Join the Team at OCRV Center

The structural side handles collision damage, frame and subframe correction, panel replacement and everything that involves the geometry of the vehicle. Work includes measuring against reference dimensions, pulling and replacing frame sections, rebuilding stud cages, and squaring openings for doors and slide rooms. People coming from automotive collision backgrounds adapt well; the measurement discipline transfers directly even though the materials do not.

Fabrication supports the whole shop. Steel and aluminum welding, forming, and building the parts that cannot be purchased, which on recreational vehicles is a constant requirement. Bumpers, brackets, compartment door skins, reinforcement plates, equipment mounts and trim extrusions all get made rather than ordered when the original is unavailable. Fabricators here spend as much time solving a design problem as running a bead, which suits people who like figuring things out.

The composite department handles fiberglass, gelcoat and laminated wall repair, which is the skill set most specific to this industry and hardest to hire directly. Marine backgrounds transfer best, since boat construction uses similar materials and similar layup methods. Work involves mapping damage boundaries, scarfing repair edges, laying up to a ply schedule, vacuum bagging and rebuilding surfaces to match.

Refinishing covers preparation, blocking, priming, sealing, base and clear on panels far larger than automotive work involves. Painters here need long board discipline and the patience to block a flat surface truly flat, because a recreational vehicle sidewall shows everything. Color matching against sun aged finishes with a spectrophotometer and spray out cards is part of the daily work rather than an occasional exercise. Detail and correction sits alongside refinishing as its own department.

Interior work is closer to finish carpentry than to automotive trim. Cabinet boxes get built and installed, doors and drawer fronts get made or refaced, countertops get templated and fitted, wall and ceiling panels get replaced, and flooring goes down over subfloor that frequently needs repair first. People coming from residential cabinetry adapt quickly once they absorb the weight constraints and the fact that everything has to survive being shaken continuously.

Upholstery covers dinette cushions, sofas, theater seating, captain chairs and window treatments, working with materials rated for heavy ultraviolet exposure. Water damage restoration overlaps both trades, since finding and repairing the structure behind a stained panel requires demolition, structural repair and finish work in sequence. That crossover means interior technicians here see more of the vehicle than an interior specialist normally would.

The systems side handles everything that runs. Twelve volt distribution, batteries and charging, converters and inverters, shore power and transfer switches, solar arrays, generators, propane distribution, fresh and waste water, water heaters, furnaces, refrigerators and rooftop air conditioning. The diagnostic discipline matters more than familiarity with any one component, since the same fault can present five ways depending on the specific unit.

This department also carries the inspection and evaluation work, which means going through an entire coach systematically and producing a written findings list. That role suits people who are organized as much as technical, because the value of an inspection is in the report as much as in the observations. Backgrounds in marine systems, low voltage electrical and appliance service all transfer well into this group.

Estimators write the scope, price it against posted rates, document findings photographically and handle the supplement process with carriers. It is a technical role that also requires writing clearly, because an estimate that an adjuster cannot follow does not get approved. People who move into estimating usually come off the shop floor, since knowing what a repair actually takes is not something learned from a screen.

Parts is one of the harder jobs in this industry. Recreational vehicle manufacturers do not maintain the parts networks automakers do, floor plans change mid model year without documentation, and components for discontinued units may never have existed as service parts. A good parts person spends the day tracking down things that are not in a catalog. The service desk handles scheduling, intake, customer communication and keeping owners informed through long repairs.