Building an RV Park from scratch under 50k?

westernrvparkowner wrote:

elialane7 wrote:
Yeah I'm staying out of it and I'm moving to England at the end of the month anyway. Anyway updates: they got the water meter tapped and just to put a meter in
Will be 11,200 which they're going to do now and will take a month or so ? That's all I know
No current water or existing plumbing on land

I believe we have all been "catfished". Moving to England and the well has become a municipal water source. And we all took the bait, hook, line and sinker. It was fun while it lasted.

Me thinks you're correct. Oh well, as you say.. fun while it lasted.

Mike

elialane7 wrote:
Yeah I'm staying out of it and I'm moving to England at the end of the month anyway. Anyway updates: they got the water meter tapped and just to put a meter in
Will be 11,200 which they're going to do now and will take a month or so ? That's all I know
No current water or existing plumbing on land

I believe we have all been "catfished". Moving to England and the well has become a municipal water source. And we all took the bait, hook, line and sinker. It was fun while it lasted.

westernrvparkowner wrote:

myredracer wrote:
There'd be numerous codes, regulations, and standards that would have to be complied with if doing it fully permitted and inspected. Some of them are:

The NEC has specific requirements for RV parks. How much is the power utility co. going to charge for a connection? Electrical alone would eat up a big chunk of the $50K.

There's NFPA 1194 "Standard for Recreational Vehicle Parks and Campgrounds" that covers fire protection and a number of other things.

In Texas there's TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) which covers water supply, wastewater and storm water disposal, garbage disposal and outdoor burning. 15 or more sites can be considered as a public water supply. Texas TCEQ

There's no contingency fund to put towards any unforeseen costs? There could very well be a whole lot of them you never knew of or thought about.

Has there been any analysis of projected income versus operating costs? According to one source of info. I read, it takes 125 sites to break even.

Any savvy investor wouldn't go near it.

Doesn't take anywhere near 125 sites to be profitable. Say you had a 40 site park and built it for $800,000. Operates for 8 months out of the year with a 60 percent occupany rate (not bad, but not exceptional either) At $40 a night, that would be revenues of $230,000. Figure operating costs of about 30 percent, you will have net income of about $160,000. That's a 20% return on your investment, not too bad. Even if you paid a manager couple $5,000 a month for those eight months, instead of running it yourself, you would have a return north of 15 percent. Can't get that on your savings account.
The trouble with the OPs situation is $50,000 is a far cry from $800,000 and building a park in the middle of nowhere won't ever generate $40 a night rates or 60 percent occupancies.

Could you break down the math a little more. Give us the break down on operating cost it you could please.

elialane7 wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
I'm gonna wait for WesternParkOwner to chime in here, it ought to be an eye opener. It won't suprise me that pulling power from the closest point and all the mains distribution on the property itself will exceed $50k, not including any site distribution.

The permits and architecture drawings alone, which you must have before the permits itself will exceed this.

I asked about the plans and permit to rezone today and I got back a "I don't know what you mean. We will get permits as we go."
I think they're planning on getting a well and electricity and all that before even applying for an rv permit and probably just skip all building plans or layout plans ... Which sounds like bad news to me .

I'm interested in how tom/barb things it can be done, any tips or references ?
I know south Texas can be cheaper than other regions but
What worries me is that the one Rinky dinky dirt road they got on the land cost them 10k, that tells me everything else will be a lot too...idk

Not to be cruel or offensive,but this statement alone tells me that your friends, while knowing what they WANT to do, are totally ignorant of HOW to do it, or what it takes to do it, first off, in today's world $50K is NOT a lot of money, and while i'll admit that i'm totally ignorant of Texas law, if you built something around here without surveys & permits in place first, $50K probably wouldn't cover the fines.
I know they are your friends, and you're concerned for them, but obviously they don't want you help, or opinions, so the best thing you can do is step back & let them fall.

elialane7 wrote:
Yeah I'm staying out of it and I'm moving to England at the end of the month anyway. Anyway updates: they got the water meter tapped and just to put a meter in
Will be 11,200 which they're going to do now and will take a month or so ? That's all I know
No current water or existing plumbing on land

Well, water is useful. And the cost of this one thing may give them a better sense of what an overall project cost will be.

Moving away sounds wise, for the preservation of the friendship ;).

Curious what county your friends are in?

Yeah I'm staying out of it and I'm moving to England at the end of the month anyway. Anyway updates: they got the water meter tapped and just to put a meter in
Will be 11,200 which they're going to do now and will take a month or so ? That's all I know
No current water or existing plumbing on land

Want to keep your friends? Stay out of it!

Is it time to pull the plug on this little joke yet? Aren't you getting bored with this? I am.

Asking for forgiveness from a Government board. (zoning board) almost never goes well for the poorly advised.

and its possible if something was built before permits issued.. could be required to be torn down.

in the little town I live in... NO RV can be in the driveway for more than 24 hours and MUST be owned by the owner of the Home.