Your thoughts on my future carreer change

[bigtiller]

Tonight's TV show "Undercover Boss" had the KOA (kampgrounds of america) boss on. Everybody there talked like it was a never ending job.

Eddie, you may have just simplified your retirement years by going another direction. Good luck.

 

[EddieWalker]

i think you should write a business plan first. it will force you to consider all the expenses in creating the project and then running it.

I will do this for sure. Right now I'm at that stage where I've been thinking about this for a couple of months. Pros and Cons type of thing. The logistics of it and how will it fit. The cost of building and what has to be done to the land to make it happen.

As of right now, we are thinking of three different venues spread out to the three corners of the land. The first would be the gazebo I'm building now at the pond. There is a great spot there for a building with an amazing view of the water and about two acres for a parking lot that wouldn't take very much dirt work. The utilities are fairly close too.

Then towards the front of the land, we've cleared some land already for what we where planning to be storage buildings and covered parking for RV's. We could easily make that into a cow pasture and build a Texas themed barn there. Again, there would be very little involved in dirt work, but the trees would have to be thinned quite a bit.

Back in the far corner of the land is where all the big pines are located. There is a spot in those trees that is perfect for another outdoor wedding pavilion/gazebo type structure based on a timber frame design with a super tall and steep roofline. Parking would be on a bit of a hill, but nothing too bad. Quite a few pines would have to come out, but that's all pretty basic for us. Dirt work would be minimal there as well. The hall would look out over a pasture of grass and pines.

At each area we would also build a Honeymoon cabin.

I would still have my trails around the land, we would have animals, and all three buildings would be a lot easier to maintain then an RV Park with 200 sites and 50 to 60 cabins, a store, several Laundromats, a meeting hall and a swimming pool, plus daily garbage pickup and the never ending 7 days a week traffic.

Eddie

 

[oosik]

Eddie, I don't know the first thing about weddings & reception area, etc. But, I do know about RV parks, camper parks, trailer courts and the like. Owning and managing one of these facilities(camper park, etc) is a 24/7/365 job and there is never time for you. Especially, there where you are and you can be open - year round. Here where I'm at the only facility that goes on & on, year round is the trailer court. The remainder close for the winter. I really, really do not see the owning & managing of a camper park, or the like, as a retirement job. I think something like a wedding/party/social gathering facility will be a much simpler, less stressful operation and leave time for you and your wife. Good luck and congratulations on the upcoming wedding.

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie I like to make lists and this is just me thinking out loud. I like the idea of wedding (1 day "guests") vs rv park (long term guests).
1. Who would cater, would they be responsible for their own food? could you add a premium of offering things like a pig roast etc? what type of permits, licences would that require?
2. Photography you have some awesome areas on your property. Would you be able to transport people to them? or is there access to get the wedding party to those areas?
3. Reception hall, what type of decoration/interior design would work best? or would you offer an empty shell that they could decorate themselves? Do you need a liquor license or would it be byob? Septic or sewer?
4. How many could you seat? Prep area for the food, dance floor? outdoor area?
5. Proximity of hotels, will they shuttle people to your place to cut down on drunk driving?
6. How much liability insurance would you need, could you form an llc and "rent" yourself the property to protect yourself legally?
7. Dj, music system, lights for the dance floor?
8. Handicap accessibility?
9. Would they be able to get married on the property? Seating for that and dinners tables etc....
By the way congrats on your upcoming wedding!

Great questions. From reading the websites of the local wedding venues, it seems that most just offer a place to have the wedding and reception. None of them have anything like my gazebo, and nothing like the building I plan to build. Most seem to be in a metal barn that they have converted or an old house with a big room in it. The hotels have the big hall, but not the outdoors aspect that I'm offering.

As for venders, they offer suggestions on who to hire, but that is all up to the couple getting married who they hire. I would have to work with them, but would be responsible for what they do. I would provide the building, tables and chairs.

I haven't put pen to paper yet on a floor plan yet, but have been giving it quite a bit of thought. Bigger means more people, but there is a point where it becomes too big to build cost effectively. I want open beams and a lodge feel to it. Plenty of bathrooms, an easy to get to kitchen area and a bar. Plenty of storage for tables and chairs and two separate rooms for the bride and groom to get ready in. I've seen a few floor plans on searches nationwide. How many square feet is ideal? I'm not sure and need to figure that out.

Eddie

 

[EddieWalker]

I like the idea; actually I like it better than the RV park idea where the buildings were going to look primitive. Looking at expansion possibilities before you build anything is very wise.

Suggestions:

1. Look at total possible annual revenue. There are only so many weekends in the year during "wedding season". All of your costs and your income has to come out of this. In fact, the costs come first, your personal income is the last item paid.

2. Your areas need to be far enough away from each other and the highway so that each can have their ceremony unspoiled by road noise or a loud band at an adjacent ceremony.

3. Look at wedding trends both in your area and in the US as a whole. Where we live, the trend is for couples to not get married any more, just live together. In 15 years, revenue might be lower.

4. Costs & Security. Weddings will always have extra costs. As many of these should be put on the wedding party as possible. For instance, security. Some percentage of weddings end up with serious fights and sometime general brawls. Doesn't seem like it should be that way, but when people add alcohol, family feuds, and possible thug friends of the wedding party it happens. Not always, but enough times that you should have a plan. Require 2 or 3 uniformed guards to direct parking and prevent fights. Whatever happens, you should never go out yourself to deal with a disturbance.

5. Work with some wedding planners before you build anything. What would be the way they want facilities laid out? This also gives you free publicity before you open.

6. Same with caterers for food before you build. What layout of roads would give good service access, while letting the actual wedding party not see any of the behind the scenes, nuts and bolts stuff of how it happened. The garbage truck and dumpsters need to be there, but the guests don't need to see them.

