Building/Developing an RV Park....

[Parks]

Not sure where this should be posted so thought this would be the best place to ask this question. This is maybe an odd, unique and sort of a fact finding question. Also looking for some opinions. I understand the vast majority of the members here are RV users and owners and probably few are RV Park owners or managers. So please opine if you have thoughts on were to steer me, give advice or tell me it won't work.

In the last week or so I read that a TX based energy/oil company plans to build a new $5.6B refinery in a small town in central Oklahoma. It's estimated to provide over 1200 temporary jobs (construction of refinery) and 423 full time jobs. My thought is, as an investment and a way to generate passive income is to build an RV Park. Not looking to go nuts and make it an RV Resort or RV desination but to capture what will be a huge housing crunch in the small town of approx 8000 residence. THese oil patch workers will need a place to live and I know from what I've read in the past that when large projects like these come up out of the ground there is generally a huge need for oil field/construction worker housing. Project duration is estimated for about 36 months +. A small part of me would bank on the elections of 2024 putting a more domesitc energy friendly administration in federal office.

Here are my thoughts for a non-resort/destination RV Park. Would look at buying 20 + acres with approx 50-75 RV sites. Each site would be full service with 30/50 amp service, fresh water, sewer/septic, and WiFi. Geared towards long term RV renters I'd prefer spaces be approx 40' wide and 70' long or big enough for the renter to not feel crammed together. Would offer one large laundry facility. Would look at incorporating a large dog park type area and
possible several large covered outdoor picnic or gathering areas. Would probably steer clear of any sort of pool area or lounge and indoor public gathering areas or at least it is something that could be built down the line of demand was there and costs weren't too high. Whether it was required by code or not, I'd probably add, dependent on number of sites, a half dozen or so storm shelters. Roads within the RV park would be gravel with gravel parking pads and grass for the outdoor living areas unless there was a better option that wouldn't be the price of concrete pads, etc. I'd also look at providing a larger, nicer spot for a Park Manager who'd live there free of charge for doing basic maintenance, answer questions, assist the renters and act as an onsite contact.

In the end, I'd want a nice place for workers to live while in town for long term work but not go so overboard with amenities that it eats into profits.

What type of RV Park would make the most sense and what amenities would you choose to make for a desirable place to live while still having passive income? I appreciate your thoughts and recommendations.

[Bigceasar]

Big investment for three years of potential customers. Construction of a refinery won’t bring in oil field workers. It requires construction workers. Both Tulsa and Oklahoma City are major cities within commuting distance of central Oklahoma. There may not be a need for workers from outside the area.
Could you meet the timeline if there was a need for temporary housing? You would need to be permitted and built before construction on the refinery began. What happens if the refinery doesn’t get built or things change and it is built 50 miles away in another town’?
Oil refineries do not draw tourists and they pay the employees very well. Developing nice middle class subdivisions would probably be the money maker if plan materializes.

[Old-Biscuit]

Many large construction companies have mobile crews that travel construction site to construction site and they show up with trailers or company trailers ...live on site

By the time you acquire to land, the permits and actually build.....that project will be completed OR decision made to not go forward

[Isaac-1]

I live in a similar size town in western Louisiana where there is a somewhat smaller industrial construction project underway with a few hundred construction jobs and also an estimated 36 month project completion date, followed by a couple of hundred long term direct and indirect jobs for the town. A new RV park popped up a couple of miles from the job site, and seems to have been taken over by contractors, it is an awful location for an RV park, in a low area prone to flooding, and next to the end of the main runway at the local airport. I don't know what they are charging for RV sites, but it is basically a gravel parking lot with a portable building that contains I think a laundry room, and the place has been at or near 100% capacity since it opened. As soon as this construction job is completed I also suspect few people will choose to stay there. The question then becomes one of what sort of payback will the investors see at this point in time. Personally I think the site chosen for this RV park was very short sighted, though the land was likely very cheap, the long term prospects is very limited, and they would probably have been better served to invest slightly more money into the location selection to give it a better chance of surviving long term.

[Arch Hoagland]

Parks....Have you ever owned a business of any sort?

Have you ever written a "Business Plan"?

[JohnBike]

How to make a small fortune in the RV Park business: start with a large fortune.

