How Much Does a Booth at AHR Expo Cost?

Budgeting a booth for AHR Expo at McCormick Place comes down to three things: booth size, how much custom build and LED you want, and the Chicago show costs that catch first-timers off guard (drayage, labor, electrical). Here are realistic 2026 ranges for an exhibit rental at AHR Expo.

That band covers the booth, graphics and show services below. It excludes the floor space itself, which you buy from the AHR Expo organiser.

What our LED costs at AHR Expo

Most companies quoting AHR Expo are reselling somebody else's panels and will not put a number in writing. We own and install ours, so here is the actual price list.

Posters join together into walls and the tower's panels build walls too, so an AHR Expo LED budget often starts as a poster count rather than a square-footage quote. On these rates buying pays back in roughly two shows — see the LED cost guide for the full rent-versus-buy arithmetic.

What AHR Expo exhibitors actually spend it on

AHR Expo is a hvacr show with roughly 1800 exhibitors, and that changes where the money goes. Rugged product-display booths, backlit product walls and clear sightlines for working equipment demos.

Give working equipment room to breathe with clear sightlines and a backlit product wall; use LED loops to explain how the system works.

Timing: AHR Expo runs each January, and a January show means your graphics and freight deadlines land in the middle of the holidays — print shops and carriers both run short weeks, so lock artwork in November.

• Custom vs. modular — a rental modular system costs far less than a fully custom build.
• LED video wall — fine-pitch LED is the biggest single upgrade (and the biggest traffic driver).
• Show services at McCormick Place — McCormick Place freight and material handling is Teamsters work, billed per hundredweight by the show's official contractor — the same advance-warehouse-versus-showsite maths applies as in Las Vegas.
• Labor — Chicago is the opposite of Las Vegas on self-install: McCormick's Exhibitor Bill of Rights lets your own full-time employees set up a booth of ANY size using their own ladders, hand tools, cordless and power tools. IBEW still owns anything past a standard outlet, and Carpenters/IATSE own overhead rigging and hanging signs.

The McCormick Place line items exhibitors miss

These land on the official contractor's invoice rather than your booth vendor's, and they are where AHR Expo budgets break.

• Drayage is billed by weight, round trip — per hundredweight, with a minimum per shipment that is usually 200 lbs. Three 150 lb boxes bill as 600 lbs, not 450. The same freight on one pallet bills about 25% less, which is why everything we ship goes in rolling flight cases. Full breakdown in the drayage guide.
• Electrical is priced by your deadline — advance ordering typically runs 30–50% under floor pricing for the identical drop. Get your LED power draw in writing and order early.
• Docks and routing at McCormick Place — North and South buildings plus Lakeside and West — confirm which building your hall sits in before routing freight, because they are a long way apart.
• Plan ahead — Design for your own crew to assemble. Chicago is the one major hall where power tools and ladders in your own booth are permitted, and that is where the labor saving is.

Ways to cut your AHR Expo bill

• Consolidate freight into one shipment. Minimums are charged per shipment, so this costs nothing and is decided before anything leaves your building.
• Use your exhibitor rights. McCormick Place lets your own full-time staff assemble a booth of any size with ladders and power tools, so design for your own crew and the install line is yours to control. Rigging, hanging signs and anything past a standard outlet still belong to the trades. See the McCormick Place guide.
• Rent the structure, own the LED. If AHR Expo is one of three or more shows you do a year, the LED pays for itself faster than the booth does.
• Lock graphics early. Artwork is the real clock on every rush job.

Chicago lets you build your own booth. Las Vegas does not.

This is the single biggest cost difference between AHR in Vegas and AHR at McCormick Place, and almost nobody quoting you will mention it.

McCormick Place operates an Exhibitor Bill of Rights that lets your own full-time employees set up and dismantle your booth in a booth of any size, using their own ladders, hand tools, cordless tools and power tools approved by the facility. Compare that with a Las Vegas hall, where if your staff installs the working limit is no power tools and no ladders.

