Individual RV Owners

The four recurring categories are impact, water, sun and age. Impact covers everything from a low clearance strike on an awning rail to a full corner collision. Water covers roof seams, window frames, slide seals and the slow interior damage that follows. Sun covers oxidized gelcoat, chalked graphics and failing sealants. Age covers delamination, soft floors and cabinetry that has vibrated loose over years of highway travel. Every category on that list tends to accelerate the others.

Very few of those arrive alone. A coach brought in for a scraped rear cap frequently turns out to have a compromised seam above it, and the seam has been feeding water into the rear wall since before the scrape happened. We inspect the whole vehicle at intake rather than only the area the owner pointed at, because finding the second problem while the vehicle is already here is cheaper for everyone than finding it next year.

Every published price on this site traces to a posted range, and every repair order traces to posted labor rates: two hundred ten dollars per hour for body and paint, two hundred sixty for mechanical and electrical, two hundred eighty five for diagnostics with a one hour minimum, and ninety five for detail. Parts carry a published markup schedule. Nothing on the invoice appears for the first time at pickup.

Scope comes before price on anything structural or water related, because a number written from the outside of a laminated wall is a guess wearing a decimal point. Where an inspection can settle the question we settle it at inspection. Where it cannot, we say so plainly and quote the investigation separately so the owner is deciding whether to spend on an answer rather than committing blindly to a repair.

On insurance work we write and submit our own estimates and supplements. Owners frequently arrive holding a figure produced from phone photographs and are surprised when teardown produces a larger scope. That is normal on coach construction and it is handled through documented supplements rather than through argument. What we control is the quality of the documentation, and complete documentation moves faster than persuasive documentation. Completeness beats advocacy on every file we have ever submitted.

Owners plan trips months out and a repair lands in the middle of that planning. We give a realistic window at authorization rather than an optimistic one, because a date somebody can plan against is worth more than a date that slips four times. Small work runs one to eight days. Multi panel collision and systems work runs two to four weeks. Structural, full refinish and large water intrusion run four to ten weeks or beyond.

Parts drive most of the variance. Coach body components are often built to order or supported only by the original converter, and lead times on a discontinued cap can be substantial. We order the day approval lands and we pass along every arrival date change as it happens. If a trip cannot move, we will say clearly whether the work can be staged so the vehicle is usable in between rather than pretending a schedule that is not real.