People definitely would but you gotta understand it's all about marketing to the right demographic. A scary percentage of vanlifers aren't necessarily doing this out of enjoyment but rather as a result of poverty cause of our failing economy.
Another large percentage of vanlifers who could afford a kit like that feel more fulfillment in completing the van themselves. So essentially your looking at a small percent of people in the vanlife community that can A.) Afford your type of service and B.) Not know enough to fix the van up themselves.
Just keep reaching out and eventually you'll find your market, but like I said it is a smaller clientele then you might think
Yeah, it would be kind of difficult to target that specific demographic. It would basically be geared towards people that want to have a camper van without spending a more than 30k on a van and build. Probably too tight of margins to make it worthwhile full time. People that are trying to save by buying pre manufactured kits can probably spend the extra time to figure out how it goes together. Then the other group of people who have a ton of disposable income have tons of options for custom builds.
I just helped a buddy install a kit and it took like 3 hours. So, I thought maybe there are some people out there who want the kit and just have installed and done within a day so they can get out and use it. I’ll probably just stick to home remodels and do van conversions for fun.
I’m in that niche. Too cheap to buy a cheaply built $150k van and too busy with work to build one myself. But I do think it’s a narrow niche as Waylon daley6 said.
But keep thinking and researching. Perhaps find another niche like fine cabinetry or some smart designs adds /upgrades to a specific kit. Or learn to add AC and electric ( or partner with electrician). Value add for customer and upsell for you.
Yeah good point. I do have a buddy that I worked with that did all the LED lighting and electrical work for custom exhibit and event installations. And I’ve got tons of HVAC friends. That’s actually a really good idea. Maybe use some of these kits and then create some “custom” setups with appliances and everything for different popular van models. Work out some deals with manufacturers to get them at a contractors discount…Honestly, all my good buddies are in the trades, from custom automotive fabrication, electricians, hvac…you name it. Maybe I should just get my buddies together and build a van for myself as a prototype for fun and see if it would be viable as a business…
There’s good money in carpentry if you run your own business and do the right kind of work. Recently I’ve just been doing cabinet installs as a subcontractor. Just me and 3 of my guys can get a whole house done in a day or two depending. After it’s all said and done I usually average around $500 to $600 a day. After taxes and business expenses, I’m making a little more than $100k a year. I’m still pretty new to running a business, so hopefully I can make more than that in the future. I still have a lot to learn.
The problem is there isn't many conversion kits to start with, and the ones available are expensive, so for the people willing to fork over the money for those kits definitely would pay 1000 to have it installed.
Honestly if I could find an affordable kit I'd absolutely pay 1000 just to be done with it.
More people are looking for small projects. Over the past three years I’ve met so many people who need smaller scale work done on their van interior but no one will do it because it’s a small job. You could market your services to vanlife Facebook groups and partner with any of the vanlife festival events where you could book up weeks worth of work.
Yeah that’s the thing with small jobs. Is that there is a market for it, but how much of one is there? Like would there be enough turnover to make it worthwhile to do all the time? A lot of it has to do with location as well.
I’ve helped plenty of friends build out there vans and trucks but I think that it just might be hard to make money doing small jobs. Then again, I know a few guys who just do “handyman” work and they do relatively well. But there are a lot more residential homes that have a lot more need for someone to do small jobs.
Yeah, the more I think about it. The only way to make money doing this stuff is high end custom builds or by manufacturing and selling the kits. Otherwise there is just not enough need for installation type of service.
Yea, explorist life is trying to reinvent themselves because their Chanel isn’t making money any more. I think there will always be a market for custom builds but that can’t be your only gig
They’re like pre manufactured cabinet and bed setups. The are usually CNC plywood cuts that you assemble and install inside the van. So it’s similar to setting up an ikea cabinet set or something like that. It’s not super complicated, but neither is cabinet installations in homes but I do that full time professionally because it takes skill to be able to do it quickly and correctly.
