Building an RV Park from scratch under 50k?

elialane7 wrote:
That's my worry that its too little and the process is backwards and they're so ....willfully ignorant, they think I'm a buzzkill when I link them to articles or facts or ask questions about permits and building plans...

If the property is located in an incorporated town - there will be zoning and permit requirements.

If the property is located in rural Medina County - there will be very few in any zoning restrictions and few permit requirements. I have friends who bought a 1 acre lot near Lake Medina Thousand Trails three years ago - and needed no permits for anything. Though the lot did have electrical access, a well and a small septic system on it. They came in, tore down the shack themselves, got a friend to grade a bit and now live there five or six months a year in their class A. Last year they built a storage shed with a bathroom and a washer/dryer - with no permits or inspections required.

Texas really does have very few requirements about what a person does with their land compared to the other lower 48 states. (This is why HOAs are so big in developments - because my ex-neighbor could literally put up two major wind turbines, or drill a well, or run a retail business on the 1/2 acre lot next to mine in an incorporated town. Only the HOA could stop him, not the city or Collin county.)

I don't have a clue about the other surrounding counties except Comal, though a friend in Kendall county recently complained about a new requirement to have septic system designs 'approved'.

The more rural they are - the more it will cost to bring in power.

Well's are a problem. I have friends who built on a hill overlooking Canyon Lake about 12 years ago. The number of requirements for wells close to the Edwards Aquifer made them abandon the idea of a well. They put in a 20,000 gallon tank and have lived on rains water captured from the roof of the home and their shop/ RV garage even through the recent drought. (The property has a 125 foot elevation change from road front to the house in the back - 900 ft straight line distance. They put in a 1,200 ft driveway to make the climb. The shop building has two RV hookups - 50A/W/S. When they asked about putting in the RV spots - so they could live in their 5th wheel while they finished out the inside of the house - they were told that Comal county had no special requirements "put in as many as you want".

To answer your key question - MYOB

You have done more than due diligence and more than friendship requires to offer warnings and suggestions.

Sometimes we just have to sit back and watch our friends (family, kids, grandkids) make their own mistakes. We can only shake our heads, and never say "I told you not to do it"