Starting an RV Park: How much is an on site sewage treatment plant?

[Mike Gennaro]

Hey there BP community,

I'm obtaining quotes to develop an RV park, and I want to know how much should we expect to pay for an on site sewage treatment plant.

Has anyone gone through this before with mobile home or rv parks in rural areas?

We have industrial plant workers that need seasonal housing in our area. Any and all advice would be much appreciated from those that have succeeded in this niche.

Best,

Mike Gennaro

[Jerry Lucker]

From people I know that currently own 170 parks - decent authorities i would say - minimum $500,000

[Jesse Jacobs]

There's many great posts on this challenging subject. Too bad I'm such a late comer to this thread. Costs and complexities surrounding sewage is my biggest hurdle to developing this MHP. I have an awesome 60 acre site on a DOT maintained outer road, with a mile of U.S. highway visibility, at the only exit for 15 miles, city water access, power lines in place, industrial jobs in 2 towns both within a 17min drive, major metro city 1 hour south. The county has NO planning and zoning--they simply don't give permits for anything--it's the state (and federal, but mainly state) laws that apply to this issue. I am evaluating a few potential solutions. None of the concepts are considered standard because to build a new state of the art facility would cost as much (or more) than the rest of the development! If anyone is interested in compliant yet creative solutions to sewage management regulations, i would love to get into a conversation. I could really use some tips from someone with expert experience. For example, in China, low tech anaerobic digesters have been in small scale use for 100's of years. Bigger versions of these systems are getting EPA attention as superior and "green" alternatives to traditional treatment options.

[Brett West]

Mike:

Did you ever move forward with your RV park? I have been considering creating some pads for Tiny Homes on my acreage. We are rural and outside of any incorporated city limits in Texas. Initially we wanted to provide water (well) and electric service only. Many tiny homes have composting or incinolet type toilets so septic is not necessary. After talking with our county public works department we found out that gray water is apparently viewed the same as black water now. Awaiting a call from the inspector for more details. If a septic system is required, I will probably scrap the idea.

[David Krulac]

@Brett West

Depending on the number of units (EDUs) a community septic system may not be a whole lot more than a single system.  Here system size is dictated by number of bedrooms, not baths.  Tiny houses by definition have few bedrooms.

Also if you are talking like 100 pads then a small treatment plant would be the way to go and be economical on a per unit price.

[Robin Boyer]

I am looking at starting a RV park myself with tiny homes!

[Belinda Lopez]

I've learned that in Texas there are ways to offset the costs of installing public utilities or hybrid systems using private utility companies.  The way it works, as I understand it, is that you pay for the initial installation and work with a private utility company to manage.  The state will give you a low cost loan for the development and then there is a loan forgiveness program that pretty much eliminates the loan.  

[Clint Galliano]

In South Louisiana, unless you are tied to the municipal sewage system, you have to install a self-contained sewage treatment plant. The size is based on the maximum expected water usage per pad, IIRC. For a 50 space RV park in Southern Lafourche parish (Fourchon), it cost us approximately $50,000. About $38,000 for the plant itself and another $12,000 for lift stations.

The Parish health department was the arbiter of the rules and had to sign off on everything.

As far as life of drilling an oil & gas well, it depends on where they are drilling.

If Mike Gennaro is in Zachary, I would expect that he was originally referring to drilling in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale. These wells seem to take 3-4 months to drill, as opposed to 2-3 weeks for wells in the Eagleford Shale or Permian Basin. Because of this, the costs are higher. Combine that with the drop in oil prices starting right around the same time as the original post, the "oil town" never developed.

Regards,

Clint C. Galliano

[Mike Reynolds]

Originally posted by @Belinda Lopez:

I've learned that in Texas there are ways to offset the costs of installing public utilities or hybrid systems using private utility companies.  The way it works, as I understand it, is that you pay for the initial installation and work with a private utility company to manage.  The state will give you a low cost loan for the development and then there is a loan forgiveness program that pretty much eliminates the loan.  

Hey Belinda, can you pm me more info about that? That sounds interesting. 

[Robin Boyer]

@Clint Galliano I am trying to invest possibly half a million back into real estate and I figured what's better than 200k going out on apartments then the other money go for a tiny home community. Spoke with a builder said you can start small and work our way up. Off to the county planning office tomorrow!

[Clint Galliano]

Good  luck, @Robin Boyer! When we were setting up our RV park, one of the obstacles we ran into is that all of the requirements by the parish were not consolidated in one place. We had to deal with the planning commission to approve the civil engineer drawings and approve any variances to regular requirements (fire hydrant being 15 feet further than the guideline, etc.), the health department for sewage treatment inspection & approval, the permit office for construction, etc. And each department would say this is all you need to build, then when the next step would come, "Oh, you need to go here and do this, get approval, etc.", but for all the published guidelines & regulations for RV parks, none stated all the steps. 

Granted, I was a just a funding partner on the deal and it was my first RE deal to be involved in. Lots of learning involved. 

My advice is to think about everything that could possibly be involved with building/operating a tiny house village and investigate costs, rules, regs, etc. Be proactive with that, because you may run into municipal bureaucracy that is not coordinated.

[Robin Boyer]

@Clint Galliano thank you Clint on my way to the county planning office to see about those things you just mentioned I am bringing pen and a lot of paper LOL.  My friend said investigate before you spend any money. Hopefully I'll get good solid information today.

[Chris Blackburn]

The Advantex system can be used for larger installations-  (We are using them for some very small lots and the smaller units are approved for Oregon.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McnGleu0ru0