A note from Johnny Mulder, owner of Arizona Balloon Company — the manufacturer behind the polyurethane helium blimps you’ve seen flying over model homes, car lots, trade shows, and a few places you’d never guess (more on that below).
I’ve been building advertising blimps in the same Glendale, Arizona shop since 1979. In that time I’ve shipped polyurethane helium blimps to NASA, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the U.S. Navy, Arizona State University, and the National Institutes of Health — alongside the home builders, auto dealers, and trade-show exhibitors who make up the bulk of our work. This page is what I tell those customers when they call. It’s longer than a sales sheet because the cheap answer (“yes, we have blimps”) is what gets people stuck with the wrong size, the wrong material, and a helium bill that doesn’t quit.
The one chart that decides whether a blimp pays for itself
Here is the only spec that matters in your first phone call with a blimp company — how much helium the thing eats. Helium prices move, but the ratios don’t. This is the volume each of our polyurethane blimps requires for a single fill, by length:
| Blimp length | Helium per fill (cubic feet) | Best fit |
|---|---|---|
| 10 ft | 72 | Trade-show booth, small storefront |
| 13 ft | 170 | Model home weekends, dealership lots — the size I sell most |
| 15 ft | 255 | Step up when 13 ft gets lost in tall surroundings |
| 18 ft | 319 | Highway-frontage builders |
| 21 ft | 430 | Multi-acre auto dealer, festival lift |
| 25 ft | 787 | Major event sponsorship |
| 30 ft | 1,510 | You-can-see-it-from-the-freeway showpiece |
Read that table sideways and you’ll see why the 13-foot is our most-ordered size. A 13-foot polyurethane blimp delivers visibility comparable to a 20-foot PVC blimp using one-third the helium per fill. That gap is the entire ballgame for builders running blimps every weekend — the helium math, not the sticker price, is what kills budgets.
Why I build in polyurethane and won’t sell PVC
Polyurethane and PVC are not the same balloon in different colors. They are different physics. PVC is a porous plastic — helium molecules are small enough to escape through the wall on their own, no leak required. Polyurethane has a tighter molecular structure. In our shop the same fill lasts noticeably longer in a polyurethane envelope than in PVC, which is why I built the company around it 45+ years ago and why I haven’t moved.
I’ll be direct: if a competitor quotes you a cheaper PVC blimp, the upfront savings will be eaten by helium refills inside the first season of weekend use. I won’t sell you a PVC blimp because I’d rather lose the sale than sell you a tool that costs more to operate than it does to buy.
What every “advertising blimp” page on the internet won’t tell you
Most pages selling advertising blimps were written by someone who has never inflated one. Three things they leave out:
Wind ratings are not weather forecasts. A 13-foot blimp handling winds up to 25–30 MPH means the envelope and tether system can handle that load — it does not mean your blimp will look good at 28 MPH. Past about 20 MPH the blimp will tilt hard into the wind and read as “thing flopping in the sky” rather than “controlled aerial sign.” If your weekend forecast says gusts above that, plan to bring it down. I’d rather you fly fewer hours and look sharp than fly a tired blimp.
Lead time matters more than price. Because we manufacture in Glendale, custom orders typically ship in 2–4 weeks. Imported blimps can take eight or more weeks and arrive with artwork misaligned because the proof was approved by someone four time zones away. If you’ve got a grand opening on the calendar, lead time is the spec to ask about, not just price.
FAA rules are simple, but local ones aren’t. Tethered aerostats kept under 150 feet generally don’t require FAA approval. The thing that gets builders in trouble is the HOA covenant on the model-home subdivision, or the city sign ordinance that treats anything with lettering as signage subject to a permit. Scottsdale and Maricopa, in particular, have ordinances I’ve seen catch builders by surprise. Call me before you set up in those markets and I’ll tell you what I’ve seen work.
