RV Park Business Plan Example & Financials

Executive Summary

Cedar Ridge RV Park is a 12-site, full-hookup RV park on 4.8 acres at 2145 County Road 118, Bastrop County, Texas 78602. The business is structured as a multi-member LLC. Mark Ellison holds 55%, and Laura Bennett holds 45%. Both of us are active in daily management. There are no outside investors, no silent partners, and no W-2 employees at launch. We both provide personal guarantees on all project financing. That’s not a formality; it means our personal credit and assets are behind this.

Identified Market Gap

This began when Mark spent 2 years watching RV parks in the Bastrop corridor while working construction jobs in the area. The older parks along Highway 71 and 21 are running on infrastructure that hasn’t been touched in a decade or more.

The resort parks charge $80 to $120 a night for amenities most travelers passing through don’t need or want. There’s a real gap between those 2 ends—a clean, full-hookup park at a fair rate with pads that were actually built this decade. That’s what Cedar Ridge is.

Park Features and Pricing

Every site includes water, sewer, and 30/50 amp electrical service. All 12 sites are uniform. The same size, same hookups, same rate. No tiered pricing, no premium pads. Rates are $45/night, $270/week, and $650/month, with electricity metered separately for monthly guests. That pricing sits deliberately below the resort parks and above the older parks that are competing on price because they can’t compete on condition.

Loan Request and Financial Outlook

Total project cost is $700,000. We’re requesting a $525,000 commercial real estate term loan from Frost Bank, N.A., 15-year term, 7.75% fixed. Owner equity of $175,000 covers the remaining 25%. The 4.8-acre property serves as primary collateral.

The $175,000 is a combination of a home equity draw and cash Mark has set aside over four years. It’s not sitting in a savings account. We’re not pretending that’s comfortable, but it’s real money, and the bank knows where it comes from.

Cedar Ridge will generate steady revenue through the rental of 12 full-hookup RV sites. Here’s the projected financial breakdown:

Project Phases and Timeline

Development runs for 8 months. Months 1 through 3 cover the closing of the property purchase, zoning approval, and septic permitting, which is the phase we control the least. Months 4 through 7 are for construction. Month 8 is for final inspections and opening.

Fixed obligations begin during development, before there’s any revenue. That gap is the single most stressful part of the financial picture (and the part that makes the working capital reserve feel thin at $20,000).

Principal Risks and Mitigation Strategies

The principal risks are permitting delays, construction cost overruns, and how quickly bookings develop after opening. We don’t have a booking history. We don’t have reviews yet. The rate at which those are built will determine how quickly the park covers its monthly fixed costs. Owner compensation is structured to prioritize debt service; neither of us draws a guaranteed salary in year one. If operating cash falls short in the early months, we cover it personally. We’ve talked through that scenario in detail, and we’re prepared for it.

Company Description

Legal Structure and Ownership

Cedar Ridge RV Park is organized as a multi-member limited liability company under Texas laws.

• Mark Ellison holds a 55% ownership stake and serves as the operations lead.
• Laura Bennett holds 45% and manages administration, reservations, and bookkeeping.

Both members are active in the business. Neither owner holds a passive role. Both owners provide personal guarantees on the commercial loan from Frost Bank, N.A.

Location

The park is located at 2145 County Road 118 in Bastrop County, Texas 78602. The property is a 4.8-acre parcel purchased fee simple. It sits in a rural area along the Central Texas corridor. This offers convenient access to Austin-area employment centers while maintaining the rural charm and lower development costs typical of Bastrop County.

The 4.8-acre site is large enough to comfortably accommodate 12 full-hookup RV sites. Each site is approximately 20 feet by 55 feet, providing sufficient space for RVs and parking, with adequate room for roads, utilities, and common areas. The design includes a single gravel loop road that allows for easy access to all sites while maintaining traffic flow. The layout is designed to maximize space efficiency while maintaining proper setback distances for safety, privacy, and emergency vehicle access.

