Building a small RV park.

[Jim]

Today, we met a milestone.

 

[Neemer]

Solar powered, too. Technology has left me behind.

 

[Jim]

Solar powered, too. Technology has left me behind.

Yeah, I don't want to hear any excuses about it being dark and couldn't find the poop station.

 

[AuntieDodo]

Yes I agree with other post. You better start laying out some more sites ?

 

[MapNerd]

The price of everything these days is outrageous. It's not that prices are going up, it's your dollar is worth so little. Look at a new Ford F-250, fully loaded they're $75K. Who would have ever thought? I remember when owning a $100K house meant you were had achieved a measure of success in life. Now $100K is a starter house, if you can even find one for that. We went to look at Tiny Homes over the weekend and a one bedroom/1 bathroom was $106K !!! And they're flying off the lot!

Anyhow, here is a picture of the fencing we decided to use. We had a fencing contractor come out and give us a bid and we were shocked at the cost. And the finished product would have been chain link! So for a little more we could get this nice black aluminum fencing and it just looked so much better. I have to do the labor, but so what? I'm doing so much of everything else so what's one more project? lol

I grabbed this picture off the Internet. It's for descriptive purpose only, but you can see it looks so much nicer than chain link.

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Trish wanted to do artificial turf too, but after seeing some of the stuff that comes out of Rex, artificial turf would not be the right choice.

That’s really pretty. I was actually assuming it would be chain link fencing. I can actually see how 220’ of that would set you back a pretty penny.

you’re certainly right about the value of the dollar these days. You can certainly
find $100k homes but they’re either tiny, in bad locations or need $200k worth of work. My dad is 86 and he can’t believe the amounts of money I spent on things and I always have to tell him that Mustangs aren’t $3,000 anymore. The quarter he’d spend on a movie, bag of popcorn and a round trip on the bus won’t even pay the taxes on a candy bar today.

I wouldn’t recommend turf. We had a small patch of it in our first house which was a row home in DC. What. A. Pain. Maybe I didn’t do it right or maybe I got low quality stuff but it was always either soggy or clogged and filled with dirt, required more maintenance than the actual grass at our next house. So maybe you dodged a bullet on that.

 

[MapNerd]

Looks nice and fancy but I wouldn't turn your back on the aluminum as bad as thieves are

Idk. You take a look at some of the other forums on this site and I expect that a thief trying to pilfer some aluminum fencing from a campground these folks stay at might end up having a really bad day.

 

[MapNerd]

Today, we met a milestone.

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Are you going to frame the first dropping and hang it up on a wall somewhere? You know, kinda like the first dollar made type deal?

 

[Neal]

I was kidding about the artificial turf, don't recommend it either but I have seen it in places and it is fine, just needs to be hosed down from time to time. If you can grow grass and maintain grass it's probably the better option.

 

[RKins]

Idk. You take a look at some of the other forums on this site and I expect that a thief trying to pilfer some aluminum fencing from a campground these folks stay at might end up having a really bad day.

Thieves are pretty brazen - they walk up and steal an AC unit from the side of a house without even thinking about it. Backflow preventers are common targets too - back up to them, wrap a strap around them and drive off, ripping them and plumbing out of the ground.
As long as the dog runs are not in a place where the thieves can have a few minutes of time alone, like if the dog run was down by the front gate. I hope it never happens of course but maybe a camera or two would help Jim keep an eye on the area and of course, catch who isn't picking up after their pet.

 

[Jim]

Looks nice and fancy but I wouldn't turn your back on the aluminum as bad as thieves are

Rex is in charge of security.

 

[Jim]

Installed several more waste stations today. This one is what we call the "fairway" . It's ugly in the first picture but when Spring comes around it is a lush green that takes your breath away.

This is a "leash free" zone, meaning if you take the responsibility of letting your pouch (or cat) off his/her leash, you can let them run free. But that being said, you are in the outdoors here, and if your pooch decides to chase a deer of something, you have to accept the risk of him/her not coming back home again.

But if your pet is well trained, this is a wonderful place to let your pooch play frisbee or chase a ball.

 

[MapNerd]

To Toby, the colors will look the same and he’ll be ecstatic to be off leash.

 

[AuntieDodo]

That looks beautiful, you obviously mow it.

P.S. I hope you are not in the potential Ice Storm area.

 

[Steve47210]

The Deer Springs RV Campground Initiative

Trish and I have wanted to make a small RV Campground for a long time, but we just didn’t have the time. But lately, our interest has been renewed and I think we’re going to make a run at it.

The site we have chosen is a meadow down at the bottom of our property. It’s not perfectly level, but I had a company come by on Tuesday and take a look at leveling it out. The road coming in must be widened as well. Everything is subject to change of course, but here is what I’m planning at this time.

We hope to have a total of 7 sites, 4 pull through and 3 back in. This give us 6 for rental purpose and 1 for a campground host.

The good stuff: (depending on how you look at it)

• There will be full hookups at all of them
• Charcoal BBQ and fire rings
• There will be a minimum of 40’ between each of the individual RV pads, more in some cases
• The views are wonderful, and the setting is remotely luxurious
• Two huge dog runs, one for small dogs and one for larger dogs
• On site laundry room
• A nice pavilion with large, group BBQ setup
• Killer hiking, fishing and great stock Jeep trails abound. We’ll provide custom maps, GPS coordinates, etc.

The not so good stuff: (again, depending on how you look at it)

• There is no cell service in the area
• No cable and no Internet. I hope to be able to solve the Internet issue but I’m not sure just yet
• There will be no showers or toilets. There is plenty of room for them if we decide later to add them. But with full hookups, the guests should be OK and we don’t want the extra maintenance.

I’m very interested in everyone’s comments, suggestions and ideas. Below are some pictures of the project area.

Thank you all!


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Let us know how you make out and where you are. Good luck...Steve & Sheila

 

[Jim]

That looks beautiful, you obviously mow it.

P.S. I hope you are not in the potential Ice Storm area.

lol, yes, we have a zero-turn mower and a fellow that lives on the property who keeps the place looking nice. I can't call him a "groundskeeper" because all he really does is run the mower and the weed eater. But in the summer, that's just about a full time job.

 

[Jim]

Let us know how you make out and where you are. Good luck...Steve & Sheila

Will do! It's going a lot slower than expected as we didn't take into consideration the unbelievable bad weather that has been hanging on for the last couple of months.

 

[WonderMore]

A couple of thoughts for you:

1. Get your email on the Starlink list. At the very least that will solve your communication problems & the fees should be tax deductible.

2. Speaking of fees, your local & state governments may have a boat load of laws and regulations for a campground. This often depends on number of sites.

3. Your initial budget for advertising can be almost zero. Talk it up on Facebook, all RV Forums, build a web site with pics, location, prices etc.

 

[Neal]

Are you including picnic tables?

 

[murphysranch]

May I ask where you ordered the fencing? I need over 226+ linear feet to fence my back yard on the golf course, in my golf community. The local fencing contractor quoted $14K, which I cannot afford. I can afford to buy the fencing and then SO and I will install it along my property line. Has to be black wrought iron look. Thank you very much!

 

[Jim]

May I ask where you ordered the fencing? I need over 226+ linear feet to fence my back yard on the golf course, in my golf community. The local fencing contractor quoted $14K, which I cannot afford. I can afford to buy the fencing and then SO and I will install it along my property line. Has to be black wrought iron look. Thank you very much!

I got it from Lowe's. If you can, go to the contractors desk and have them price it out for you. You'll save some money that way.