The first early move-in hours for CES 2027 exhibitors start in late December. A company hiring its booth builder in mid-November has about 6 weeks until then, which is too little time to design and build a new custom booth. The options that fit are a rental from a Las Vegas builder’s existing inventory, or an update to a booth your company already owns.
We’re Xibit Solutions, a Las Vegas-based exhibit builder with over 20 years of experience, and CES is one of the shows we build booths for. Our founder, Richard Spinella, started in the industry in 1987 building crates for a large CES project. Today we design, build, rent, install and store booths from our North Las Vegas facility.
How much time is left to build a booth for CES 2027?
CES 2027 runs from Wednesday, January 6, to Saturday, January 9. The CES badge pickup page lists early move-in exhibitor hours starting December 26 at some locations of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), and December 29 at other LVCC locations and at the Venetian Expo. The regular move-in dates for your booth are in the exhibitor manual for your venue.
Plan by counting backward from your move-in date. Before the installers can start on your booth, your team has to approve the design and send final graphics, and the builder has to build the booth or pull it from inventory and deliver it to the hall.
Candy Adams, an independent exhibit-management consultant, advises that if you plan to build a new exhibit or rent one, “you’ll need to start planning a minimum of three months before your ship date.” Two options can still work on a shorter schedule:
- A rental from our inventory. We often accommodate last-minute rental requests, because the structures are already built and the work is mostly planning the layout, printing your graphics and scheduling installation. What we can offer depends on what’s in our inventory at the time.
- An update to a booth you already own. Adams says that when an existing exhibit needs only minor changes and updated graphics, the work “can generally be accomplished in a matter of weeks.” We print new graphics in our own shop, refurbish worn parts and, if your booth is modular, can change its size, for example from 20’x20′ to 10’x20′.
Last-minute rental orders, those placed less than 3 weeks out, typically carry rush charges.
Should you rent or build a custom booth for CES?
For CES 2027, a rental from a builder’s inventory is the realistic choice for a company that doesn’t own a booth, and a company that does can update the one it has. A custom booth, rented or bought, fits a later show. Buying one makes sense when you’ll use the same booth at three or more shows, because owning it usually pays off over several uses.
| Rental from our inventory | Custom rental | Custom build (you own it) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fits a November start for CES 2027 | Yes, depending on what’s in our inventory | No, it needs 3 to 4 months | No, it needs 3 months or more before the ship date |
| Booth cost for a 20’x20′ | From about $18,000 (our starting price) | $30,000 to $80,000 (our published range) | $80,000 to $200,000 (our published range) |
| Design freedom | Your graphics and layout on structures we already have | A new design, built for you to rent | Any shape, materials and features the venue allows |
| After the show | It goes back to our inventory, so you have nothing to store | It goes back to us, so you have nothing to store | You own it. We can store it, ship it to your next show or refurbish it |
| Best fit | A late start, a first CES, or a company that changes its booth size or look from show to show | A new look for one show, planned 3 to 4 months ahead | A company that will use the same booth at three or more shows |
In all three cases, CES space and show services are billed separately from the booth.
A rental from inventory is still designed around your brand. We configure the structures to fit your space and print your graphics in our own shop, so the booth carries your colors, products and messages. Our booth rentals page explains what a rental includes, and our guide to trade show booth rentals for Las Vegas conventions covers booth sizes and booking times for shows here. For the wider rent-or-buy decision, beyond CES, see our guide to renting or purchasing a booth.
How much does a CES booth cost?
A CES 2027 booth will likely cost about 2.5 times its space fee in total, once you add the booth itself, show services, shipping and travel. For a 20’x20′ booth, space at the CES rate of $53 per square foot costs $21,200, which puts the whole show at about $53,000.
The 2.5 figure is an average across B2B trade shows, not CES data. A survey by CEIR, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research, found that exhibit space makes up 40.5% of total exhibitor spending, so the total runs about 2.5 times the space cost. That average fits a rental booth better than a custom one. For a 20’x20′, a custom build alone can cost more than the whole estimate, so expect a much higher total. Use the average as a starting estimate until your quotes come in.
The $53 rate is the published rate for open exhibit space for companies that aren’t members of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which produces CES. The rate is lower for CTA members who booked earlier.
Space and a rental booth from our inventory start at these figures for three common sizes:
| Booth size | CES 2027 space at $53 per sq ft | Rental booth from our inventory, starting price | Space plus rental booth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10’x10′ inline | $5,300 | About $10,000 | About $15,300 |
| 10’x20′ inline | $10,600 | About $13,000 | About $23,600 |
| 20’x20′ island | $21,200 | About $18,000 | About $39,200 |
Our rental prices cover the booth structure, custom-printed graphics and standard furnishings. On a 10’x10′, the space and a rental booth alone come to nearly three times the space fee, so expect a small booth’s total to run above the 2.5 average.
Show services and other costs
Some costs come from work done on the show floor: moving your freight from the loading dock to your booth, which is called material handling, plus installation and dismantle labor and electrical work. The table shows what the show’s official general service contractor, the company CES appoints to provide these services, charges for them at CES 2027. CES has published these summary rates on its exhibitor manuals page, and the full rates are in each venue’s manual.
| Service | LVCC | Venetian Expo |
|---|---|---|
| Material handling | $0.71 per lb, 100 lb minimum | $0.71 per lb, 100 lb minimum |
| Installation and dismantle labor | $98.50 an hour straight time, $157.85 overtime | $98.50 an hour straight time, $157.85 overtime |
| Electrical labor | $128.35 an hour straight time, $245.60 overtime | Not listed in the summary rates |
At $0.71 per lb, handling 1,000 lb of freight costs $710. Small packages up to 30 lb are free. Power is a separate order from electrical labor. At the LVCC, a 500-watt outlet costs $115.35 when ordered by the advance deadline and $173.05 at the regular rate.
