RV Park thoughts, suggestions & ideas.

[EddieWalker]

Eddie,

I did not think I would have any ideas on this but last night a few popped into my head.

For kids you need the lake and/or a pool. The problem with those is the legal liability issues and the added cost such as life guards. Hot Tejas means water for kids. And they need places to play.

Have you seen the water parks where instead of a pool there is a play area with misters and squirting hoses? Having a real nice and large play area for kids will keep them amused for hours. The nice ones have a matting made out of old tires/rubber that really is soft and protects the kids. Having this kind of a play area plus one with water misters would be real nice and would have very little ongoing costs. Put up a fence to keep the little critters inside as well.

You certainly could build the play area with your skills and equipment which would save money.

It would increase costs, but having a kid sitter(s) available would also be very nice.

Tennis and basket ball courts would help for the older kids and kids at heart. That would be pretty cheap for you to build and a real nice selling point.

Later,
Dan

Hey Dan,

When I first started this, I was not going to put a pool in at any cost. I just refused to have one. Of course, I spoke to allot of park owners and realized that I had to have one. Then I met some guys who build spray water parks and listened to there sales pitch. No pool, now standing water to drown in and all that. It sounded great, but pricey. I thought about building my own, but when I talked to the insurance people, they said it was the same as a wading pool. If I designed and built it, then it would be even more since I'm not an engineer. Safety issues with presure and potential injuries.

So then it was back to the wading pool. Seperating the small kids from the adults was kind of tricky. I thought about ropes like they had in public pools when I was a kid, but really don't like that idea. I also don't like the idea of having to swim in the same water as kids. There's just no way to stop them from peeing in it. Nasty water is gonna be really bad in the kiddy section. Now I like the idea of there own pool and there own cleaning system. I'll make it 2 feet deep and have some sort of water feature in the middle to spray them or let them play under.

If I do it right, it could be a very nice attraction!!!!

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie:

You'd have to walk your dog on leash about a quarter mile from the overnight area to where it will be, but it's a nice walk, so that shouldn't be too bad.

That would be fine with us, and I think it would put your park in the top 1% of all the ones we have ever been to. You would be amazed at how retired people with dogs will re-arrange their lives to take care of the dogs. A lot of the RV people will go for the smaller breeds, but we see quite a few labs too.

I'm also thinking about a dark plaster to give it a more lagoon look. The problem with that is the water might get too warm.

We don't have that problem in Northern CA and Southern OR.

Can you mix the light and dark plaster in the same pool? I can imagine about 50-50 in a free-form pattern coming out really nice. Or, if you have a logo for your park, put that on the bottom of the pool -- maybe at your sloped entrance.

You have to be careful there. I have a feeling you are going to want to sell the whole park someday, and retire a multi-millionaire. Be sure the next owner will want the same logo.

It is not too early to think about staff -- if you do half the things I see here, you will need several people to help keep the place going. I'm sure you have read about the workamping folks over at RV.net.

I really want to come visit you, hopefully before your park opens, but after would work also. The only problem is that DW is tired of RVs, after living in ours 4 days every two weeks while the house is under construction. At some point in the next few years, I want to take a couple of months and go back east. DW and I both have family in North Carolina. I will make sure you are on the route.

Dave,

I'm gonna need a full staf!!! hahaha But I'm hoping it's not all at once and I can grow into it and business increases. Just maintaining the grass and picking up the garbage will be a full time job.

I'm still iffy about work kampers. Some places like them, others don't. It's an argument that I'm undecided on.

You're always welcome here, as is everyone else. I've had about a dozen members come by so far and really enjoy meeting them. It's fun to show them the land and explain the layout and get there reactions and suggestions. One good suggestion is priceless. Usually I get several good ideas from a visit, but I also find that explaining things helps me to understand them too.

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[dmccarty]

Hard to believe the insurance cost for a spray zone is as much as a wading pool. Pretty hard for a kid to get hurt in a spray zone compared to a wading pool. The ones I have seen have rubber flooring that is not slick at all so they can't slip. Not sure how a kid could get hurt in the zones I have seen but that is Insurance companies for ya.

We joined a pool near our house. The kids have a little wadding pool with a chain link fence to keep the little ones inside. The big pool has at least two lifeguards on duty with a couple more hanging around taking breaks. Our membership is not bad and cheaper than going to the public pool we used to visit but I think you would have to have a large number of RVers to pay for the guards.