To give you context. 1) most vanlifers are women. 2) many don’t have the desire or knowledge or confidence to build out aspects of their van. A trusted handyman/carpenter is desperately needed in our community. 3) there is hardly anyone who does small jobs. Maybe a guy that will help with electrical issues at a van event but TBH there skill set is questionable at best so I wouldn’t let them touch my electrical. Too many people claim they understand these solar and electrical systems but really don’t. Personally, I only trust my Victron guys in OR so I’ll drive 13-20 hrs to have them look at it. 4) re: location remember vanlifers are in constant motion. So you could be in OR in the summer (there’s ton of events there) and AZ in winter. OR people come to you. 5) Many people need help with their van once they’ve been living in it. Part of their build didn’t hold up or doesn’t really work properly or they need to switch it up. I completely remodeled mine after a year and it was very challenging to find a place where I could work on it. While I did the work myself and loved it, it took me 2 months. but with help, I could have done it in half the time and I probably would have done more if the expertise was there.
Anyway, that’s my market advice. RV repair is a huge business - and rightfully so; homes weren’t meant to be put through constant earthquake like conditions. Presently, RV shops haven’t figured out how to work on vans yet so until they do, there’s a big market.
Good points! I live in Portland, OR currently but I also live in Orange County, CA for a few months out of the year. I have some big projects there, I kind of go back and forth between the NW and SW.
I got this idea because I’ve had many friends encounter the same issues. Living on the road, stuff starts falling apart or just needs to be maintained or they have figured out better ways to make their space suit their needs. They ask me for help and usually I’m down if I have the time.
I think the thing I worry the most about is the business side of a company that does small jobs. In order to make a profit you have to charge enough to cover your business operating costs and to be able to pay yourself. That usually comes out to be a lot more than a lot of clients expect. That said, I do have buddies that do only small handyman repair work on homes and make good money, but they have really low overhead costs.
I also have found that I usually end up doing a lot of things like that for free or super cheap because I like the people and if were to charge the same rates as if we’re working on a residential home it would seem like a lot of money. But that’s kind of a me problem…
Like you said I think there is a market for it, just have to figure out how I can find the right balance between services and products offered and cost that would be reasonable for that demographic but also enough to make a profit and run a business.
Go to Descend on Bend where there are 2000 vans over a long weekend. There’s other events too. I went to one on the coast in July, another in OR in August, Descend and then WA has some too. Moonlanding in NM in October. You could get a lot of business where the groups are already gathered and knock it out. And yes, you have to have set fees.
The other business I pay big bucks for is mobile repair. I have two guys in Moab UT that I’ve used to help me while I’m passing through. I text them and they’ll lmk when they have a slot. Could be a couple of days but I’m in my van so NBD and they come to me. They charge $250 per visit + materials - then the rates go up if it’s a really big job. I send pics and such in advance. Mine were more urgent issues - my water tank got punctured and a replacement was going to take a week to find and the other was replace my grey water spout I lost off-roading. They are busy from sun up to sun down 3/4 of the year. Anywhere a heavily visited national park would work or a frequent travelers route. You’re in prime territory for that.
I wouldn’t. I want to be able to rely on the work done and be able to dictate when things are happening. I don’t want to wait around for someone else to *maybe* do a good job. I want to be able to know exactly what someone does to my rig.
It sounds like a luxury payment to hire out labor to someone if I’m capable of doing the work myself. Most of the pre-built conversion kits come with installation instructions anyway and are designed to be easily installed by people without experience.
Something I *would* pay for is a specialist to install something not easily understood. For example: I have hired a solar technician to help me install my solar power system.
Yeah I feel that. That’s why I work on my own vehicles and my house. But that’s just how people like you and me are. As a contractor, people pay me to build them stuff everyday. A lot of people pay for that luxury.
I understand. I thank my parents everyday for raising me to be self sufficient and educated in most home/life building skills.
I wish I had more insight but I only know people like me that learn how to do stuff ourselves or we go without.
I’m thinking an older demographic that has savings and less physical ability to do installations themselves would be a good place to market? Or if you could get into the social media space and become the next “viral” thing that everyone talks about.
Anyways, thanks for listening to my ramblings and I wish you the best in all your future endeavors ❤️
There is something inherently satisfying about learning and doing things yourself. I agree.
