THE TRUTH ABOUT RV PARK
AMENITIES
By: Frank Rolfe
Benjamin Franklin once said “it is not
the cost of the fireplace, but the cost to keep it in wood”. Franklin was never
much of an RV player, but his suggestion is worth considering for all RV park
owners concerning amenities. Owners should consider not only the cost to build
the amenity, but also the cost to keep it up. Often the cost to keep it up is
far more, in the long run, than the cost to build it. That’s why it is very
important to make sure that any amenity you build is worth the money.
Clubhouse/Office/Store
In any RV park, it’s nice to have a
respectable place for customers to check in. It can be no more than a portable
building or a mobile home. Hopefully, it has a little class, even if only
provided by the landscaping. I think that most folks would agree that the office
is an important amenity and probably worth the cost. The biggest killer here is
the cost of utilities. But if you keep the thermostat set responsibly, the
monthly cost will only be about $200 in power, and the general enhancement in
the appearance of your RV Park is worth more than that.
As long as you have a little office, it
wouldn’t hurt to have a store. Sell the products that an RV customer might need,
such as toothbrushes and toothpaste and Kleenex and the like. At least this
helps pay for the cost of the office. If you only net $200 per month on your
store profit (price you sell them for minus cost of goods), that still means it
paid for the monthly power cost of your office. So I think everyone would agree
that a store is a good idea.
Next is the clubhouse. Some RV park
owners have built these large clubhouses where their customers can hang out. It
has a TV, game tables, vending machines and even arcade games. The problem with
this amenity is that it costs a lot to upkeep, yet brings in very little
revenue. Sure, you might make $5 here and there on the pinball machine, if you
even own it, but you will hemorrhage any cash you make in huge utility bills,
cleaning costs and insurance. I would think really, really hard before going
down this road. Look at how few people use clubhouses at other RV parks, usually
on a small percentage of the total population. Is that worth the expense to
build and operate one? I doubt it.
Laundry Room
Since many RV users have a definite need
for laundry services, this amenity helps to keep your customers satisfied. Make
certain not to “overbuild” your laundry room. You want to keep those machines
running all the time. Otherwise, you will have wasted money by building too big
a room, and reduced your income by stocking too many machines. If you enter into
a contract with a laundry machine company, your best case scenario is to break
even on the cost of the utilities to run the washers and dryers – but that’s
still alright, as long as it is paying for itself. This is another amenity that
costs little to upkeep, and pays a big dividend in happy customers.
Swimming Pool
Of all the amenities in existence, this
one holds the record for high operating cost. In fact, it can be a real
man-eater. To build an in-ground commercial pool (about 20’ x 40’ in size) will
cost about $50,000. That’s a lot. Worse still are the operating expenses on the
pool. You will have constant bills for 1) chlorine 2) ph balancers 3) other
chemicals 4) labor to clean the pool 5) electricity to run the pump 6) lifeguard
(if applicable) 7) insurance 8) property tax (yes, the tax assessor will raise
your taxes) 9) the cost of repairing/replacing leaks and decking problems. That
does not count wear and tear on the pool fence, the pool furniture, and random
acts of violence (like people throwing all of the furniture in the pool). You’ll
also have to pay to winterize it and re-open it in the summer.
Why would you burden yourself with all
these costs? A pool is often a very important amenity, at least mentally. It
looks cool to have a pool in your RV Park, especially if it’s located at the
entry for all to see. The truth is that only a small percentage of your guests
will ever use it. The rest simply admire it. If you have to have a pool,
build it to the absolute minimum specs in size and depth, and restrict the hours
to the bare-bones minimum. That way you can have the appearance of the pool
without the huge operating expense. Few people will ever complain, since only a
small percentage ever actually uses it.
Games
Many RV park owners have built sports
and games infrastructure to amuse their visitors. Some, such as shuffleboard,
are very low maintenance. Basically a concrete strip with some lines painted on
it. Horseshoe pits, volleyball nets, things that require very little attention,
other than to make sure that the pieces themselves do not get lost. These kinds
of amenities cost little to build, are easy to install, last for years, and
offer the visitor something fun to do with their friends and family. Most of
them are well worth the price, although their total usage will always be lower
than you would think. You get a good return on the low dollar you spend as far
as appearing to offer something unique.
The next level up from these is
basketball courts or tennis courts – anything that requires a large concrete
slab. Building these types of amenities is very costly. The on-going
maintenance can be equally expensive. The cost to repair broken concrete,
replace or repair nets and fences, paint rusting poles. I would personally
never build a basketball or tennis court, because it is a huge capital outlay
that is rarely appreciated, and can cause a lot of on-going repair woes.
At the highest end of the pyramid are
elaborate miniature golf courses. While these look really cool from the street,
they are expensive to build and time consuming to maintain properly. I have
never talked to an RV park owner who was happy with his mini-golf course. It was
a constant source of labor, just try and keep all that carpet free of debris,
and the windmills and such break all the time. Plus, you have to keep track of
balls and putters and buy pencils and scorecards. Better to leave this business
to the local Putt-Putt.
Playgrounds
If your RV Park caters to families with
children, you may be considering building a playground. If this is the case, be
sure to understand what you are getting yourself into. To build a proper
playground, you need a safe “fall zone”. This is an area under the equipment
that cushions a kid falling off your equipment. Typical fall zones are shredded
tires, or wood chips, or pea gravel. They are a lot harder and more expensive to
build than they look! Make sure to price this into your estimate of playground
cost.
As for the equipment, be sure to make
sensible choices as far as maintenance and liability. It is really easy, for
example, to get seriously injured in a merry-go-round. You have a big, spinning,
metal object with a lot of force on it. If a kid gets their head or hand under
the device, you could have a catastrophic accident. And the very concept of
something designed to throw a kid off is a bad idea. Similarly, jungle gyms are
chock full of liability, the whole concept is testing how far a kid can go
before they fall off.
The safer choices would appear to be
swing sets (make sure they are in good working order at all times) and slides.
Make sure that neither is very tall. Tire swings can also be fun without too
much danger. There are hundreds of pieces of playground equipment in catalogs,
so just be thinking liability and maintenance when you look through.
Are playgrounds worth the money? Not if
you do not have a lot of kids in the RV Park. If you do, they do get pretty
regular use. Most of the maintenance required on them you can do yourself which
helps save on money. It is imperative that you keep them in good condition. If
you don’t have the ability to keep them freshly painted and in good working
order, then you should remove them. They look horrible as a bunch of rusted
poles, and the liability is quite high.
Picnic Tables
Here’s one amenity that is cheap to
install, lasts forever, and requires little maintenance. Stay away from the
wooden ones, if you can, and splurge on metal or concrete. Otherwise you will
have splinter problems and the wood will discolor or require constant painting.
Even if they don’t get a lot of use, they look inviting, and have about zero
liability risk. You can find all different styles and prices on the internet.
Other
You may have other ideas than what is
presented here. If so, always remember to think about more than the cost of
building it. Think about what it will take to keep it in good shape. Also, if
the cost is justified by the actual use it will receive. Money you waste on
unused amenities could have been used on better marketing or landscaping or some
more productive return on your capital.
Conclusion
The RV park business is competitive. You
must offer amenities to your customers, or risk them finding someplace else that
does. The key to amenities is to make sure that you are budgeting realistically
for the on-going maintenance, as well as the initial cost, and that you make
good choices as far as items people really want and use. Remember another of
Benjamin Franklin’s sayings “a penny saved is a penny earned”. Franklin should
have been in the RV business!
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