Ground Zero Wednesday, May 06, 2009 With event and exhibit program budgets trimming the fat across the board, designers have to look a little bit harder at the choices they’re making when it comes to materials and supplies. Flooring is an important cog in any exhibit design, but spending big dollars on the floor might compromise the dollars spent on the architecture. Luckily, suppliers are recognizing exhibitors’ needs and are working to provide options that look great and won’t break the bank. Four things to keep an eye out for: Packages. Brumark president Dave Walens says that value-package pricing can give designers the most bang for their buck when it come to finding the right event flooring solution. “Buying carpet, pads, and bags all in one shot and including freight costs to advance warehouse means exhibitors actually can save a lot of money buying it as a package rather than as individual components,” Walens says. Brumark also makes carpet in 10-foot widths so exhibitors are not paying for waste, since most exhibit footprints are measured in 10-foot increments. Options. Interlocking floor tiles like Swisstrax provide a durable, customizable, easy-to-set-up flooring solution at a price that’s easy on the bottom line. “This floor covering is roughly four dollars a square foot, with the ability to put your company logo at any angle, in any area of that flooring inserted into it,” says Swisstrax president Randy Nelson. The Swisstrax floor is stacked on transport carts on wheels, rolled to the booth and laid out 10 square feet at a time. A crew of two people can install a 2,000 square foot floor in an hour. Walens says alternative yarn systems like polyester and extruded polyester (PPT) perform like a nylon carpet, so they will not shed or fuzz. “We will find a solution to the design based on budget. We’re using alternative yarn systems like extruded polyester as alternatives to nylon for certain applications, maybe one-time use or shorter life spans that won’t sacrifice the quality of the look, but still be able to meet the look and design, and keep costs down,” he says. Eco-friendly. Going green doesn’t necessarily mean going overboard on cost, since there are plenty of sustainable materials and recycling programs out there. Green solutions like PPT are made from recycled plastic bottles. Eco-friendliness goes beyond materials, too. “The fact that we can ship directly into advance warehouse keeps people from having to pay freight twice—bringing it into their warehouse and then shipping it out to the show,” Walens says. The reusable nature of panel products such as Swisstrax also lend themselves to green practices. “We’re pushing the green issue with 100-percent recycled product that is recyclable, and we give them a payback per pound once they’re done with it. We also give customers a buyback credit for their new flooring, and we re-grind it and make it into new product when they are finished with it. Why put stuff in landfills when we can use a product that is 100-percent recycled?” Nelson says. Rental considerations. Everyone knows that renting flooring is the most straightforward means of saving budget dollars on carpet or flooring, but designers should weigh all the options when moving forward with big projects. “If an exhibit house buys a bulk load of tile and rents it out to their clients over three to five years, what would the payback be in comparison to renting carpet, using it for three or four events and throwing it out? These are the things you have to ask yourself to get the best value,” Nelson says.
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