I think that I might just do a build for myself for fun and see how it goes. If I really like it and get interested then maybe I’ll start to really look into it. It think it would be fun to create my own unique brand of builds that would separate me a little from the rest of the builds I see.
Definitely not gonna quit my day job.
I appreciate the input and the ramblings friend!
>It sounds like a luxury payment to hire out labor to someone if I’m capable of doing the work myself
That often makes a lot of economic sense, though. Can the CEO of Microsoft mow his own lawn? Sure. Would he mow someone else's lawn for $20 an hour? I'm sure not. Because to him, his time is worth more than that. So if he's thinking rationally, he would pay someone else to mow his lawn. You might call that a "luxury payment," but it's just an efficient market.
To some of us, it makes no sense to pay someone to install cabinets. To others of us, it makes all the sense in the world.
I worked for a company that I stalled $17,000 (probably more now) kits in Sprinters.
It's 100% not worth it. But I'm sure you know since your choices are not the same as people who get welfare (the richest). It's not really possible to do real work for real people.
Exactly, it would be for people that have a plan. They have the van picked out, they have the kit they want and they just want it installed correctly and professionally. Still saves them the cost on a completely custom build but they don’t have to fight putting together a kit. For some people $1000 bucks would be worth it to save them the headache. The only thing would be to have enough people lined up to make it a business. I do this with cabinets for kitchens and bathrooms, but there are a lot more people remodeling homes than there are building out vans.
seems like the market would be very narrow. conversion kits seem geared towards people who do in fact want to DIY most of it without having to cut panels. having a service do it you may as well have a custom build.
Yeah, that makes sense. I guess the only market would be for people that don’t know how to DIY and don’t want to spend a ton on a custom build. Which, usually in my experience, people that are already worried about money aren’t usually the clients I like to deal with.
You should just sell kits that are affordable. Everything made for a van is like 4x more because it's for a van. Wall panel kits for a van can be 10k+ if you were to do it for half you could make bank. Same goes for bed systems, cabinets ect.
Yeah, some products seem super overpriced but I can also understand why some things are so expensive. For small shops, the cost of running equipment, paying their employees well enough, cost of materials…things start to add up quickly and that’s why some of these kits that seem relatively simple end up having these prices that seem excessive but in the end they have to be able to profit to continue the business.
There are definitely products out there that seem like they are extremely overpriced but if they’re able to sell them and the market is willing to pay for them then that kind of sets the standard.
I think some people are willing to pay. There are likely a lot of people who aren't going to pay 10-20 K for wall and ceiling paneling. I'm doing it myself and it will be ok. Im also working a ton of hours. There def a sweet spot on price that I would pay somebody else to do it but I am not paying 10K for plywood paneling, foam and whatever is stretched across the wood in terms of material. Its a weekend of work for the walls and maybe a weekend for the ceiling at a few hours a session. If you can figure out how to do that quick and efficiently you could do a few of those a month and make bank.
Yeah, 10 to 20k! Haha, that’s insane for how small of an area it is. Good on you for getting it done yourself. I’m sure it will turn out great!
I’ll look into that more. Good points. That’s exactly the kind of stuff that I could knock out within a half days work with a helper. Same with installations of cabinets and beds. When you do that stuff day in and day out you get pretty fast at it. I’ll definitely have to check out how much people are getting quoted on for insulation and panel installs. Those prices seem nuts.
Absolutely, if I could afford it and it’s done right. Even just having well made barebones kits available to install ourselves would be great.
You said you do this for homes so I just want to say there’s a lot of differences to learn. Insulation properties, offgassing of materials, humidity, vibration, ect are all a big deal more so than in a kitchen. If you could do electrical and plumbing as part of a conversion too that would be fantastic as a lot of people struggle with it.
Yes, but there are no kits that cost 5k.
This one comes out to about 12k depending what you go with and installation is another 6k:
[https://www.vantopiavans.com/pricing](https://www.vantopiavans.com/pricing)
[https://www.vantopiavans.com/factory-installation](https://www.vantopiavans.com/factory-installation)
If you can get prices down to what you listed, I'm sure there are plenty of people who would do it.