7. Liquor license. Do you need one? How long does it take to get one?

8. Clean up crew. Who is going to clean up after each use? They need to be absolutely reliable. The team that arrives to decorate for an expensive Saturday ceremony does not want the old stuff from the previous, low cost Friday night party there when they arrive.

9. Shift work. You will need Friday night cleanup and setup for Saturday, same for Saturday night cleanup and setup for Sunday. Who does this in your area?

10. Garbage removal. Do you want larger dumpsters or more garbage trucks? Think hard about this, there will be a lot of food prep and cleanup. Dumpsters will smell in hot weather, even "empty" ones. How do you handle this?

11. I think you said you had a sewer system which pumped to a public facility of some sort. This is good, but the surge capacity might have to be greater than for an RV park. All of the food prep will have to be done at once.

12. I presume you will start with one facility and then more as you have success. Plan out the siting and construction now. No one is going to want to have a wedding right next to a construction site, so visual screening during construction will be important.

13. Janitorial Service. Grounds, restrooms and food prep areas have to be cleaned before each ceremony. Who does this, and when? Do you need enough outdoor lighting to clean the grounds at night? Even a small amount of litter makes the place look trashy, and many of the previous guests were drunk and not on their best manners the night before.

Good luck, and I think you will come up with a lot more questions. None of them are show-stoppers, but a little planning ahead will keep things elegant and desirable for quite a while.

Dave

Dave,

Great suggestions and questions. All will be addressed in my business plan before moving forward!!!!

I love research and learning about something before doing it. I will have a plan written up and a floor plan drawn for the hall and go to as many wedding type people as I can to get their input on what they think should be there. What they have seen done right and what they have seen done wrong. This is probably the most important step in this before I commit to it.

As for the locations of each site, I have 68 acres and each area is about as far from the other as I can get them. They are screened by trees so it will be impossible to see one from another. Except for the road leading to each site, nobody will even know they are there. This is one of the things that got us excited, the way it all fits together so nicely. Kind of like we had planned it like this from the beginning.

Eddie

 

[sld]

How close to population centers are you?

How many weddings can you host per year conservatively?

This does get away from your talents and experience and these are the reasons I have not made a career change.

You love working the land. What about building a golf course? Even 9 holes could be a money maker.

If you went the RV route you could sell it for a small fortune and retire anywhere you wanted. Wonder how many years you could have to run it though and that would be a hard job like people have mentioned.

Just thinking out loud and I am sure that whatever you choose will be successful. Just protect yourself and your assets.

 

[rockinmywaypa]

Eddie, I live next to an RV park. Many many years ago it was run by an older couple and was always run down and hardly used. Good for me since I didn't have to worry about noise or smells coming from my place bothering their business. They sold it to a young couple with the dream of having a good business but they made it too good, after a couple years and a lot of upgrading they were sold out most weekends but he had no life other than catering to customers. He couldn't even spend a decent meal with his family. After about 5-6 years he sold it off for a handsome price and is now again able to enjoy his family. Point is if you do it right you'll have no time for anything else.
Again in this area a few people made their century barns into meeting halls most specifically for weddings, they started taking business away from other halls who then complained and now most of these barns are shut down unless they are totally up to date as far as building codes are concerned for fire regulations. As if a crowd can't get out through the thrash doors if something happens.
Watching my neighbour I would definetly go with the wedding idea and if you're building new you'll be up to code anyway. If you have something ewenique you'll have business for a good portion of the year, moreso than just the summer wedding season. Good luck with it.

 

[Pixguy]

This thread interests me as I've photographed hundreds of weddings and dealt with scores of reception halls, Country clubs and wedding chapels. I've also been shopping for a RV park to purchase over the last few years.

Few things to consider.
1. The RV park would be more fun to create than it would be to operate. As others have said, it's a 24/7 job. I had an owner tell me that he had to unplug his phone after 10pm due to someone calling him in the middle of the night cuz the washing machine was broken or they couldn't get on the wifi, all emergencies in the campers minds. They need to be open from 7am to 11pm when you'd need to drive around in your golf cart to get fires out and quiet folks down that are now tanked. They're on vacation and they want to have fun! lol

If the wedding reception hall business plan makes money, then go that route but don't forget to remember to have more places than the gazebo for bridal party photos, both sunny and rainy days. I've even seen some halls have very little in kitchen areas and connect with a caterer that does all the work and cleans up after themselves.

Good luck and keep us informed.

 

[Coyote machine]

Wedding venue, skip the RV park and ride!
You could maybe find someone with a catering trailer to set-up/remove before after events to minimize on site kitchen facilities, etc.
Liquor licensing/liability insurance costs and associated nightmares as a result of some rowdy guests should be seriously assessed.
Your window of income is limited with just weddings, as stated, but dance hall, bingo parlor, 'casino night' venues you might add or other specialty local interest events could draw locals and some passers by to fill in the gaps.
Your local demographics re age of people within 50 miles, for instance, can tell you about trends of growing younger population or older folks retiring. Today's wedding boom could be tomorrow's wedding bust just as you come out of the gate. People will only travel and bring family and friends so far for rural weddings.
Know your area and what it is most likely to provide, look at school enrollment as an indicator of trends too.
Talk to your bankers too for what their thoughts and reactions to the wedding business are.

 

[mikehaugen]

What I don't get is why people think if the wedding hall and see it as less work because you can hire people to do everything, but the rv park will be more work because you are so busy. Could you not hire people at an rv park just the same? Let them take care of things if you don't want the burden?

Btw... if you do decide to go ahead with the rv park, make sure to let us know... I'll be sure to come check it out sometime.