WAYS TO SAVE MONEY ON YOUR HAUNT

[jason]

what are some good tips on ways to cut costs/save money for your haunt attraction?

[Jim Warfield]

1) Hire only ugly, scary looking people to work for you, saving a ton of money on masks and make up!
2)Build everything yourself, even if it might take you a couple of years, not only will you potentially be saving money by building but it will also serve to educate you on the fixing of these devices someday. And when they need fixing, you already own the right tools!

[ALittleFreaky]

I love Jim's idea, of only hiring ugly and scary people, so you save on masks and make-up! Thats freakin funny!!

[lurker]

Yard sales, junk stores, flea markets. Sometimes it takes a lot of time to hunt down the right items, but it is wonderful when you find great items for next to nothing. And speaking of nothing, don't over look dumpster diving. We American's only throw away the best. Of course there is also Freecycle. http://www.freecycle.org/ People list stuff they no longer want, but don't want to take to the dump or junk store. If you stay on top of it, you can get some really cool stuff for free.

[SomeThingInTheIce]

Sometimes you may have to spend more to save later. When I was building the facades for the town of Old Mill I bought cheap screws now that was okay for putting the facades together but I used the same cheap screws to put them up. After being in the Florida weather for three months these screws were in the wood good. When I went to take the town down meny (more then half) striped there heads or worse broke off. I should have bought better screws for the put up and take down it would have saved me time and money as I will have to get better screws next year.

[Darkblood]

Sounds like you got 'screwed'...
Hehehe...

Kirk

[Jim Warfield]

"You got screwed!" hahahaah!
Funny thing is the cussing and moaning began months afterward? How unusual! Time -release screws!
I like the hex-headed ones, more opportunitys to have the bit find some part of it to grab ahold of when reverse is where the drill is.
Of course I think the first hex-headed ones I bought were made in Canada and were so sharp and went into the wood so fast it was scary!
Now all I can buy are made across the ocean, they aren't as fantastic but they are still better than the old phillips heads.

[SomeThingInTheIce]

I may look for those hex head, the phillips head striped so easy. Thats what happens when you try to go cheap. I even was thinking of bolting them, a little more work but they won't come apart and there would be no broken screws, that was a pain in the a$$.

[Darkblood]

When my partner and I purchased the Lion's Club Haunt and went to tear down we found that most of it was NAILED together...uh can somebody say crowbar! It was a pain...until we got to the panels and parts WE helped put up...good screws = easier to work with!

Kirk

[Jim Warfield]

Unless you are going to nail and GLUE something together, nails can always work their way out, making a nailhead hazard for the people walking by, bumping into the walls, dragging their shoulder across them, ex cetra.
Never use nails.