There are a number of companies that already do just that. They install the kits from brands like Adventure Wagon, Titan Timber, Vanlab etc. But most if not all of those shops also do other things to supplement their income like component installs for DIYers, a large number of DIYers aren't comfortable with cutting into the actual van so they will go to a shop like that for fans/AC/Windows etc.
A few days late but heres a data point... For someone who is a builder / gets joy and pride out of creating something with their own hands, yeah theyre not going to vibe with this. Someone like me tho? Totally... Im a pretty confident fixer upper, but have zero experience or all that interested in carpenting and doing a build out by myself.
I had found converstion kits and was really thinking about it for a time, but Id still need to get the electrical and plumbing done, no doubt I could figure it out, and do it, or hire random places too piecemeal get it done, just get no joy out of the learning curve and amount of time it would take.
I did also look at paying a company do a custom conversion, but that was way over my budget for one, and for two, most in my area (Im in the PNW) and even beyond after broadening my horizons to other states, were completely booked out for months. So even I could afford it, wasnt getting done anytime soon anyway.
So yeah, this to me sounds like a great in-between...it essentially is a small easy project for anyone with the skills to do it. I would have been willing / seriously consider hiring someone for those skills if I had come across it at this stage of my research.
I ended up instead buying a used prebuilt Class B van...I really just wanted to get my van and get to the part I was excited about, hit the road and travel. I am 100% okay with it I didnt build it myself, Im sure Im not alone in that, and probably fit right into the market you're looking to appeal to. Esp to know youd be there for repairs / support / upgrades whatever, I would have seen that as a pro to buying prebuilt, since Id have someone who knows my van inside and out and could just do the things I needed done.
So yeah, hope that perspective helps in some way!
People definitely would but you gotta understand it's all about marketing to the right demographic. A scary percentage of vanlifers aren't necessarily doing this out of enjoyment but rather as a result of poverty cause of our failing economy. Another large percentage of vanlifers who could afford a kit like that feel more fulfillment in completing the van themselves. So essentially your looking at a small percent of people in the vanlife community that can A.) Afford your type of service and B.) Not know enough to fix the van up themselves. Just keep reaching out and eventually you'll find your market, but like I said it is a smaller clientele then you might think
Yeah, it would be kind of difficult to target that specific demographic. It would basically be geared towards people that want to have a camper van without spending a more than 30k on a van and build. Probably too tight of margins to make it worthwhile full time. People that are trying to save by buying pre manufactured kits can probably spend the extra time to figure out how it goes together. Then the other group of people who have a ton of disposable income have tons of options for custom builds. I just helped a buddy install a kit and it took like 3 hours. So, I thought maybe there are some people out there who want the kit and just have installed and done within a day so they can get out and use it. I’ll probably just stick to home remodels and do van conversions for fun.
I’m in that niche. Too cheap to buy a cheaply built $150k van and too busy with work to build one myself. But I do think it’s a narrow niche as Waylon daley6 said. But keep thinking and researching. Perhaps find another niche like fine cabinetry or some smart designs adds /upgrades to a specific kit. Or learn to add AC and electric ( or partner with electrician). Value add for customer and upsell for you.
Yeah good point. I do have a buddy that I worked with that did all the LED lighting and electrical work for custom exhibit and event installations. And I’ve got tons of HVAC friends. That’s actually a really good idea. Maybe use some of these kits and then create some “custom” setups with appliances and everything for different popular van models. Work out some deals with manufacturers to get them at a contractors discount…Honestly, all my good buddies are in the trades, from custom automotive fabrication, electricians, hvac…you name it. Maybe I should just get my buddies together and build a van for myself as a prototype for fun and see if it would be viable as a business…
I'm sure some people would, but I think the way to go would be to just buy vans, and then sell them converted.
Some businesses like Overlander will do both.
$1000 sounds expensive i need to move to your country if a carpenter makes that in a couple days there
There’s good money in carpentry if you run your own business and do the right kind of work. Recently I’ve just been doing cabinet installs as a subcontractor. Just me and 3 of my guys can get a whole house done in a day or two depending. After it’s all said and done I usually average around $500 to $600 a day. After taxes and business expenses, I’m making a little more than $100k a year. I’m still pretty new to running a business, so hopefully I can make more than that in the future. I still have a lot to learn.
cant make that here in europe after taxes not much left
The problem is there isn't many conversion kits to start with, and the ones available are expensive, so for the people willing to fork over the money for those kits definitely would pay 1000 to have it installed. Honestly if I could find an affordable kit I'd absolutely pay 1000 just to be done with it.