This thoughtful use of the property ensures that the park can operate at full capacity while remaining manageable for the owners. The relatively low density of just 12 sites on 4.8 acres contributes to a quiet, low-impact environment, ideal for the park’s target guests.

Business Concept

We rent 12 full-hookup RV sites on nightly, weekly, and monthly terms. All sites are of the same size, configuration, and rate. Target guests are highway travelers, construction crews, and retirees passing through. Payment is collected in advance or at check-in. Monthly guests pay a security deposit.

The operating concept is deliberately limited. No cabins, pool, clubhouse, restaurant, premium-tier sites, cable bundles, or mobile home placements. Every one of those exclusions is something that would require staff we don’t have, insurance we don’t need, or maintenance that doesn’t pencil out at 12 sites. Keeping the scope tight is how fixed obligations stay covered even in slow months.

Long-term Strategic Goals

1. Get to 80% occupancy by the end of Year 3. We’re projecting closer to 50% blended in Year 1, so this is a target, not an assumption.
2. Be the park people recommend, not the park people settle for. A 4.8-star average or better on Google and the major listing platforms.
3. Keep operating expenses within a 5% variance from Year 1 to Year 2. This will help optimize utility usage, maintenance, and marketing costs.
4. Will be planning to explore solar energy options. We are aiming for a 25% reduction in electricity costs by Year 4 if the initial cost analysis is favorable.
5. Reduce water consumption per guest by 15% over the next three years through the introduction of water-saving initiatives.

Services Offered

RV Site Rentals

Cedar Ridge offers 12 full-hookup RV sites. Each site is a gravel pad measuring approximately 20 feet by 55 feet. Every pad includes water, sewer, and a 30/50 amp electrical pedestal. Sites are arranged along a single gravel loop road. All 12 pads offer the same hookup configuration and the same rate. There’s no differentiation by tier, location, or pricing.

Rate Structure

Nightly and weekly guests pay a flat rate with all utilities included. Monthly guests pay a base rate of $650 plus metered electricity. Metering monthly electricity separately protects the park from absorbing high seasonal power use during extended stays. Without separate metering, that cost comes directly out of the operating margin.

Monthly pricing is positioned below resort-style parks that offer expanded amenities. The tradeoff is a lower rate with fewer frills in a quieter setting.

Additional Services and Fees

These generate modest supplemental income:

• Coin-operated laundry machines are available in the bathhouse.
• An early check-in or late check-out option carries a flat convenience fee.
• Limited designated guest parking is available for visitors. A security deposit is required for all monthly stays.

There’s no premium pull-through pricing tier. There are no cable television packages. Wi-Fi is limited to basic internet access with no bundled service plans. There’s no on-site store or retail operation. The park doesn’t accept long-term mobile home placements.

Market Analysis

Cedar Ridge operates in a Central Texas corridor shaped by 3 demand drivers:

• Population growth in Bastrop County
• Sustained travel through the Austin region
• Steady short-term workforce activity across the metro area.

Bastrop County’s population has grown materially since 2020. The County’s population is estimated at 122,531 in 2026, reflecting a 3.2% growth rate over the past year.

This growth matters for RV demand because it increases local economic activity, service employment, and visits from friends and family, while also supporting more ongoing construction and maintenance work tied to growth.

The county also shows continued residential build activity, with 1,841 building permits in 2024 reported in Census QuickFacts. While building permits aren’t a direct proxy for RV park demand, they are a useful indicator of ongoing development activity that supports contractor and project-based stays.

At the broader outdoor travel level, KOA’s Camping and Outdoor Hospitality Report notes that the sector has expanded over the last five years, citing around 11 million more households camping in 2024 compared to 2019. This supports the core assumption that demand for simple overnight and short-stay camping products remains durable, even outside resort-style offerings.

From an industry operating benchmark perspective, ARVC’s 2023 Industry Benchmarking Report reports that parks with full hook-up campsites averaged 68% occupancy during their months of operation over the past 12 months. Cedar Ridge is positioned in that same full hook-up category, but with a smaller footprint and a basic service model.

