My family and I are in the process of building a park from scratch. We are farmers and are looking for diversification. Over the last two years we have noticed just how packed the parks are within an hour and a half from us and had a neighbor mention that we have a perfect location. We are located in the southeast, midway for snowbirds, off a major interstate and the exit we are off of is a heavily traveled highway. While we wouldn’t be a destination park, we do have a major military base that is a 15 minute straight shot from us, a mid major city with some attractions and great restaurants 12 minutes away, nice medical facility 10 minutes away, and lots of good golf nearby. The interstate is heavy with RVs all the time. We were hoping for a good bit of overnighters and hoping for good business from the military base via family visitors, contractors, and soldiers who are living in RVs due to moving around so much. The land we are looking at is 38 acres that we feel like could hold around 200 spots. We are looking at starting with about 100 spots, an office/store, bathhouse and laundry, a pool and playground, and a couple dog parks. We also have 10 acres we were planning on having walking and biking trails on. We hoped to build up to the 200 spots and add some cabins in the future. The other parks we’ve been observing along the interstate have had anywhere from 75 to 140 RVs in them at any given time, even now during December and January. We feel our location is superior to these other parks we’ve observed and while knowing anything is subject to fail, we feel very good about the potential. We are looking at about a 2.5-3 million dollar budget to get started with 100 spots and possibly have money leftover to build more.Would love to hear some feedback from those with more experience.

"Would love to hear some feedback from those with more experience."You've posted before on this subject but possibly on a different forum. What RV park experience do you have? How about your neighbor? Is your county and/or city likely to approve the permits? What will you do with the sewage that meets your city and/or county rules? Fresh water...have enough?...big enough pipe?...your water which will need to be certified or from the city and/or county? What is your advertising budget? How big a sign can you put near the interstate? How much to put up? How much to rent the sign's space? On a three million dollar expenditure you should NET $200 to $300K per year. Sure you can do so?Some people look and look until they get the answer they want to hear. Are you one of those people?

Have you checked your zoning laws? Where are you located?

I'm not sure he/she knows what a pull threw is, Midnight.For instance will this be an RV park only? Or will you welcome tenters? Any little "cabins" for rent? What is your plan to get the kids in the family to say "stop here, stop here?" Going to run a cafe'? All three meals? How about basic RV supplies for sale? How big a swimming pool are you planning? Propane refill station in the RV park? What rates are charged by your nearest competitors? Are there any city, county, state or federal campsites nearby? (Cuzz that's where I'll go FIRST.)

Do you have experience "camping" yourself? Have you yourself ever been tent camping? Owned an RV (of any type), and traveled anywhere, from location to location, campground to campground? Have you experienced camping at State Parks, Private Campgrounds, National Forests, boomdocked, and experienced camping in the summer and winter months, in Northern states as well as Southern states?If not, do it first before laying any plans for a campground so you know what your actually building, what people like, what works, and what does't work for people. Then you'll be better able to determine what makes a good campground and what something that's just slapped together as an after though.Your goal is good, ONLY if you have the experience yourself camping so you know what to build and what NOT to build.

Building a park from scratch, opinions welcomed!!!

westernrvparkow
Explorer
Feb 05, 2018
Veebyes wrote:
"That's partly true, but many folks have their own hotspot because parks won't invest a lot in wifi. In the same vein you could say don't invest a lot in showers/bath houses because most people have their own showers/toilets"

Had an interesting discussion with a CG owner once over this one. We have a shower. We have a toilet onboard we use both. We don't use CG bathrooms & showers.

Tenters don't have toilets or showers. They NEED CG facilities. Facilities that the owner must pay somebody to clean. How come tenters get a cheaper rate? The only thing the self contained RVer uses more of is electricity.
We just consider them all about equal. We actually don't allow tenting, too much hassle keeping everything alive in the sites, plus they are generally the loudest guests (tents don't insulate sound well and tenters are the last to go into their accommodations since they don't have televisions, sofas, recliners etc.). As for the rigs that use more electricity etc. than others, say big class A, versus a truck camper, what we spend on electricity for the big rig is offset in labor and bathroom expenses on the little ones. Drives me nuts when I see parks trying to charge an extra couple of bucks for 50 amp electrical or putting coin operated controls on the showers. That's stepping over dollar bills to corral a couple of pennies.
DrewE
Explorer II
Feb 05, 2018
Veebyes wrote:

Tenters don't have toilets or showers. They NEED CG facilities. Facilities that the owner must pay somebody to clean. How come tenters get a cheaper rate? The only thing the self contained RVer uses more of is electricity.