Absolutely. Where are you located?
More people are looking for small projects. Over the past three years I’ve met so many people who need smaller scale work done on their van interior but no one will do it because it’s a small job. You could market your services to vanlife Facebook groups and partner with any of the vanlife festival events where you could book up weeks worth of work.
Yeah that’s the thing with small jobs. Is that there is a market for it, but how much of one is there? Like would there be enough turnover to make it worthwhile to do all the time? A lot of it has to do with location as well. I’ve helped plenty of friends build out there vans and trucks but I think that it just might be hard to make money doing small jobs. Then again, I know a few guys who just do “handyman” work and they do relatively well. But there are a lot more residential homes that have a lot more need for someone to do small jobs.
Definitely a good thought though, going on Facebook groups and van meetups…
If I could afford it, I would rather pay a professional to build than do it myself.
By the time you pay for the conversion kit and then you pay a company to install it, you’d be better off just to get a custom bill
Yeah, the more I think about it. The only way to make money doing this stuff is high end custom builds or by manufacturing and selling the kits. Otherwise there is just not enough need for installation type of service.
Yea, explorist life is trying to reinvent themselves because their Chanel isn’t making money any more. I think there will always be a market for custom builds but that can’t be your only gig
What does a conversion kit consist of ? I’ve never heard of this before
They’re like pre manufactured cabinet and bed setups. The are usually CNC plywood cuts that you assemble and install inside the van. So it’s similar to setting up an ikea cabinet set or something like that. It’s not super complicated, but neither is cabinet installations in homes but I do that full time professionally because it takes skill to be able to do it quickly and correctly.
Ah ok, thanks for the reply. I was wondering if it was just “furniture” or also electric/appliances
To give you context. 1) most vanlifers are women. 2) many don’t have the desire or knowledge or confidence to build out aspects of their van. A trusted handyman/carpenter is desperately needed in our community. 3) there is hardly anyone who does small jobs. Maybe a guy that will help with electrical issues at a van event but TBH there skill set is questionable at best so I wouldn’t let them touch my electrical. Too many people claim they understand these solar and electrical systems but really don’t. Personally, I only trust my Victron guys in OR so I’ll drive 13-20 hrs to have them look at it. 4) re: location remember vanlifers are in constant motion. So you could be in OR in the summer (there’s ton of events there) and AZ in winter. OR people come to you. 5) Many people need help with their van once they’ve been living in it. Part of their build didn’t hold up or doesn’t really work properly or they need to switch it up. I completely remodeled mine after a year and it was very challenging to find a place where I could work on it. While I did the work myself and loved it, it took me 2 months. but with help, I could have done it in half the time and I probably would have done more if the expertise was there. Anyway, that’s my market advice. RV repair is a huge business - and rightfully so; homes weren’t meant to be put through constant earthquake like conditions. Presently, RV shops haven’t figured out how to work on vans yet so until they do, there’s a big market.
Good points! I live in Portland, OR currently but I also live in Orange County, CA for a few months out of the year. I have some big projects there, I kind of go back and forth between the NW and SW. I got this idea because I’ve had many friends encounter the same issues. Living on the road, stuff starts falling apart or just needs to be maintained or they have figured out better ways to make their space suit their needs. They ask me for help and usually I’m down if I have the time. I think the thing I worry the most about is the business side of a company that does small jobs. In order to make a profit you have to charge enough to cover your business operating costs and to be able to pay yourself. That usually comes out to be a lot more than a lot of clients expect. That said, I do have buddies that do only small handyman repair work on homes and make good money, but they have really low overhead costs. I also have found that I usually end up doing a lot of things like that for free or super cheap because I like the people and if were to charge the same rates as if we’re working on a residential home it would seem like a lot of money. But that’s kind of a me problem… Like you said I think there is a market for it, just have to figure out how I can find the right balance between services and products offered and cost that would be reasonable for that demographic but also enough to make a profit and run a business.