Target Guests

Competition

Direct Competitors

Within 25 miles, there may be a dozen places an RV traveler could park with hookups. They fall into 2 categories: older parks that haven’t reinvested, and resort parks charging $80-$120 a night for amenities our target guests don’t want. Cedar Ridge fits between those two ends.

The older parks along Highway 71 and 21 have the rates we’re competing with. But the pads are cracked, some pedestals are 30-amp only, and the bathrooms tell you everything you need to know.

We walked 3 of them personally. One had a handwritten “out of order” sign on the women’s shower that looked like it had been there since last summer. Guests who’ve stayed in parks like that are exactly who we’re built for. Full hookups that work, a clean bathhouse, no surprises. That’s a low bar, but in practice, several nearby parks aren’t clearing it.

The resort parks serve a different guest entirely. They’re marketing an experience. We’re marketing a site. The pricing gap alone ($45/night vs. $90+) tells you these are different markets.

State parks offer limited RV hookups at lower rates, but Bastrop State Park books up weeks in advance during peak season. We pick up the travelers who drive 20 minutes past a full state park and need somewhere to stop. That happens naturally without us marketing it.

The competitive risk that actually concerns us isn’t what exists today. It’s someone with real capital building a 50-site park on cheaper land down Highway 71. Our defense is low overhead, no debt from amenities we don’t need, and the fact that we’ll have reviews and repeat guests before a new park could break ground. That timeline is 18 months minimum in this county. We checked.

Indirect Competitors

These substitutes don’t eliminate demand for RV sites, but they influence pricing expectations and occupancy behavior. Here are the competitors and their characteristics.

Budget Hotels and Motels

• Compete for short-term travelers
• Higher nightly rate than RV site
• Don’t serve RV owners who prefer their own unit

Extended-Stay Hotels

• Compete for construction and project-based workers
• Higher cost per month than RV sites
• Offer interior amenities but at a higher price point

Short-Term Rentals (Airbnb-type properties)

• Compete for temporary stays
• Often priced above basic RV monthly rates
• Not compatible with RV lifestyle

Informal Parking or Boondocking

• Free or low-cost
• No hookups
• Not viable for extended stays

Indirect competitors influence the upper and lower bounds of pricing: Hotels and short-term rentals anchor the higher end of temporary lodging costs. As well as informal parking, it anchors the zero-cost alternative but lacks utilities and reliability.

Marketing and Sales Strategy

Guest Visibility Channels

The primary channel is RV listing platforms: Campendium, RV LIFE, The Dyrt, and a few others. In practice, these are where travelers actually decide where to stop. We’ll maintain accurate listings with current pricing, photos, and clear descriptions of what’s included and what isn’t. Laura treats listing updates as a recurring task, not a one-time setup. Outdated photos or wrong rates will cost you a booking faster than almost anything else. We’ve seen parks in this area still showing rates from two years ago.

Google Business Profile is the second channel. A maintained listing with photos, hours, and reviews helps when someone searches “RV parks near Bastrop.” Early reviews matter more than we’d like to admit. A park with zero reviews next to one with fourteen isn’t really a choice. Getting the first 10 is an operational priority in months 1 and 2.

Highway signage at the entrance on County Road 118 handles the last-minute traveler. The road doesn’t get Highway 71 volume, but the travelers on it are usually already looking for something off the main corridor. That’s our guest.

Over time, repeat guests and word-of-mouth should contribute.

Reservations

Mark and Laura manage reservations directly by phone and through a simple online booking system. Timely response to inquiries is prioritized as part of standard operating procedure.

Reminder: Cedar Ridge won’t invest in paid digital advertising at launch. Social media accounts may be created for basic visibility, but regular content creation isn’t an operational priority. There’s no SEO strategy, no email marketing campaign, and no referral incentive program at launch. We may consider these later if the business stabilizes and the owners have capacity.

Marketing costs are kept low by design. The approach relies on platform visibility, direct reservation management, and property conditions that support positive guest reviews.

