Event companies need to be agile when producing events. That means they need to have access to the most skilled freelancers to work with their core teams while minimizing risks and maximizing profits. With freelancers, they can acquire skilled labor when and where they need it.

At Mertzcrew, we’ve created crew management software that can help event companies vet, hire, and manage their freelancers. Working with an AV freelancer contracting services like Mertzcrew can save you time and money, helping you deliver memorable events that your clients will love. Here are some of the ways that working with an AV contracting service can save you money every time you produce an event.

What Are Some Direct and Indirect Costs Related to Contracting AV Freelancers?

The cost of hiring AV freelancers can be high, and there are several ways that working with AV freelancer contracting services can help you save on both direct and indirect costs. Here are some direct and indirect costs examples.

Direct Costs of Hiring AV Freelancers

The direct costs of hiring AV freelancers also happen to be the highest costs. They include the following:

• Hourly wages. Freelancers are independent contractors and often earn more per hour than a full-time employee. These expenses can be minimized with efficient scheduling, since you only need to pay freelancers for the hours they work.
• Travel. If you don’t have a way to hire freelancers who live close to your event site to work with your small team, then travel expenses—which include transportation, accommodations, and food—can add up quickly.

The result of high direct costs to hire freelancers may be a bigger event budget, resulting in higher costs for your clients and potentially, less profit for you.

Indirect Costs of Hiring AV Freelancers 

While paying and transporting freelancers can be expensive, these costs aren’t the only ones you need to think about. Indirect costs of hiring freelancers include:

• Time to identify and vet skilled AV freelancers in cities around the country, which may take hours of your time.
• Resources to hire teams (or pay existing employees) to onboard freelancers, collect documentation including proof of insurance, execute and manage contracts, track time, and pay freelancers for their work.

These indirect costs can also add up. It’s possible that, without careful tracking, you could end up spending far more than you realize in the process of hiring, onboarding, and managing freelancers for your events.

What is the Potential Impact of High Freelancer Costs on Event Companies?

The direct and indirect costs of hiring freelancers can have a significant impact on you and your clients:

• Your operating expenses will be higher than they need to be, making cost reduction difficult and at the same time, making it impossible for you to maximize profits.
• You’ll spend your valuable time contracting event staff instead of focusing on producing live events that your clients will love.
• Behind-the-scenes costs can contribute to cost concerns, particularly when you add things like legal, bookkeeping, and freelancer management.

Without the right freelance management system, you may find that you’re struggling to produce the top-quality events your clients expect.

How Can Event Companies Benefit from Using an AV Freelancer Contracting Service?

Now let’s talk about some of the ways that using an AV freelancer contracting service can benefit your event company.

Cost-Saving Opportunities

Producing any live event requires hours of hard work. AV solutions like Mertzcrew can help you reduce labor costs on every project. You won’t need to spend your valuable time and money searching for and hiring the best freelancers because your contracting service can do that for you. While freelancers cost more per hour than employees, cost-saving opportunities still exist because you’ll save time.

Access to the Best Talent

Outsourcing to contractors can be competitive, particularly when there are multiple events going on in the same geographical area. With Mertzcrew, you’ll get access to our database of skilled AV freelancers, making it easy to acquire the best talent every time you produce a live event.

Risk Mitigation

There are risks associated with live event production and using an AV contracting service can help you mitigate them. For example, with Mertzcrew, you won’t need to worry about obtaining insurance for an independent contractor who doesn’t have insurance already. We can help you find insurance, as well as tracking insurance coverage for every freelancer you hire.

Improved Efficiency

Producing any live event is a difficult job with plenty of moving parts. It can be a challenge to keep track of your event schedule, your small team of employees, and track the contractors you’ve hired to do freelance work. Contracting solutions like Mertzcrew can help AV companies be as efficient as possible, saving both time and money.

Reduced Administrative Burden

On a related note, the administrative burdens of live event production can be cumbersome even for a smaller event, particularly if you don’t have an all-in-one solution to help you track freelancers, your employees, and third-party services all in the same place. With Mertzcrew, you can reduce your administrative burden substantially.

Scalability

Finally, working with an AV freelancer contracting service makes it possible to scale your company, taking on more and larger live events with ease. You can keep your core team small and agile, supplementing with skilled AV freelancers to help you with event technology and production.

Reduction of Risk Through AV Freelancer Contracting Services

There are always risks associated with live event production. Using a freelancer contracting service like Mertzcrew can help you mitigate those risks. Keep in mind that risk mitigation is just as important as cost mitigation, because risks can add to your costs. So, even though freelancers cost more per hour than employees, you can rest easy because you won’t need to worry about risks that can add to your expenses over time.

Here are three areas where working with a contracting service can help you reduce your risks and mitigate added costs that can accrue when risks aren’t handled properly:

• Freelancer insurance. Production insurance is a must for freelancers. Many freelancers carry their own insurance policies, but you need a convenient way to track their insurance. You can do that with Mertzcrew, and if you have freelancers who require insurance, we can help you get it.
• Structured contracts. Every AV freelancer you hire needs a structured and compliant contract. Using the right AV freelancer contracting service can help you to create compliant contracts quickly, collect signed contracts, and easily confirm whether a freelancer has an existing contract with you to avoid potential issues.
• On-time payments. Paying AV freelancers on time is your responsibility, but without the right software solution, it can be tricky to collect and track invoices and issue timely payments. With Mertzcrew, it’s easy to do all of that and more.

You can see why a key benefit of using an AV freelancer contracting service is that it allows you to mitigate potential risks such as lawsuits, costs related to injuries, and more. You’ll reduce your liability and at the same time, lower the risk of large costs related to liability or worker’s compensation claims.

Key Factors to Consider When Choosing an AV Freelancer Contracting Service

There are several key considerations to keep in mind when you’re choosing an AV freelancer contracting service.

Reputation and Experience

The first thing to consider is the reputation and experience of the contracting service. How long have they been in business? Do they have solid reviews and a good reputation for delivering excellence? We suggest reading online reviews and asking for references, as well as doing some research to learn about the company.

Customer Service

Customer service should be a focus of your deliberation process. The AV contracting service you choose should offer multiple pathways of support and have extended customer service hours to ensure you can get the help you need when you need it. Options should include technical support as well as customer support.

Automation and Streamlining

If you’re going to pay for an AV freelancer contracting service, it should be one that helps you to automate and streamline the tasks associated with freelancer management. These may include things like creating and tracking contracts, tracking insurance coverage, tracking tax forms, onboarding, invoices, and freelancer payments. As a reminder, Mertzcrew is the only AV contracting service that can provide insurance to AV freelancers that don’t already have it.

Tracking and Data

Finally, you’ll need software that allows you to track and manage your skilled AV freelancers. Ideally, you’ll find a solution that allows you to create event schedules and rosters, assign roles, track freelancers’ time on site, and produce reports to give you an overview of each live event you produce.

Maximize Your Profits with Mertzcrew

Producing live events requires dedication, time, and money. While you need to hire the best freelancers available, which can be costly, you also need to find ways to reduce your overall expenses, minimize risks, and maximize your profits. Using Mertzcrew allows you to accomplish all of these things and more.

Are you looking for an all-in-one AV freelancer management solution? Mertzcrew is here to help! Click here to schedule a free 15-minute assessment and learn how Mertzcrew can help you increase your profits and reduce your risks.