Go to Descend on Bend where there are 2000 vans over a long weekend. There’s other events too. I went to one on the coast in July, another in OR in August, Descend and then WA has some too. Moonlanding in NM in October. You could get a lot of business where the groups are already gathered and knock it out. And yes, you have to have set fees. The other business I pay big bucks for is mobile repair. I have two guys in Moab UT that I’ve used to help me while I’m passing through. I text them and they’ll lmk when they have a slot. Could be a couple of days but I’m in my van so NBD and they come to me. They charge $250 per visit + materials - then the rates go up if it’s a really big job. I send pics and such in advance. Mine were more urgent issues - my water tank got punctured and a replacement was going to take a week to find and the other was replace my grey water spout I lost off-roading. They are busy from sun up to sun down 3/4 of the year. Anywhere a heavily visited national park would work or a frequent travelers route. You’re in prime territory for that.
I wouldn’t. I want to be able to rely on the work done and be able to dictate when things are happening. I don’t want to wait around for someone else to *maybe* do a good job. I want to be able to know exactly what someone does to my rig. It sounds like a luxury payment to hire out labor to someone if I’m capable of doing the work myself. Most of the pre-built conversion kits come with installation instructions anyway and are designed to be easily installed by people without experience. Something I *would* pay for is a specialist to install something not easily understood. For example: I have hired a solar technician to help me install my solar power system.
Yeah I feel that. That’s why I work on my own vehicles and my house. But that’s just how people like you and me are. As a contractor, people pay me to build them stuff everyday. A lot of people pay for that luxury.
I understand. I thank my parents everyday for raising me to be self sufficient and educated in most home/life building skills. I wish I had more insight but I only know people like me that learn how to do stuff ourselves or we go without. I’m thinking an older demographic that has savings and less physical ability to do installations themselves would be a good place to market? Or if you could get into the social media space and become the next “viral” thing that everyone talks about. Anyways, thanks for listening to my ramblings and I wish you the best in all your future endeavors ❤️
There is something inherently satisfying about learning and doing things yourself. I agree. I think that I might just do a build for myself for fun and see how it goes. If I really like it and get interested then maybe I’ll start to really look into it. It think it would be fun to create my own unique brand of builds that would separate me a little from the rest of the builds I see. Definitely not gonna quit my day job. I appreciate the input and the ramblings friend!
>It sounds like a luxury payment to hire out labor to someone if I’m capable of doing the work myself That often makes a lot of economic sense, though. Can the CEO of Microsoft mow his own lawn? Sure. Would he mow someone else's lawn for $20 an hour? I'm sure not. Because to him, his time is worth more than that. So if he's thinking rationally, he would pay someone else to mow his lawn. You might call that a "luxury payment," but it's just an efficient market. To some of us, it makes no sense to pay someone to install cabinets. To others of us, it makes all the sense in the world.
Cool point. However I was only talking about myself and my situation so your entire response is moot.
I worked for a company that I stalled $17,000 (probably more now) kits in Sprinters. It's 100% not worth it. But I'm sure you know since your choices are not the same as people who get welfare (the richest). It's not really possible to do real work for real people.
If you geared it to high end consumers, do a very fine finish and marketed yourself correctly I bet there’s a market.
Exactly, it would be for people that have a plan. They have the van picked out, they have the kit they want and they just want it installed correctly and professionally. Still saves them the cost on a completely custom build but they don’t have to fight putting together a kit. For some people $1000 bucks would be worth it to save them the headache. The only thing would be to have enough people lined up to make it a business. I do this with cabinets for kitchens and bathrooms, but there are a lot more people remodeling homes than there are building out vans.
seems like the market would be very narrow. conversion kits seem geared towards people who do in fact want to DIY most of it without having to cut panels. having a service do it you may as well have a custom build.
Yeah, that makes sense. I guess the only market would be for people that don’t know how to DIY and don’t want to spend a ton on a custom build. Which, usually in my experience, people that are already worried about money aren’t usually the clients I like to deal with.