A few other costs belong in the budget:
- Freight to Las Vegas and back, for anything built or stored outside the city.
- Sales tax, which is easy to leave out.
- Rush charges for work ordered late, which Candy Adams warns “can double your bill.”
Our article on the hidden costs of trade show exhibiting covers freight and late-order surcharges in more detail.
What does a CES booth builder have to handle?
At CES, you register your builder with the show for your booth, and the builder has to hold any permit the venue requires and follow the labor, structural and fire rules for your hall. These rules can change from year to year, so check each one against the 2027 manual for your venue.
Can you set up your own booth at CES?
Under the CES 2026 rules, you could set up your own booth if the work was done by full-time, permanent employees of your company, according to the 2026 welcome letter for the Venetian Expo. The 2027 rules are in your venue’s exhibitor materials.
Registering your builder and checking its permit
CES describes exhibitor appointed contractors, or EACs, as independent contractors hired by exhibiting companies, and a booth builder you hire is one. You designate each EAC company that will work in your booth by submitting an EAC designation form. CES asks the exhibitor to submit this form, so it comes from you even when we handle the rest of your show paperwork. At the LVCC, the builder also needs the venue’s own permit. The LVCC’s contractor application page says “Any contractor working at the Las Vegas Convention Center must obtain an EAC permit.” Ask your builder to confirm it holds that permit before you sign.
Labor rules that change by venue
Union labor rules differ between Las Vegas venues and sometimes within one building, as Betsy Earle, founder of Event Driven Solutions, has written. When we install a booth, we bring in a union crew through our relationships with local union halls, and an Xibit supervisor or project manager directs the crew on site, following the rules for your hall. Our installation and dismantling page explains how that works from move-in to teardown.
Engineering stamps for double-deck booths
If your company owns a double-deck booth (one with a second story), check where its engineering stamp comes from before you bring it to the LVCC. The stamp is the seal a licensed engineer puts on the booth’s structural drawings to certify the structure. An advisory published by EXHIBITOR in December 2025 said “LVCC is currently requiring Nevada-specific engineering stamps for all double-deck booth structures,” and that stamps from other states that may have been accepted in the past “no longer meet requirements.” If your drawings carry another state’s stamp, they may need a new stamp from an engineer licensed in Nevada before move-in. When we install a booth, we submit its engineering documents with the rest of the show paperwork.
Fire rules for booth materials
Drapes, curtains and other fabrics in your booth must be verified as flame resistant under the Clark County Fire Department’s guideline for indoor exhibits. The proof is a certificate of flame resistance. It goes in with the booth plan and is checked during inspections on site. For the booths we build, we make sure the materials carry the fire-rating certifications the venue requires.
Where to find CES 2027 exhibitor deadlines
CES 2027 exhibitor deadlines are in the manual for the venue your booth is in, and CES links each manual from its exhibitor manuals page. In your manual, look for these dates:
- Show service orders. Electrical and other show services cost more when ordered after the advance deadline.
- Freight dates. Freight can go to the advance warehouse, where the show’s official general service contractor holds it before move-in and then delivers it to your booth, or directly to the hall. Each route has its own arrival dates.
- Plan approvals. Booth plans and hanging signs, which are rigged from the hall ceiling above a booth, each have their own submission dates.
- Builder registration. The EAC designation form and the LVCC permit page list no deadline, so register your builder as soon as you hire one.
- Set-up deadline. For CES 2026, the LVCC letter required all booths to be completely set by 3 PM on Monday, January 5, the day before the show opened. Booth space not occupied by then would go back to CES. Check your venue’s 2027 exhibitor materials for the CES 2027 deadline.
When we build a CES booth, our team reads the venue manual, tracks these dates and submits the forms and service orders on our clients’ behalf, including electrical orders, rigging requests and booth inspection scheduling. For everything else about getting ready for the show, see our CES show guide.
Why hire a Las Vegas-based builder for CES?
A Las Vegas-based builder builds and stores your booth near the CES venues, which makes the weeks before the show, and the show itself, easier to manage. Our fabrication shop, graphics production and warehouse are all at our North Las Vegas facility, near the Strip. For a CES booth, that means:
- Lower freight costs. A booth built here doesn’t need long-distance shipping to reach the hall.
- Problems found before move-in. We can assemble your booth in our warehouse and check it before it leaves, so a missing part or a misprinted graphic turns up here instead of on the show floor.
- Replacement graphics during the show. If a graphic is damaged during setup or a message changes at the last minute, we print a replacement in our own shop.
- Credentialed local crews. The crews we bring in hold the credentials Las Vegas venues require.
- Storage after the show. The booth can go back to our climate-controlled warehouse until your next show, so you don’t need warehouse space of your own.
Questions to ask a CES booth builder before you sign
Ask two or three builders the same questions, and ask each one for a quote that lists costs the same way, so you can compare them line by line.
- Which CES venues have you built booths in, and how recently?
- Will you be registered as our exhibitor appointed contractor, and do you hold a current LVCC contractor permit and certificate of insurance?
- Will our booth come from your existing inventory, from an update of our current exhibit, or from a new build?
- By what date do you need our approval of the design and our final graphic files to avoid rush charges?
- When will the booth ship, and will it go to the advance warehouse or directly to the show?
- Who will install the booth, and how will you handle the union labor rules in our hall?
- What does your quote leave out, such as CES space, show services, freight and sales tax?
- Who will place our electrical, rigging and other show service orders, and who will track those deadlines?
- Where will the booth be built and stored?
- Who will be our contact on site during move-in and the show?
If you’d like us to be one of the builders you ask, we’ll answer each of these questions for your space, your venue and your dates. Contact us today at (702) 361-7502, or get your free estimate.