Operations Plan

The park sits on 4.8 acres with 12 gravel pad RV sites arranged along a single gravel loop road. Each pad is approximately 20 feet by 55 feet. Every site has its own electrical pedestal with 30 and 50-amp service, a water connection, and a sewer hookup. The sewer system feeds into a septic system sized for 12 sites. Water comes from a rural water connection. Grading across the pads and road is designed to move rainwater off the surface. Basic internet access is available on the property. There are no bundled Wi-Fi service plans.

Utilities Working

Water and sewer are included in every rental rate. Electricity is included for nightly and weekly guests. Monthly guests are metered separately and billed for actual consumption. Laura reads meters at each billing cycle, documents the reading in writing, and invoices the guest. The system is manual at launch.

Capacity Clarification

Cedar Ridge has a total of 12 sites. The 4.8 acres could technically fit more, but then we’d lose the spacing that makes this park different from the older parks down Highway 71. Once you push past 12 sites, you also hit septic capacity limits that would require a second system.

The fixed count is also what makes this manageable for 2 people. With 12 sites, Mark can walk every pad daily, handle maintenance, and still be available for check-ins without the day falling apart.

Hours of Operation

The park is open 24/7. Guests can arrive and check in whenever they need to. In practice, most arrivals happen between 4 and 9 PM, but we’re not turning someone away at midnight.

Mark is on-site and available for maintenance and guest support from about 8 AM to 6 PM. Outside those hours, owners are reachable by phone for anything urgent. We’re not staffing a front desk overnight.

Daily Maintenance and Grounds

Mark handles all routine maintenance: Mowing, gravel pad upkeep, minor plumbing and electrical repairs, and site inspections. His construction background covers most of what a 12-site park requires daily. When something needs licensed trade work (like HVAC/heating, structural repairs, or pest control), he calls for local service providers as needed.

Waste Management

All 12 sites feed into one septic system sized for the full park. A local vendor handles pumping. Weekly is the baseline, but during higher occupancy, we’ll bump that up. Keeping the pump schedule tight is non-negotiable.

We also have a weekly pickup through a waste management vendor. Guests use designated bins.

Running the Park Day to Day

Reservations come in by phone and through a basic online booking system. Payment is collected in advance or at check-in. Monthly guests pay a security deposit. Check-in is straightforward: confirm the booking, assign a site, and direct the guest to their pad. Nightly and weekly guests check out without a formal process. Monthly guests do a site walkthrough and get their deposit back at departure.

The park maintains written rules covering quiet hours, speed limits, and length-of-stay terms. Guests get to know these at check-in. Overstay and non-payment situations are handled in accordance with applicable Texas regulations.

Mark walks the property daily, checking pad condition, hookup integrity, bathhouse cleanliness, and general safety.

Note: Bastrop County is subject to heavy rain, occasional flooding, and winter freeze events. If weather damages infrastructure or blocks access, the park may temporarily suspend operations until conditions allow safe use.

Permits and Insurance

Insurance Coverage

General liability and property insurance are in place from day 1. Those are non-negotiable. Liability covers guest injuries, property damage, and lawsuits. Property coverage protects the pads, bathhouse, signage, and structures against fire, vandalism, and weather. In Bastrop County, weather is not theoretical.

Workers’ comp isn’t relevant at launch since it’s just the two of us, but we’ll carry it if we ever bring on a contractor or part-time help. Vehicle insurance applies if we end up using a truck or utility vehicle for park business, which we probably will. Mark’s personal truck is already doing half the work, and we need to formalize that.

Flood insurance is the one we’re still deciding on. The property isn’t in a high-risk flood zone, but Bastrop County gets heavy rain, and we’ve seen what a bad storm does to gravel roads. We’re getting a quote and will make the call before closing.

Management and Staffing

Ownership and Roles

Cedar Ridge is owner-operated with no W-2 employees at launch. Mark Ellison and Laura Bennett divide responsibilities based on their backgrounds and availability.

