What Event Crews Really Cost in San Francisco
Day rates, overtime thresholds, and the line items producers forget until load-out.
A four-day conference at Moscone looks like one budget on paper and another one entirely by strike. The gap is almost always crew: not the headline day rate, but the overtime, the meal penalties, and the second truck nobody planned for.
Across the shows we track, general labor in San Francisco is clearing $32 to $38 an hour, with lead positions between $42 and $55. Registration leads and AV techs sit at the top of that band because the supply is thin during spring and fall conference season.
The practical move for producers is to post earlier and price honestly. Listings that publish a pay range fill roughly twice as fast in our data as listings that say competitive, and they attract fewer unqualified applications, which saves screening hours you are also paying for.
Budget the second truck. Budget the meal penalty. And treat your standing crew roster as an asset worth maintaining between shows.
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- san francisco