Pricing
Prices below are current as of May 2026 — call 1-800-791-1445 for today’s exact quote, including artwork and any volume discount.
| Size | Base price | With logo / lettering |
|---|---|---|
| 10 ft | $664 | From $975 |
| 13 ft (most popular) | $946 | From $1,526 |
| 21 ft | $2,486 | From $3,130 |
| 25 ft | $4,085 | From $5,127 |
| 30 ft | From $7,246 | Custom artwork pricing |
One purchase, used for years. Most of my home-builder customers run a single 13-footer through three to five model-home weekends a month for multiple seasons. The math works out to a per-deployment cost lower than a single weekend of digital geo-fenced display advertising — and the blimp is visible from up to four miles away on flat terrain, depending on surrounding buildings.
Who I’ve built these for
I keep saying “home builders” because that’s the largest single segment of my orders. Builders use a 13-foot blimp lettered with their company colors over a model-home subdivision on Saturdays and Sundays — the blimp pulls drive-by traffic off the arterial road and into the model. Winchester Homes and Stonefield Homes are two of the builders I’ve made blimps for, and the same template — 13-foot polyurethane, custom lettered, run on weekends — is what most builders end up on after a season of testing.
Beyond builders: car dealerships use them as lot markers in highway-visible parking lots, trade-show exhibitors use them indoors when ceiling height permits or outdoors above their booth, and a handful of clients I’m proud to mention — NASA, JPL, the U.S. Navy, ASU, and the NIH — have used our blimps for projects where a tethered aerostat was the right tool for measurement, demonstration, or visibility.
What I won’t sell you
If you have a 14-foot residential garage and you’re calling about a 25-foot blimp, I’m going to talk you out of it. The 25-footer needs space, more helium, more hands at setup, and a transport plan. For 90% of customers, the 13-foot is the right answer. The 25- and 30-foot models exist because some campaigns genuinely need the size — but I’d rather lose the bigger sale and keep you as a customer for the next ten years.
If you’re calling for a one-weekend grand opening and you’re in the Phoenix metro, ask about rental before purchase. Because polyurethane retains helium so well, short-term rentals are profitable for us where competitors using PVC can’t make the math work. That means we can quote a real weekend rental price instead of pushing a purchase you may not need.
How they get to you
Standard production for a custom blimp runs 2–4 weeks from artwork approval. Rush orders are sometimes available — call before you assume they aren’t. We accept artwork as vector files (AI, EPS, PDF) for best reproduction, or high-resolution raster (PNG, JPEG, TIFF at 300+ DPI). Setup at your location takes one person about 5–10 minutes for the 10- and 13-foot sizes; larger blimps go faster with two. The 13-foot fits in a standard residential garage between deployments.
Frequently asked questions
How long do these last?
With reasonable care — stored clean, dry, out of direct sun, away from sharp edges — a polyurethane blimp will go years through repeat deployments. As one data point: I have an Auto Sale blimp out in the field that’s been deployed for five years and is still flying. The variables are usage frequency, storage, and weather exposure, but five-year service is a reasonable expectation, not a stretch.
Can it fly indoors?
If the ceiling height is sufficient, yes. But indoor venues rarely have the height to use the visibility advantage that’s the whole point of a blimp. For trade-show booths under a typical exhibit-hall ceiling, ask me about cold-air inflatables instead — different product, better fit.
Do I need a permit?
Tethered, under 150 feet, properly secured: usually no FAA requirement. Local ordinance, HOA, and property-owner permission are the things that catch people. I’ll walk through your specific address with you on a phone call.
Can I rent instead of buying?
Yes — for one-time events, short campaigns, or if you want to test before committing. Our polyurethane construction is the reason rental pricing works on our end; helium retention is what makes a one-weekend rental profitable.
What’s the warranty?
Every balloon and blimp we ship is warrantied for one year against workmanship defects and two years against material defects. If something fails inside those windows because of how we built it or what we built it from, that’s on us — not on you.
What to do next
Call me at 1-800-791-1445 or email sales@arizonaballoon.com with three things: the size of the space you want the blimp to be visible from, the lettering or artwork you want on it, and the date of your first deployment. I’ll quote a real price, a real lead time, and tell you straight whether the 13-foot is the right call or whether your campaign warrants going bigger. Contact us here if you’d rather start in writing.
— Johnny Mulder, Arizona Balloon Company, Glendale, Arizona. Manufacturing polyurethane helium advertising blimps in the U.S.A. since 1979.