• Who qualifies — an exhibitor employee, defined as a full-time employee of at least six months. Contractors and temps do not count.
• What you may do — assemble and dismantle the exhibit, install signs, graphics, props and drapery, and plug in, interconnect and operate your own electrical, computer and AV equipment.
• What still needs the trades — McCormick runs three: Teamsters for freight and material handling, IBEW for anything beyond a standard outlet (power drops, under-carpet wiring, hung lighting), and Carpenters / IATSE for overhead rigging and hanging signs.

Read the full breakdown in our McCormick Place labor and drayage guide, and compare it against the Las Vegas rules before you assume your Vegas install plan transfers.

What that saves an HVACR exhibitor

AHR booths are heavy — working equipment, product walls, real hardware on the floor. That is the profile where I&D labor bites hardest, and where Chicago's exhibitor rights are worth the most. A booth designed to be assembled by your own crew with power tools is a booth whose labor line you control; the same booth in Las Vegas is a labor call you cannot avoid.

We install nationwide, McCormick Place included, so the design conversation is the same wherever AHR lands next — only the labor rules change.

Want an exact number for your booth size at AHR Expo? We'll send a free, itemized quote — usually same day. For the full line-by-line breakdown see our Las Vegas booth cost guide.

What it really costs to exhibit at AHR Expo: the landed total

Your booth vendor’s quote is one line of the bill. The rest lands on the organiser’s and the official contractor’s invoices, and it is where AHR Expo budgets break. Below is the whole bill by booth size, built only from figures the organiser or contractor has published; anything they have not published says so and is left out of the total rather than guessed.

10x10: 100 sq ft, 500 lb of freight, 6 labour hours, 1 outlet

10x20: 200 sq ft, 1,000 lb of freight, 12 labour hours, 2 outlets

20x20: 400 sq ft, 2,500 lb of freight, 32 labour hours, 3 outlets

20x30: 600 sq ft, 4,000 lb of freight, 48 labour hours, 4 outlets

The lever most exhibitors never touch: every extra 100 lb across the dock costs $250 at AHR Expo, round trip. A 20x20 that ships 1,000 lb lighter saves $2,500.

What the sources say about those figures:

• Floor space: Single published rate; includes 8 ft back drape, 3 ft side dividers, ID sign and advance badge registration; no corner/island premium published. Chicago floor stated as sold out (wait-list).
• Material handling: One general material-handling rate of $2.50 per lb covering advance-warehouse and direct-to-venue freight; no crated/uncrated split or minimum published; after-deadline surcharge applies to warehouse freight arriving after January 14 (amount not stated).
• Electrical (not published): Not published; Freeman is the utilities contractor and its 2027 kit is not yet public.
• Labour (venue range): I&D range published on our McCormick Place guide

Assumptions are ours, not the show’s: Freight weight is the crated weight of a rental modular SEG or LED kit of that size, including counters and cases; your crate manifest governs and the drayage minimum applies per shipment. Labour hours are total install plus dismantle at straight time for a vendor-installed booth of that size; overtime and double-time premiums apply outside the contractor's straight-time window. Electrical is one 5-amp/120-volt outlet per lit element at the advance-order rate; an LED wall or tower needs its own circuit, which the kit prices separately. Change any of them in the landed-cost estimator. Rates marked as a range are the published range across recent shows at McCormick Place; your exhibitor service kit governs.

Frequently asked

What is the total cost to exhibit at AHR Expo including drayage and labor?

For a 10x20 at AHR Expo, the published figures add up to roughly $19,860–$33,640: floor space from the organiser $9,460, exhibit rental $7,000–$20,000, material handling $2,500, install and dismantle labour $900–$1,680. It excludes electrical, which is not published. The full line-by-line table and the assumptions behind it are in the landed-cost section above.

How much is a booth at AHR Expo?

A 10x10 rental at AHR Expo typically runs $3,000–$9,000, a 10x20 $7,000–$20,000, and a 20x20 island $18,000–$45,000 — before show services like drayage and labor at McCormick Place. We'll send an exact quote for your size.

Does the price include design?

Yes — design and renderings are included in your quote before you commit.

Is renting cheaper than buying?

For one or two shows, renting is almost always cheaper and simpler. If you exhibit often, owning a modular system can pay off — we'll show you both numbers.