We built a play set for our kids last year that was a kit. Seemed like when I was researching the kits they had some really high end/commercial kits which is what I was thinking of for the RV park. The high end had the rubber matts that I would love to have but can't afford so we used mulch. We have been to a couple places with the matting and that stuff is awesome. For a public space that would be the product to use. A kid would have to fall just right to break a bone and the normal falls kids take would be a non issue with this stuff.

You might want to shop around the insurance if you have not done so already. When we moved into the house we built I kept the house insurance we had via AAA and it cost about $1000-1200 a year. They really asked lots of questions about our wood stove and GSD. Ended switching to the NC Farm Bureau for the same coverage for $800/900 a year. Did not ask squat about the dog and the stove. House, tractor, and autos are now with FB.

Shoot, almost forgot. Kinda along the ideas that others had is you need a place for music. I have been to a couple places in NC that had music on the weekends. The would have local county, gospel, blue grass bands in to play. The places I'm thinking about range from a place that has a real good family style resteraunt with a building for music, to an old barn that has music, to a nicer place that also just does music. That could be a draw for people to come in for a blue grass weekend. And it might get locals out as well. In my county there are a couple of places that just have outdoor music and they seem popular. Some would say they are too popular and causing problems for the neighbors.

Later,
Dan

 

[rox]

Eddie:

I really want to come visit you, hopefully before your park opens, but after would work also. The only problem is that DW is tired of RVs, after living in ours 4 days every two weeks while the house is under construction. At some point in the next few years, I want to take a couple of months and go back east. DW and I both have family in North Carolina. I will make sure you are on the route.

Dave, I jsut gotta ask, does DW stand for 'Da Wife?"

 

[rox]

Okay Eddie I am starting to understand the concept, your business will be an RV Resort, not a campground. My experience has only been with campgrounds so that is what my coments are based on.

Now that i understand the concept more, and RV Resort, I'll offer comments accordingly.

#1 The off leash dog area is really really a good idea. As Curly (should i shorten Curly Dave to Curly or wouold it be Dave?) said dog people will for sure select your resort if it offer amenities for their dogs. We never had a dog do to health issues but my sister did and she really really loved her dog. I totally love the idea of running the off leash dog area up next to the creek. At the end of their walk they can frolic in the creek a bit.

Still on the animal theme, the horses would be a big attraction for your other guest. Take a walk out and see the horses. Thus you wnat to secure the horses in with fencing but you also want to fence the public out. The horse owners I don't think want people to be able to pet theri horses. i might be 100% wrong on this but that is mu gut reaction.

Also waht about that neighbors land. Could you get riding trails for the horsesover on his land? Wow, for the horse owners that would be super I would think. But again, I don't have the experience to know for sure.

Perhaps you could cruise the "Doggie" message boards and get good ideas for what amenities to provide for hte dogs. How about some campsite that are fenced in so that people can let their dogs free in their campsite? That way they don't ahve to be on the leash or staked all the time.

You could advertise it in your website and promotional pieces and test the market. Just build like 4 or 5 with a fence around the campsite and see what happens. If you get good demand and run out of spaces, take the reservation, say yes, and run out and fence some more.

I know I would not mind staying in a site that was fenced. Say you didn't have demand you could still rent out these sites to peoplw without dogs. I know i would look at that fence as one long clothesline!!!!!!!!

I am having a ball reading this thread i hope peopel continue to give you their ideas and comments.

 

[midlf]

Eddie - not being a horse owner the following comments will be based on comments made by the previous owners of our place. They moved away from family in WI to MO to have better weather to work with their two horses year round. If you think the dog owners can be nuts you have seen nothing compared to some horse owners. (We will not discuss the slaves to a Goffin's Cockatoo). Moving their horses was a big concern. Both where to overnight and where to do a mid day let out. Their horse trailer was set up with human overnight sleeping accommodations. They would need facilities similar to tent campers such as toilets and showers. They will insist on being next to where the horse(s) is corralled.

We have said a number of times, if there is such a thing as reincarnation and I have to come back as horse, I wanna be Cheryl's horse.

 

[mwechtal]

As some of you know I'm working on my land with the goal of one day turning it into an RV Park. I've spent years researching this, a few more years finding the right land in a very good location and for the last few years, I've been fine tuning my ideas. I have a layout, a business plan and a ton of ideas. I've been to hundreds of RV Parks, talked to the owners or managers along with joining the Texas Association of Campground Owners (TACO).

