Home Build or Professional? (1 Viewer)

[Tarn2]

Any ‘professionally’ built conversion will be full of compromises (and ££££££’s more!). Having been to various motor home shows, not unusual to find all sorts of short cuts and less than good finishing in some ‘big name’ conversions too? If done properly by someone who knows what they are doing a self built should have ‘everything we want and nothing we don’t want’ (thanks RalphnBev for the phrase!) in it. Have to admit, Quirky campers style conversions with cladding, wood burners etc are not my choice, but each to their own. As with any vehicle, set a budget, get it checked and have FUN!

 

[Terry]

The OP was about selling after a few months.IE getting money back
As it's going to be a new/ first time buyer then a self built van IS A big risk to get Thier money back. Especially since they will know little or nothing about vans . Hence my advice is buying a main manufacturers van / should not loose much may even make a few quid.
I am all for self builds and know that mine (along with others) are better screwed/ stuck together a lot better than main manufacturers vans. I have never lost on any vans I have converted or bought and sold.

 

[Minxy]

I converted an ex-ambulance having never done it before an with no 'internet' support, just going from what I'd seen at dealers/shows and in magazines. With costs of materials/parts it came to around £1800 including the vehicle itself, it wasn't a perfect dream build as we didn't have that sort of money but it was 'safe' and had a layout that suited which was important to us. I designed and made all the furniture myself, the toilet compartment, wardrobes, cupboards etc, specifically for the space/shape; the only things that determined some of it was the door sizes that I could get hold of, window/door location, and housings I had to make for the cooker, fridge etc. It took me 3 months to do over winter whilst working full-time and having other stuff on the go too, we used it for about 18 months and later sold it for £2100 to a local couple - as we'd had the clutch done so we pretty much broke even.

I thoroughly enjoyed it however I didn't pretend it was anything but what it was which to me is what the Quirky lot are trying to do, IMV a lot of it is very poor 'amateurish' but they are trying to get 'professional' money.

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[Jimsnap]

All change... they're looking at this one now.

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[Jimsnap]

All change... they're looking at this one now.

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Seems like a lot of money to me, but maybe it's ok?

 

[Terry]

It's as bad as the other one and expensive

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[mitzimad]

Agree with you. Never seen a quality self build, especially one that was legal weight wise.

That's because you never saw mine

 

[Terry]

That's because you never saw mine

Or any of mine
Used lightweight furniture ply boards (22 kg) saving around 200 kg instead of normal ply (45kg)

 

[The Lord Squid]

I found this from a recognised converter within half a minute of looking on Autotrader.

Broken Link Removed

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[Minxy]

All change... they're looking at this one now.

Used Cars, Vans & Motorbikes for Sale | Gumtree

Find amazing local prices on used Cars, Vans & Motorbikes for sale ✅ Shop hassle-free with Gumtree, your local buying & selling community.

www.gumtree.com

Strewth ... please tell me they are NOT serious!

 

[Jamesh]

What I don't understand is why would you go to the effort to put all that effort into what us basically an end of life delivery van!

Apart from making a quick buck.....

Ok if it's a £3.5k transit but not 35k with 130k on the clock!!

Cheers James

 

[Googlebot]

This is what worries me with some of the conversions. Vans are hammered, especially ones that young with that many miles. You then fill them full of expensive stuff and make it so any mechanical issue will always be worth fixing.

Then the engine goes. :-(

I would be looking to buy a suitable base van and kitting it out myself.

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[Chrisreay]

They’re only going to be young once……support them following their dream, whatever it is in.

Even the price of home conversions are stupid at the minute….so they’ll probably get stupid money back at the end of the fun, or they could get debt up to their eyeballs on a ‘luxury’ van (mines better and bigger than yours MH) and try to recover the finance plus interest at the end of the adventure.

When your young fun is the game, including mishaps and mistakes, not unnecessary expensive creature comforts…..tell them to go enjoy them self’s in whatever they feel is right for them, and can afford.

Absolutely! George Bush said 'when I was young and foolish, I was young and foolish' and that about sums life up. Enjoy your youth, make mistakes, things go wrong and you find a way out of it - in other words you grow from making mistakes not by doing everything 'right'. My advice? Make your own van, it's fun and you'll meet many others on the road who have done the same and you'll see what they've created and appreciate the multitude of ways we make our homes on the road. In our mid 70s we travel in our second home build after the commercial ones bought new when we had young children. The home builds are much nicer, stronger and better thought out for us. Plus, people pop in and admire it and wish they'd done the same.

 

[Chrisreay]

This is what worries me with some of the conversions. Vans are hammered, especially ones that young with that many miles. You then fill them full of expensive stuff and make it so any mechanical issue will always be worth fixing.

Then the engine goes. :-(

I would be looking to buy a suitable base van and kitting it out myself.

I'd always buy a young high mileage van over an old low mileage one because it will probably have been driven on motorways at a good speed to get that distance, so everything will be well run in, lubricated and maintained. You don't want a local delivery or post van with all that stop start motoring.

 

[Googlebot]

I'd always buy a young high mileage van over an old low mileage one because it will probably have been driven on motorways at a good speed to get that distance, so everything will be well run in, lubricated and maintained. You don't want a local delivery or post van with all that stop start motoring.

I don’t disagree, how can you tell though? We run 24/7 at work with a mix of driving and manage 100k a year on some vehicles.

I too would go for a young high miles though rather than an older low mileage.

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[Jimsnap]

Well, they finally bought a van, they were desperate and went off on their own and bought this for £33000.00. they've now found that the side door doesn't lock, the first of many problems...?
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[Terry]

Probably 10k too much ....
Good luck when they come to sell

 

[Googlebot]

What’s done is done.

I hope they make many happy memories in it. It looks nice to me and much better than the others.

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