# Turnaround Times and Scheduling

> Five turnaround tiers, what sets each one, and how parts availability rather than shop hours decides your finish date.

Source: https://ocrv.info/faqs/turnaround-and-scheduling

Scheduling an RV repair honestly means separating two numbers that owners often hear as one. Touch time is how many hours a technician has hands on the unit. Calendar time is how long the unit sits in the building. A slide seal replacement might be six touch hours spread across nine days because the seal ships from the east and the adhesive needs a full cure at shop temperature. We quote calendar time, because that is the number that affects your trip.

The shop runs Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Saturday from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM, closed Sunday. Saturday is a lighter crew, useful for drop offs, pickups, and estimate appointments rather than heavy production. Bay space is finite and large coaches occupy a lot of it, so a forty foot Class A waiting on a special order panel is scheduled to arrive when that panel does, not weeks ahead of it.

## Frequently asked questions

### What are the five turnaround tiers?

Same visit work finishes in one to two days and covers items like a single decal panel, a compartment door adjustment, or a small gelcoat chip. Short jobs run three to eight days: bumper replacement, one panel refinish, an awning fabric swap. Standard runs two to four weeks and covers most collision work. Extended runs four to ten weeks for structural repair, full repaints, and multi system rebuilds. Program work is ten weeks and up, meaning full body restorations and heavy commercial upfits.

### What is the single biggest cause of a long repair?

Parts. Not labor, not scheduling, not paint booth capacity. A motorhome sidewall segment, a discontinued slide topper, a specific brand of window frame, or a chassis harness section can carry lead times from a week to a couple of months depending on whether the manufacturer still supports the model. Once every part is on the shelf, most jobs move quickly. Owners are usually surprised that a coach can sit five weeks and then be finished in four working days.

### How do you schedule around a part that has not arrived?

Wherever possible, the unit stays with you until the parts land. We order first, confirm receipt on our dock, and then set your drop off date. That keeps your coach out of a storage row and keeps our bays productive. The exception is teardown driven work, where the parts cannot be identified until panels come off. In that case the unit comes in, gets torn down, gets documented, and then either waits here or goes home while the order runs.

### What are the drop off windows?

Weekday drop offs run from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. Saturday drop offs run 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM. Arriving in the first hour of the morning is easier for large units, because the yard has not filled and there is room to swing a forty footer without shuffling other vehicles. If you are towing a fifth wheel, morning is strongly preferred. On Sunday the gate is closed and there is no way to receive a unit.

### Can I drop off before hours?

There are no unattended early drop offs. A unit needs a written intake with a walkaround, photographs of existing condition, a keys and contents handoff, and your signature on the authorization to move it inside the yard. That protects both sides on a damage dispute. Owners who need an early start usually arrive right at opening, which takes about twenty minutes of intake on a coach. Tow operator arrivals are handled differently and coordinated in advance by email.

### Are Saturdays used for production?

Saturday hours from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM exist mostly for owner traffic. Estimate appointments, drop offs, pickups, and progress walkthroughs go well on a Saturday because the floor is quieter. Heavy production, spray booth cycles, and structural setups run on weekdays with the full crew. A repair that needs five working days will not finish faster because a Saturday sits in the middle of it, and quoted dates already account for that.

### Can I stay in the RV while it is being repaired?

The unit cannot be occupied on the property. There are no hookups for owner use, the yard is an active work area with equipment moving through it, and a coach in the repair queue may be depowered, opened up, or sitting with panels removed. Safety rules on a working body shop do not allow overnight occupancy. Owners who live in their coach full time should arrange lodging for the quoted calendar window before dropping off.

### How long can the vehicle stay while waiting on an adjuster?

Units routinely sit a week or two while a carrier assigns and schedules an inspection. During that window the unit is parked in our yard at no storage charge as long as the claim is moving and the adjuster is engaged. If a claim goes quiet for an extended period with no response from the carrier or the owner, storage becomes a conversation rather than a surprise charge. You hear about it before anything like that starts.

### What makes a job slip past its quoted date?

Four things, in order of frequency. A part arrives damaged or wrong and has to be reordered. A supplement uncovers structural damage that adds a new labor sequence. An insurer takes longer than expected to approve that supplement. Or a paint code will not match on the spray out card and the panel has to be reblended wider. Weather occasionally matters too, since high humidity slows clear cure. Each of these gets communicated by email as it happens, not at pickup.

### Is there a busy season?

Yes, and it is predictable. Late winter into spring fills the shop as owners prepare for the travel season and discover the roof seam that leaked all winter. Fall brings a second wave after summer trips produce road damage, awning failures, and slide problems. Mid summer and the weeks after the holidays are lightest. If your repair is not urgent, booking in a slow stretch typically shortens calendar time by a week or more on a standard job.

### How does a long job get staged?

Extended and program work is broken into phases so the unit is not tying up a production bay while nothing happens. Teardown and documentation first. Structural repair and laminate or metal work next. Then bodywork and priming, then refinish, then reassembly, then systems checks and water testing. Between phases the unit moves to a staging position. You get told which phase it is in rather than a vague percentage, because a percentage on a ten week job means very little.

### What does a realistic completion date look like?

A date, with the assumptions attached. When we quote three weeks, that assumes parts confirmed on the dock, no supplement, and a normal booth schedule. What you should get is the tier, the assumptions behind it, and the specific risk that could move it, for example a slide rail carrying a four week lead. If someone hands you a firm day on a heavy structural RV job before teardown has happened, treat that number with suspicion.

### Can I get progress updates?

Updates go out by email at the points where something actually changed: intake complete, teardown findings, supplement submitted, supplement approved, parts received, paint complete, reassembly started, ready for pickup. That is more useful than a daily message saying work continues. If you want a walkthrough mid repair, Saturday between 9:30 AM and 3:00 PM is the easiest time to arrange it, and email is the way to set it up.

### Do you hold appointment slots for emergency damage?

Some capacity stays open each week for fresh collision damage, because a unit that is not weather tight cannot sit. Priority goes to open structure, broken glass, a sidewall breach, a roof puncture, or a slide that will not retract, since those get worse every day they wait. Cosmetic work schedules normally. If your unit took damage and cannot be closed up, say so in your first email so it gets routed correctly.

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OCRV Center. 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. (949) 799-3387. info@ocrvcenter.com. Serving Eastvale, California in Riverside County, about 20 miles from the shop. All work is performed in shop at the Yorba Linda facility. No mobile, roadside or on-site service is offered. Scope is body, paint, structural, fiberglass, interior and vehicle systems work. Engine rebuilds, transmission rebuilds, drivetrain work, DOT inspections and emission testing are not performed.