Tenters also don't require the installation and upkeep of sewer lines to each site, and water lines to each site, and electrical infrastructure to supply 12 kW to each site, and a large pad to park on, and maybe pull-through access. That infrastructure all costs money to install and maintain.
Veebyes
Explorer II
Feb 05, 2018
"That's partly true, but many folks have their own hotspot because parks won't invest a lot in wifi. In the same vein you could say don't invest a lot in showers/bath houses because most people have their own showers/toilets"

Had an interesting discussion with a CG owner once over this one. We have a shower. We have a toilet onboard we use both. We don't use CG bathrooms & showers.

Tenters don't have toilets or showers. They NEED CG facilities. Facilities that the owner must pay somebody to clean. How come tenters get a cheaper rate? The only thing the self contained RVer uses more of is electricity.
Cloud_Dancer
Explorer II
Feb 05, 2018
No matter what you do, and how you do it, you are going to get a lot of complaints. So, make sure you take care of yourself first, like if you don't have thick skin,...buy a suit of armor...:B
fj12ryder
Explorer III
Feb 05, 2018
pyoung47 wrote:
Don't invest a lot in wifi. Most folks have their own hotspots.
That's partly true, but many folks have their own hotspot because parks won't invest a lot in wifi. In the same vein you could say don't invest a lot in showers/bath houses because most people have their own showers/toilets.

We have a hotspot but only use it when the wifi is all but useless.
pyoung47
Explorer
Feb 05, 2018
Don't invest a lot in wifi. Most folks have their own hotspots.
qtla9111
Nomad
Feb 04, 2018
Not everything has to be done on a grand scale out the front door. Mom and pop rv parks abound and they are great places. Start out with a good plan where you can grow and add on. Don't go whole hog with employees, human resources, call center, etc. In the U.S. everything doesn't always have to be big and expensive. Think practical

I wish you the best of luck and don't get discouraged by some of the naysayers.

Big isn't always better and you can do without all the frills. Offer some primitive spots too for us boondockers.
Geobiker
Explorer
Feb 04, 2018
While convenient for 2 or more RVs traveling together, we DO NOT LIKE SHARED SITES. That being said, if you are located so your customers might be traveling through and only staying one night rather than a week or so, these sites could work. I definitely would not mix them in with the longer stay customers. Good luck.
BadgerMcAdams
Explorer
Jan 22, 2018
valhalla360 wrote:
...Snipped... Too many so called lawyers running around with a knowledge of ADA, and a tape and a level, who go weaseling around checking things. Then they have a list of disabled people to use in the lawsuit they file against the business, contractor, code official, municipality etc, and its off to the bank. Usually ends up as a nice cushy settlement that is kept as quiet as possible and amounts to legalized extortion. More of that happens than most people realize. I've sat in the dispositions. ...Snipped...

Here in Phoenix we just recently had a spat of ADA laywers doing just that. Would go to local businesses, look for ADA signs. Measure them, then if they were incorrect, would then sue said business for anywhere from $7,500 to $10,000 for being out of compliance. If the business balked or corrected the problem and asked to be rechecked, said lawyers would increase the amount of the suit. The Attorney General of AZ finally stepped in and stopped them in their tracks. The AG said that it amounted to legalized extortion with no way for the affected businesses to resolve the issue other than paying the money. The company behind it has moved to other cities attempting to do the same thing.

I understand the reasoning for the ADA laws...But when shady people use said laws strictly to line their pockets...I kind of agree with Shakespeare saying, "Let's kill all the lawyers" from his play 'Henry VI'.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming...
ppine
Explorer II
Jan 22, 2018
Some people cut down the trees in their yard because they are "messy." I am a retired forester and I love trees. The more the better to a point.

If I am going to be on vacation or traveling for fun the last thing I want is an RV park with tiny spaces and no trees. I would rather just go camp in the desert.