[DR60]

I have built several of these for construction projects.
Your business model has to be one that that can pay back the investors in 1/3 of the time the project is operating. You should not expect this park to have enough business after the project is completed to run as a park, except during short periods of remodeling.
So most of these are a quick build and built to temporary use standards.
If I were doing this I would build a shipping container into a laundry, and lease it to a company to put their coin op machines in. These machines will be beat to death and the people who operate them will know this. They set the rates to be able to replace them yearly.
I have never seen one of these with any more amenities than a swing set and possibly a bus stop shelter for the kids waiting for school busses. No grass, no paving, no landscaping, etc... It's just a place for workers to park their trailers, sleep, etc...

All of them I stayed in or put up had payphones on site, but with cell phones that is not necessary anymore.
So your expenses are going to be water , sewer, treatment plant, site grading and gravel, lots of gravel! You may also have to provide water for fire protection, so several large storage tanks on site.

Another way I have seen people make money who have land near a const project is leasing to contractors for storage. They need an offsite place to store material, trucks, tractors, etc. There's only so much room onsite. DR

[Country Road]

I believe you will, in the end, lose your shorts. It takes too long to develop and usually city or county rules trump common sense.

I say this as someone who developed and sold 7 years later a 100 unit manufactured housing community with city sewer, underground electric and concrete roads. Very little profit for first 5 years.

But, it can be done and if you have the money to build it, it will keep you busy. Good luck.

[Gordon Dewald]

Always the potential for construction workers. Also for an influx of workers for annual shutdown.

[DR60]

Originally Posted by Country Road

I believe you will, in the end, lose your shorts. It takes too long to develop and usually city or county rules trump common sense.

I say this as someone who developed and sold 7 years later a 100 unit manufactured housing community with city sewer, underground electric and concrete roads. Very little profit for first 5 years.

But, it can be done and if you have the money to build it, it will keep you busy. Good luck.

The way this works is you have to build cheaply and spend only what you have too. On a 3-year temporary housing project you have to make your investment back the first year. otherwise, you lose your shorts. I spent a lot of time at county planning boards reminding them that this is only temporary. And reminding them that these temp workers while they are living there are buying cars, clothing, food, etc... the three years they are there, and that tax money comes back to the county. They have to be reminded that it's best to have them buying in this county and not the next one over! DR

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by DR60

The way this works is you have to build cheaply and spend only what you have too. On a 3-year temporary housing project you have to make your investment back the first year. otherwise, you lose your shorts. I spent a lot of time at county planning boards reminding them that this is only temporary. And reminding them that these temp workers while they are living there are buying cars, clothing, food, etc... the three years they are there, and that tax money comes back to the county. They have to be reminded that it's best to have them buying in this county and not the next one over! DR

Yep that is why there is so much junk out there.

[DR60]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

Yep that is why there is so much junk out there.

I have also worked on projects that the city and county would not allow a temp workers camp. so the workers either commuted from another county, or rented backyards and driveways. neither of these options paid anything to the city or county, paid no school tax, or paid anything to the sewer department. And no funds for the police or sherrifs depts.

One of the larger company's I worked for would move the power poles and pedestals from camp to camp. And had a trailer mounted treatment plant that was moved around. It's hardly junk, just nothing wasted on cement, paving, landscaping etc... DR

[JoeJunior]

I would be hesitant to jump into such a project for one industrial construction project. It's best if the person going into the business is a professional dirt mover/contractor. The cost of running utilities and gravel is going up dramatically at this time.

Our area has a number of such resident RV parks used by construction workers. We have a major interstate highway, and they're midways between 1 large and two medium sized cities. We also have a nuclear plant that from time to time has huge maintenance crews come in.

Our area is a hotbed of industrial and home building activity. 79 apartment complexes and many thousands of homes are under construction presently. And with a 1.6% unemployment ratio, we need traveling carpenters and construction workers terribly.

Our RV parks appear to be doing very well. But as was said, the first 5 years could be cash flow negative--at $350 per month rent.

[PKI]

IMHO - a better plan would be to review the area for how well a campground would succeed if there was no project. A major project can be supported with a gravel lot, a honey wagon, user generators and some PVC water lines.

We have stayed at a very nice park in Woodward, Oklahoma and think it is a great addition to the area. The park is self service and has nice pads/drives and streets. It has storm shelters and laundry facilities, but little else. Not sure how it was justified/financed, but suspect it supports seasonal farming labor and local low cost housing. However, it could be the brainchild of a wishful investor or a deal with the city to provide an asset in compensation for some business impact.

In any case, we are glad the park exists and hope other cities make a reasonable effort to encourage such development. Even a large gravel lot with a dump station would be of significant help to travelers.