitors and mounts, plus drayage — the fee to move your freight from dock to booth and back.
The trapShow-floor furniture and AV rental is convenient and expensive. With a full-service booth these are inside the fixed price; if you’re ordering them yourself, do it before the advance deadline. Drayage gets its own explainer.
Deadlines, working backward from move-in
Exact dates vary by show and are published in the exhibitor kit. The shape is consistent: advance rates close three to four weeks before move-in, and everything ordered after that costs more — or can’t be ordered at all.
- 8–10 weeks out: rigging and hanging signs.
Submit drawings and weights for structural approval. This is also when your exhibit house needs the booth design frozen.
- 6 weeks out: booth approval and EAC.
Island designs go to the show for approval; if you use your own installer, file the exhibitor-appointed contractor form and insurance certificate. Order and details here.
- 4 weeks out: electrical, internet, carpet, cleaning.
The advance-rate deadline for most venue and GC services. Send the electrical layout with the order.
- 3 weeks out: lead retrieval, furniture, AV.
Registration-vendor and GC discount deadlines. Confirm quantities against your staffing plan.
- 2 weeks out: advance warehouse freight.
Shipping to the advance warehouse instead of direct-to-show gives you a confirmed delivery and a daytime install slot.
- Move-in: reconcile on site.
Walk the booth with the order forms in hand. Every service that didn’t show up is a credit to claim; every one you add now is at floor rate.
Rule of thumb: if you’re reading the exhibitor kit for the first time inside four weeks, something on this list is already at floor rate.
A realistic services budget for a 20×20
Ballpark figures for a national show at a major US venue, ordered at advance rates. Union venues and Las Vegas rigging run higher.
Electrical (two to four drops plus a 20-amp circuit for AV), one hardwired internet line, nightly cleaning. Rigging for a hanging sign adds $2,000–$6,000 on top.
Drayage on a 20×20’s freight, carpet and padding if required, install and dismantle labor at straight time. Overtime or a late-arriving shipment pushes this to the top of the range fast.
Lead retrieval licenses for the booth team, with the export checked before the show.
Add it up and show services on a 20×20 are commonly $8,000–$20,000 on top of the exhibit — which is why they belong in the budget from day one, not as a surprise at day 30. For the full picture of what’s controllable and what isn’t, see this breakdown of the show bill.
What a full-service partner orders for you
The reason most exhibit managers hand this to their exhibit house isn’t that the forms are hard. It’s that the forms are interdependent: the electrical layout depends on the booth design, the rigging order depends on the sign engineering, the labor estimate depends on the freight schedule. Whoever built the booth is the only one holding all of it.
On our projects, show services are ordered on the client’s behalf as a tracked step with its own deadline — electrical layout, rigging drawings, carpet, cleaning and labor all filed against the exhibitor kit’s advance dates, with the client keeping visibility on every order. The exhibit itself stays one fixed, all-inclusive number covering design, fabrication, graphics, AV, shipping, install and dismantle. That leaves the venue-controlled services as the only variable on the sheet — ordered early, at advance rates, by the people who know what the booth needs.
What show services do I need to order for a trade show booth?
Typically electrical, internet, rigging (if anything hangs), installation and dismantle labor, carpet or flooring where the show requires it, booth cleaning, lead retrieval, and any rented furniture or AV. Drayage (material handling) is billed by the general contractor on your freight weight.
When is the deadline to order trade show services?
Advance-rate deadlines for most venue and general-contractor services close three to four weeks before move-in. Rigging and hanging signs need structural approval and close earlier, often eight to ten weeks out. Orders placed after the deadline are billed at floor rates, typically 30–50% higher, and some services can’t be added late at all.
How much do trade show services cost for a 20×20 booth?
At advance rates, commonly $8,000–$20,000 on top of the exhibit itself: venue services (electrical, internet, cleaning) $3,000–$7,000, rigging $2,000–$6,000 if you hang a sign, GC services (drayage, carpet, labor) $4,000–$12,000, and lead retrieval $500–$1,500. Union venues and Las Vegas rigging run higher.
Can my exhibit house order show services for me?
Yes, and it’s usually the better arrangement, because the electrical layout, rigging drawings and labor schedule all depend on the booth design and freight plan that the exhibit house controls. Confirm that the orders are placed against the advance deadlines and that you keep visibility on each one.
One invoice for the booth. Advance rates on everything else.
We quote the exhibit as one fixed, all-inclusive number and order show services on your behalf against the exhibitor kit’s deadlines — so the second invoice is planned, not discovered.
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