Coverage and Limitations

With 2 people running the operation, there’s no built-in redundancy. If Mark is unavailable due to illness or a personal matter, Laura covers basic guest needs and urgent issues. The reverse applies to administrative tasks. This arrangement works for a 12-site park with a limited service model, but it has clear limits. A multi-day absence by either owner during higher occupancy would strain the operation.

The owners have accepted this constraint. Adding a part-time employee would introduce payroll, insurance, and management overhead that the business doesn’t support at 12 sites. If occupancy and revenue reach a level that justifies additional help, that decision will be based on operating results, not on projections made before opening.

Compensation

Owner compensation is focused on covering debt service and fixed expenses. Both Mark Ellison and Laura Bennett will limit their draws until the park achieves stable occupancy and cash flow.

• No salary or guaranteed pay for the first year.
• Compensation is drawn only when cash flow allows, prioritizing fixed costs (loan, taxes, insurance).
• Any early shortfalls will be covered by the owners’ personal funds.

Financial Plan

Capital Structure

Total project cost is $700,000. The capital stack consists of a $525,000 commercial real estate term loan from Frost Bank, N.A., and $175,000 in owner equity. The loan carries a 15-year term at 7.75% fixed interest. Owner equity represents 25% of total project capital.

Startup Costs

The full $700,000 is allocated across 9 line items.

Land acquisition represents half the total budget and serves as the primary collateral on the loan. Utility installation is the second-largest cost at $120,000, covering water, septic, and electrical infrastructure across all 12 sites. The working capital reserve of $20,000 provides limited coverage for unexpected costs during the transition from construction to first revenue.

Revenue Structure

Cedar Ridge generates revenue through three primary sources:

• Nightly Stays: $45/night, with all utilities included.
• Weekly Stays: $270/week, with all utilities included.
• Monthly Stays: $650/month, with water and sewer included; electricity is metered separately.

The park also generates minor additional income from services such as coin-operated laundry, early check-in/late check-out convenience fees, and limited guest parking.

Revenue is positioned below resort-style parks, offering a cost-effective solution for travelers, seasonal workers, and retirees. The straightforward pricing model ensures predictability and simplicity for both the business and guests.

Operating Expenses

Fixed costs include the loan payment, property taxes, insurance, and base utility charges. These don’t change with occupancy. The loan payment is the largest fixed monthly obligation. Property taxes in Bastrop County are assessed annually and paid from operating cash. Insurance covers general liability and property coverage. The rural water connection carries a minimum monthly charge regardless of guest count.

Variable costs include electricity consumption tied to monthly guest metering, septic servicing frequency, grounds maintenance supplies, and repairs. Variable costs move with occupancy but not uniformly. Septic pumping may increase during busier periods. Repairs are unpredictable in timing and amount.

Profit and Loss Statement

Cash Flow Statement

Opening Balance Sheet (Day 0)

Balance Sheet (3 Years)

Break-Even Analysis

Loan Terms

Loan Amortization Summary

Risk Assessment and Mitigation Strategies

Permitting Delays

Permitting delays, particularly with zoning and septic permits, could impact the project timeline. To mitigate this, we’re engaging with local authorities early, building buffer time into the schedule, and following up regularly to ensure approvals are on track.

Construction Cost Overruns

Unexpected conditions could lead to construction cost overruns, especially in utilities and grading. We’ve budgeted for contingencies and are working with local contractors to ensure accurate estimates. Value engineering will also be used to manage costs.

Low Initial Occupancy

As a new park, low initial occupancy could be a challenge. We’ll focus on aggressive marketing through RV listing platforms and Google Business Profile, offer promotional pricing for early guests, and implement a referral program to drive bookings.

Seasonal Demand Variation

Occupancy will likely fluctuate with the seasons. To manage this, we’ll offer flexible booking terms, target off-season travelers through marketing campaigns, and run promotions during slower months.

New Competitor Entry

A larger park opening nearby could affect pricing and occupancy. Cedar Ridge’s low overhead and focus on customer service will help maintain competitiveness, along with building a loyal guest base through repeat bookings and positive reviews.