A new AI platform launching at the end of February 2026 promises to solve the exhibition stand build industry’s most persistent bottleneck: getting concepts and quotes out the door fast enough to win business.

Ask an exhibition stand builder what’s holding them back, and you’ll hear the same frustrations: too many enquiries, not enough enquiries, designers are too busy, and a quoting process that’s bleeding opportunities to faster competitors.

The numbers tell the story. A full-time designer costs £30-55K annually, or more, but can only produce 3-5 detailed designs and quotes per week. Freelancers charge £500-£2,000 per project and take 1-2 weeks to deliver. For a builder fielding 10 enquiries weekly, the maths simply doesn’t work; either quotes go out slowly, the leads go cold, or opportunities get turned away.

“I’ve seen builders lose projects, and not because their design wasn’t good enough or their pricing was off, but because they couldn’t get a quote out fast enough. I’ve been one of those builders” says Joe Everley, founder of Boothly. “A client needs concepts by Monday. It’s Thursday afternoon. Your designer is booked solid. The project tends to go to whoever can respond fastest, regardless of who’d do the better job.”

The Real Cost
Beyond speed, there’s the economics. Design overhead makes smaller projects, normally anything under £5,000, essentially unprofitable for professional builders. That’s not a small market segment. It’s thousands of potential projects annually that simply get turned away because the design cost can’t be justified.

Freelancers offer flexibility but come with their own problems: inconsistent quality, uncertain availability, zero integration with your systems, and costs that quickly add up when you’re quoting multiple projects simultaneously.

Employed designers solve the quality and integration issues, but create a fixed overhead that doesn’t flex with enquiry volume. Quiet month? You’re still paying full salary. Busy month? You’re still constrained by their capacity.

A Different Approach
Boothly, launching at the end of February 2026, takes a fundamentally different approach. It’s an AI-powered design platform built specifically for exhibition stand builders, not a generic design tool retrofitted to the sector.

Builders input stand size, budget, layout configuration, and brand assets. Within minutes, the platform generates professional 3D design concepts complete with itemised costing. Unlimited variations, unlimited revisions, and ready to present under the builder’s own branding.

The system understands the exhibition industry. It knows spatial constraints, traffic flow, modular systems, and component economics. It doesn’t just make things look good; it generates designs that can actually be built within the stated budget.

“We’re not replacing designers,” Everley emphasises. “We’re eliminating the bottleneck. A builder handling 150 quotes annually could potentially handle 500. Or they focus on high-value projects while still serving smaller clients profitably. It’s about having the capacity to say yes more often.”

Why It Matters Now
The exhibition industry is experiencing a fundamental shift. Exhibitors expect faster responses, clearer pricing, and professional presentations, regardless of project size. Builders who can deliver on that expectation win business. Those who can’t, lose to competitors who’ve figured out how to scale their design and quoting process, without scaling their overheads.

“The only way to truly understand the value is to see it work,” says Everley. “We’re not asking builders to take our word for it. We’re asking them to try it on a real project and see if it changes how they think about their quoting process.”

Because ultimately, this isn’t about AI or technology. It’s about whether a builder can respond to Thursday afternoon enquiries with Monday morning concepts, serve the £4,000 projects they currently turn away, and win more of the opportunities they’re already chasing.

If that’s the problem, Boothly might just be worth a look.

Please note: This is a promotional feature