Does anyone have any experience starting a RV park from scratch?

Question

Looking for people who will to share their stories, on how they went about starting an RV park. If you or anyone who know has started one, please share!

Belinda Lopez · Answer

Hi, yes!  Even wrote an entire eBook on this topic and now releasing a course on RV Park Investing.  This is a great and growing niche!  Building from scratch it the #1 question I get about RV Parks and there are definitely Pros and Cons.  It can be difficult to get permits and can take up to two years to get your first guests.  But it's TOTALLY Doable!

I've been asked this so much that we're now working with a group of investors to help others invest and to possibly build some new RV Parks.

Btw - as an investor, I focus more on the non-pretty Parks that are more like Mobile Home Parks but also now interested in the resort/pretty parks.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Permitting will be the biggest challenge
• Utilities - is there water available, wastewater options?  septic or municipal?
• Engineering - you'll need an engineer to lay it all out and help with permits
• Materials and Construction costs will vary
• Up North - winters can cause delays - will this be a seasonal park?
• Amenities -which ones will you have.

There is no hard and fast costs to build from scratch as it is going to vary greatly.  From a low of $12k to $25k or more on higher-end parks. A good site I use for research is municode.com to find out all the local regulations we might encounter and if there are specific building standards for Parks.  Some get really into the weeds like being very specific on fencing (height & type) as well as road park lighting and minimum spacing.

Good luck and contact me for more info. Always happy to talk about RV Parks!

Tierra Petersen · Answer

Thank you so much for this ebook!

Hadar Orkibi · Answer

There was a good podcast on mobile homes few month ago on BP.

And Brandon Turner just did one i think early this year.

Are you referring to RV or Mobile Homes?

With Mobile homes: from memory, it is not recommanded, it is to costly to build from the ground up. setting up the services for each pad, including driveways and path could cost you double then the land.

Most Cities don't encourage them, so zoning would be an issue.

Imagine having 50 lots to fill? The "Nirvana" is to only lease the Pads and not own the actual mobile homes. you own the land and get paid for the concrete pad space they lease.

In saying that, im not an expert in mobile Homes or RV parks so perhaps someone can in light us both.

Davido Davido · Answer

@Tierra Petersen, no experience in Building an RV park, but I can tell you there is a high demand in our area for places to park RV's.  We have a several properties between Tenino and South Olympia were we get income from both the house and a space to park an RV.  The RV spaces bring in an extra $300/mo, -which less than the market.   None of our properties are RV parks or Campgrounds though, so we are limited by code.

It works out good for us.  Wish you the best.

Tierra Petersen · Answer

Thanks for your help!

Davido Davido · Answer

@Tierra Petersen, Commercial operations with multiple hookups are treated differently, but I can tell you from years of experience, so far the county has not enforced RV rules against the rural land owners that I know of who allow someone to live in a single RV on their property.   Monthly, rental income for a basic code approved RV space is likely to be $500 or more.   Unfortunately, even in an RV park the code still only permits people to stay for 6 months (see 8. e.)

Tierra Petersen · Answer

@Davido Davido yeah I've had many people ask me about parking their rv in my field, so thats why I thought putting in hookups would be a good idea.

Chris Szepessy · Answer

From what I've read, RV parks are very costly to build and require a ton of work to keep up and running efficiently.  But it's definitely doable.  Check out some RV forums and a lot of the people on there can probably help you out.  I will recommend building one where there is either a tourist attraction or putting enough amenities/things to do at the campground where people wouldn't have to leave in order to have fun.  I think there are two types of campers. Those who use the campground as a home base while they visit an area and those who choose a campground based off what the place offers.  We have a travel trailer and enjoy camping, so I looked quickly at buying or building a small one because I thought it would be fun, then I realized it would be more fun to just show up, hook up, and relax!  Good luck with it if you do decide to do it!

Charles Stubblefield · Answer

@Tierra Petersen

I know here in east Tennessee it is all most impossible to build one from scratch without a very high return. The EPA has so many environmental regulations that is very expensive to get around.

You may be able to find a distressed RV park in your area and then have everything grandfathered in.

Does anyone have any experience starting a RV park from scratch?

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