Eddie,
I've skimmed over most of the answers, and they're good suggestions, but they seem to focus on a lot of the "bigger" issues. Here's some detail suggestions.

1) be sure that the electrical outlets are installed right side up. I have taken to stashing a roll of duct tape with my electrical stuff. That way when the outlet is upside down, I can tape the cord to the pole (hopefully). But this is a real hot button for me.

2) the sewer connections need to be nearly flush to the ground for some RVs to dump into. I have run into a few that were WAY too high.

3) I can't imagine you'd do this, but I've been to too many parks where the water faucet is practically touching the sewer connection. There was one place where once the sewer line was in place, it would have been hard to get the water line on the spigot. So, I didn't and luckily we only had to stay one night because we were traveling.

4) This is probably obvious, but... All connections on the driver's side please. I usually have enough electrical cord, water hose, and sewer hose to connect to the "wrong" side if I have to, but It's annoying. In the '80s we had a motorhome with connections on both sides, but I think all the newer ones are all on the driver's side. For me the best layout would be with the connections close to the "border" with the next site as that leaves the awning side with the most room.

Just some ideas.

BTW, we don't get that far south very often, but we're going to have to keep you in mind. Sounds like a first class operation to me!

Mike

 

[Jimbrown]

I have wondered about this for a while... What are the health implications for the horse? Are there any concerns about taking your horse in to a stall that someone elses horse of unknown condition was in? Or is it not a big deal? When you go to the fair, do you have to clean or sanitize first?

).

Do not want to steal a thread but this is related. There are always concerns. My wife gets sick every time she gets on an airliner from the crummy air in them. We try to use our own containers and feed; also we have an extensive immunization program our horse’s gets shots twice a year for most common things. If you cross state lines you usually must have a health certificate and many of the larger shows require them. As a general rule horses are quite healthy and there are not too many really contagious disease. Eddie the ideal way would be to drive by the stalls unload horses and equipment and then drive to the parking site. Horses can be away from parking area and even out of site. some people might lock the stalls but i would not and i don't mind people petting my horses though some might. again we are talking hobbie and low level show type people and not $200,000 race horses. If you are going to have the petting zoo type thing a couple of horses aren't gonna matter. And agin I don't see people staying for days. Just mainly overnight to get where they ae going. i suspect ther is lots of horsy stuff going on in the Houston and Dallas area.

 

[RobS]

4) This is probably obvious, but... All connections on the driver's side please. I usually have enough electrical cord, water hose, and sewer hose to connect to the "wrong" side if I have to, but It's annoying. In the '80s we had a motorhome with connections on both sides, but I think all the newer ones are all on the driver's side. For me the best layout would be with the connections close to the "border" with the next site as that leaves the awning side with the most room.

I completely understand, but...

We have camped as groups on several occasions where it is great putting the rigs awning-to-awning. Get four sites together (back to back and side to side) and you've got a large common area in between. I think I bought an extra sewer hose for one of these occasions.

I'm not sure you could plan to directly accomodate this, but you could probably plan such that it could be done if people wanted.

And one more unrelated suggestion Eddie:

The nicest parks offer an escort to your site. We stayed at one place where the guy helped us back in and even offered to help set-up. I didn't need any of those services but it was a nice touch and probably appreciated by many. Come to think of it, that same park had a small fleet of GEM electric vehicles for escorts, trash and maintenance. I'll go ahead and plug the place, Petosky KOA in Michigan. Twin Creek in Gatlinburg is one of our other memorable places.

 

[gsganzer]

Gordon,

Axis deer, fallow deer, blackcuck for under $300 each. Zebra are pricey at $2,000 and up, but that's about the most for what I want. Giraffes are way too expensive to even consider. hahaha

Eddie

I can only imagine trying to care for a giraffe That one would be too much work. I can only imagine the fencing required He has a good supply of more reasonable animals such as impala, kudu, blesbuck, dik dik and the like. Blesbuck can't jump, a single strand at 3 feet will supposedly keep them in.

That just sounds like a blast, keeping a collection of different types of animals for your guests to enjoy and learning the different animal traits and personalities.

We were looking to get our oldest daughter a goat, but I might opt for a blesbuck instead if they're as easy to keep penned as I've been led to believe. I'd have the neighbors doing a double take.