Cost of building new pads

Hi everyone,

I just completed a wetlands survey on my property and am at the point now where we are designing concepts for a park layout with new roads and pads. I got a quote from a contractor for $13,000 per pad to do the clearing, dirt work, utility hook ups, meter set up, forming and pouring concrete pad, and landscaping. Basically each pad will be completed for $13k all in. Does that sound reasonable to those who have already done this?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

-Mike

The concrete pad really eats into your construction costs - I assume that’s required and there’s not a less expensive way to go?

I have done this for 40% less, but played the coordinator role and subcontracted the individual tasks on a competitive bidding basis. Also didn’t have to use concrete pads
 I’m in the South and the labor pool is relatively inexpensive here compared to other areas of the country.

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I am looking into the local ordinances in Maine to determine if concrete is required. I never really considered building more gravel pads but if I can almost double the amount of pads by going with gravel instead of concrete then that sounds great to me!

$10k per pad seems about right, ballpark. But that doesn’t include roads does it?

No way, concrete roads are separate.

I would calculate ‘all in’ costs. I would also include the cost to move a home in and the set up fee for that. Ultimately you want to get to a financial model that shows how soon you become cash flow positive.

I am in PA and the quote I got from a state licensed installer is $8K per concrete pad, everything included.

The cost won’t include the road
since my first post I’ve learned that I can rebuild existing pads with gravel and I have to build the new pads with concrete per the state law. The gravel pads will be about $7500 while the concrete ones will be about $13k each. Needless to say I will be doing as much as possible with gravel.

My plan for the homes is to have the local dealer bring in a couple nice used homes that are newer and then sell them in place there. There’s a dealer next door and he was eager to work with me. The only thing slowing me down is the aesthetics of the park which I’m working on now to make it more attractive to dealers and potential tenants.

I have a park in Maine. As I understand the rules, you only need concrete pads when installing new homes. Used homes can go on gravel. I added some gravel pads without issues. Sewer and water lines fail and have to be dug up - trouble if they are under or near the concrete footings so plan accordingly. Make them bigger than you think will ever be needed. A nearby park years ago put in “big at the time” 60 ft pads. Now they can’t take 70 ft trailers and they can’t add on to the pads due to regulatory issues.

Andy,
Thank you for that input. After re-reading the rules, I can see your interpretation is probably correct. I took “new homes” to mean trailers that weren’t there before. My quote for gravel pads is exactly 50% less than it was for the concrete ones ($6,000 each). This made my day!

-Mike