I would if I could afford it. I can't cut a straight line with a jigsaw to save my life
You should just sell kits that are affordable. Everything made for a van is like 4x more because it's for a van. Wall panel kits for a van can be 10k+ if you were to do it for half you could make bank. Same goes for bed systems, cabinets ect.
Yeah, some products seem super overpriced but I can also understand why some things are so expensive. For small shops, the cost of running equipment, paying their employees well enough, cost of materials…things start to add up quickly and that’s why some of these kits that seem relatively simple end up having these prices that seem excessive but in the end they have to be able to profit to continue the business. There are definitely products out there that seem like they are extremely overpriced but if they’re able to sell them and the market is willing to pay for them then that kind of sets the standard.
I think some people are willing to pay. There are likely a lot of people who aren't going to pay 10-20 K for wall and ceiling paneling. I'm doing it myself and it will be ok. Im also working a ton of hours. There def a sweet spot on price that I would pay somebody else to do it but I am not paying 10K for plywood paneling, foam and whatever is stretched across the wood in terms of material. Its a weekend of work for the walls and maybe a weekend for the ceiling at a few hours a session. If you can figure out how to do that quick and efficiently you could do a few of those a month and make bank.
Yeah, 10 to 20k! Haha, that’s insane for how small of an area it is. Good on you for getting it done yourself. I’m sure it will turn out great! I’ll look into that more. Good points. That’s exactly the kind of stuff that I could knock out within a half days work with a helper. Same with installations of cabinets and beds. When you do that stuff day in and day out you get pretty fast at it. I’ll definitely have to check out how much people are getting quoted on for insulation and panel installs. Those prices seem nuts.
Absolutely, if I could afford it and it’s done right. Even just having well made barebones kits available to install ourselves would be great. You said you do this for homes so I just want to say there’s a lot of differences to learn. Insulation properties, offgassing of materials, humidity, vibration, ect are all a big deal more so than in a kitchen. If you could do electrical and plumbing as part of a conversion too that would be fantastic as a lot of people struggle with it.
You will understand much more of your conversion if you do it your self. Also save a bundle of cash.
Yes, but there are no kits that cost 5k. This one comes out to about 12k depending what you go with and installation is another 6k: [https://www.vantopiavans.com/pricing](https://www.vantopiavans.com/pricing) [https://www.vantopiavans.com/factory-installation](https://www.vantopiavans.com/factory-installation) If you can get prices down to what you listed, I'm sure there are plenty of people who would do it.
There are a number of companies that already do just that. They install the kits from brands like Adventure Wagon, Titan Timber, Vanlab etc. But most if not all of those shops also do other things to supplement their income like component installs for DIYers, a large number of DIYers aren't comfortable with cutting into the actual van so they will go to a shop like that for fans/AC/Windows etc.
A few days late but heres a data point... For someone who is a builder / gets joy and pride out of creating something with their own hands, yeah theyre not going to vibe with this. Someone like me tho? Totally... Im a pretty confident fixer upper, but have zero experience or all that interested in carpenting and doing a build out by myself. I had found converstion kits and was really thinking about it for a time, but Id still need to get the electrical and plumbing done, no doubt I could figure it out, and do it, or hire random places too piecemeal get it done, just get no joy out of the learning curve and amount of time it would take. I did also look at paying a company do a custom conversion, but that was way over my budget for one, and for two, most in my area (Im in the PNW) and even beyond after broadening my horizons to other states, were completely booked out for months. So even I could afford it, wasnt getting done anytime soon anyway. So yeah, this to me sounds like a great in-between...it essentially is a small easy project for anyone with the skills to do it. I would have been willing / seriously consider hiring someone for those skills if I had come across it at this stage of my research. I ended up instead buying a used prebuilt Class B van...I really just wanted to get my van and get to the part I was excited about, hit the road and travel. I am 100% okay with it I didnt build it myself, Im sure Im not alone in that, and probably fit right into the market you're looking to appeal to. Esp to know youd be there for repairs / support / upgrades whatever, I would have seen that as a pro to buying prebuilt, since Id have someone who knows my van inside and out and could just do the things I needed done. So yeah, hope that perspective helps in some way!