Ask five event companies how they price and you will get five answers. One charges a percentage of the total budget. Another quotes a flat planning fee. A third prices everything at cost and earns on vendor markup. Most end up with some blend of the three, often without ever writing the rule down.
None of these models is wrong. What goes wrong is not knowing which one you are actually running, and therefore not noticing when it stops paying.
The three common models
1. Percentage of the event budget. You charge a fixed share of what the client spends. It scales naturally: a bigger event means a bigger fee. It is easy for clients to understand, and it keeps you aligned with the scope of the work.
The weakness is that the fee depends on a number you do not control. If the client trims the budget halfway through, your fee shrinks, but the work rarely does. Revisions, extra site visits and last-minute changes cost the same whether the event is large or small.
2. Flat fee. You quote a fixed amount for planning and coordination. Clients like the certainty, and you like not having to defend a percentage. It works best when the scope is clearly defined: a one-day conference, a launch, a single-function wedding.
The weakness is scope creep. A flat fee quietly turns into a loss when the client adds a second venue, a larger guest list or three more rounds of changes and nobody reprices.
3. Markup or commission on vendors. You buy services from vendors and sell them on at a higher price, or you earn a commission from the vendor. It can be a healthy part of the margin, but it is the hardest to keep track of, because the real cost and the client-facing price live in different places.
Hybrid. In practice, many companies combine a planning fee with a markup on selected vendors. That gives a predictable base with some upside, but it also means every event has more moving parts to keep straight.
Where margins actually disappear
Margins rarely vanish in one dramatic mistake. They leak in small ways:
- A vendor quote is revised upward, and the client-facing number is never updated.
- A cash advance is paid outside the books and forgotten.
- Extra work is done for the client as a favour and never billed.
- The markup is calculated on the original estimate, not the final cost.
If you only look at profitability when the event is over, or at the end of the quarter, these leaks are already history. The fix is to see the margin while the event is still running.
What to track for every event
Whatever model you use, keep these five numbers visible per event:
- Client budget or contract value — what the client has agreed to pay.
- Your fee — planning or coordination charges, and how they were calculated.
- Vendor cost, estimated and actual — and the gap between the two.
- Markup or commission earned — separately from your fee.
- Margin so far — recalculated as costs change, not only at the end.
When these live in one place, pricing decisions get easier. You can see which event types actually pay, which clients create the most rework, and whether your percentage or flat fee still matches the effort.
A note on GST
How GST applies to your own service fee versus costs you pass through to the client can differ depending on how the work is structured and invoiced. Keep the two clearly separate on your paperwork and confirm the treatment with your chartered accountant. We cover the invoicing side in GST invoicing for event companies.
Choosing a model
A simple way to decide: use a flat fee where scope is tight, a percentage where scope grows with the budget, and markup only where you can track the true cost per vendor. If you mix them, write the rule down for each event type so the whole team quotes the same way.
Then review it. Pull the margin for your last ten events and compare it with what you expected when you quoted. The gap is usually the most useful pricing lesson you will get all year.
Strukto keeps the budget, vendor costs and invoices for each event on one record, so your margin is visible while the event is still running. See how it works →