Caravan site and storage.

[Ted M]

Evening all,
Last year we lost some rented land after the owner passed away so had to reduce our suckler herd.
We now have 3 steel framed buildings stood more or less empty so was considering caravan storage and maybe a small touring site as well as they have separate access to the rest of the farm.
Just been doing a bit of research on Google and come across the caravan club and also the caravan and motorhome club.
Does anyone have any views on either or any other organisations which may be worth considering?
Thanks in advance.

 

[kill]

I have a friend who's new wife decided she would advertise his spare/ redundant sheds for caravan storage and within a couple of years he was building extra sheds as he was feed up with turning so many away. Apparently by what he said is an excellent payer is single secure lockable motor home compartments as insurance companies virtually won't insure them parked on roadside empty now but most want one electric supply for washing, hovering and charging as people love to visit their camper but compartments were paying for themselves in around a year and had to have a deposit and Direct Debit in place so how can you go wrong.
Caravans can be stacked side by side and a front ball hitch on a quad bike or small tractor will push those around nicely

 

[Nearly]

@Dman2

I saw a towball bolted onto the top of a loadall headstock last week. Directly in front of the driver. Just tip the headstock and driver can steer a tin tent anywhere.

 

[Phil P]

We’re registered with CaSSOA and are gold star accredited https://www.cassoa.co.uk/
Usually have to turn between 3 and 5 a week away as we’re permanently full. The only trouble we have now is trying to get planning to extend
One thing to remember is it will be classed as a change of use for the buildings so business rates will apply. I’m sure there’s some sort of discount though for diversification, we get charged full business rates on the park but it’s then discounted back off again! They just like complicating things I’m sure

 

[Doing it for the kids]

Depends on your area but do you need them?

Diversification has to be on every farmers radar thee days.

Do some sums and go for it, beats farming but you do looose your privacy

 

[Lincs Lass]

Farm just up the road from me has been into caravan storage for many years ,,the area is part of the old airfield and the only entrance is through the farm gate which has a coded lock ,,a second gate on a remote sender unit gets into the van compound which only owners can access during farm working hours ,,cctv everywhere .
They are always in demand

 

[Dman2]

We’re registered with CaSSOA and are gold star accredited https://www.cassoa.co.uk/
Usually have to turn between 3 and 5 a week away as we’re permanently full. The only trouble we have now is trying to get planning to extend
One thing to remember is it will be classed as a change of use for the buildings so business rates will apply. I’m sure there’s some sort of discount though for diversification, we get charged full business rates on the park but it’s then discounted back off again! They just like complicating things I’m sure

Cassoa is just a big money maker for someone
We used to be registered, got next to no service from them so kicked them out
We are still full
We are on the insurance companies recommended list
But we pay Cassoa nothing

A far as business rates goes around here, we get small business rate relief which reduces the rates to £0
We run the storage as a separate partnership so that we dont have to chargeVAT

 

[Kidds]

Just make sure there’s only one way in and out. They can be pikey magnets.
Otherwise, license to print money as far as I can make out.

 

[Ted M]

Thanks for all your replies. I looked into cassoa but they wanted over £400 just to come and look!
We only have one entrance/exit, the rest of the perimeter is shed walls so security should be relatively straightforward.
I was also considering a small touring site, is it right now you don't need planning for up to 5 vans?

 

[traineefarmer]

We got into it by accident, but helped by a local house builder enforcing covenants stating that caravans can't be stored on driveways on their estates!

A good earner for spare land and buildings. But a few of our experiences:

Caravans in storage are a magnet for pikeys so get your security up and make sure that customers using your storage are insured.
We have vans that haven't moved for 5 years, but the money keeps arriving so why question the owner's logic .
Some owners we have to constantly chase for payment and we have removed and sold vans to cover the storage bill. Get something legal drawn up to protect yourself.
Some (most) owners can be royal pains in the @rse. Can't park it there - not enough shade, can't park it there - it's too close to that shabby Eldiss, etc. And they will want the same space when they return from 5 weeks in Bournemouth and some will be down every Sunday afternoon to take the thing home to wash it and bring it back later the same night. Make sure your charges reflect the cost of wasting a lot of time pandering!

Best of luck!

 

[Dman2]

Another thing we learned early on
Be careful what you promise.
We advertised as being "Secure Caravan Storage"
Which is what you would expect??
However back in @ 2005 we had 2 caravans stolen 1 night
One of the owners had not renewed his insurance so stood to loose a good amount of money.
Took us to court, claiming that because we had advertised as being secure it was our fault
We lost!!
cost us 10k
Now we just have caravan storage
Oh and better security
And get them to sign absolutely everything that absolves you of any blame, I would even advise speaking to a solicitor and getting them to draw up a watertight contract of storage

We even found out who had knicked them but police said there wasn`t enough evidence to prosecute
Lets just say he got what he deserved ( did cost us another 1k for the pleasure though )

 

[Phil P]

Another thing we learned early on
Be careful what you promise.
We advertised as being "Secure Caravan Storage"
Which is what you would expect??
However back in @ 2005 we had 2 caravans stolen 1 night
One of the owners had not renewed his insurance so stood to loose a good amount of money.
Took us to court, claiming that because we had advertised as being secure it was our fault
We lost!!
cost us 10k
Now we just have caravan storage
Oh and better security
And get them to sign absolutely everything that absolves you of any blame, I would even advise speaking to a solicitor and getting them to draw up a watertight contract of storage

We even found out who had knicked them but police said there wasn`t enough evidence to prosecute
Lets just say he got what he deserved ( did cost us another 1k for the pleasure though )

+1 for the contracts make sure you absolve you’re self of as much liability as you can, especially for damages caused by other van owners!
We also make them remove gas bottles in order to comply with fire regs. If there are gas bottles left on site and you have a fire the fire brigade won’t go in.

 

[kill]

Another thing we learned early on
Be careful what you promise.
We advertised as being "Secure Caravan Storage"
Which is what you would expect??
However back in @ 2005 we had 2 caravans stolen 1 night
One of the owners had not renewed his insurance so stood to loose a good amount of money.
Took us to court, claiming that because we had advertised as being secure it was our fault
We lost!!
cost us 10k
Now we just have caravan storage
Oh and better security
And get them to sign absolutely everything that absolves you of any blame, I would even advise speaking to a solicitor and getting them to draw up a watertight contract of storage

We even found out who had knicked them but police said there wasn`t enough evidence to prosecute
Lets just say he got what he deserved ( did cost us another 1k for the pleasure though )

I love the last paragraph

 

[Jerry]

I have both a 5 pitch caravan site under the Caravan and Motor Home club and also indoor and outside caravan storage.

Dont bother with CASSOA or whatever they are called. Unnecessary cost that does not bring anything to you as far as I see it.

Caravan and Motor Home club is very good to work with. Ideally you will need electric hook up, potable water, loo, shower and wash out point.

We are pretty much full from Easter to October most years and have a cuple of vans on site most of the off season. Normally full at Christmas as well. £15 per night or £16 with an awning. So a little one acre orchard is a nice money earner but dont underestimate the time interacting with the guests.

Storage outside is money for old rope, all I have is road planings down and half decent security with CCTV and some one living on site. Not had any issues though did have to kick someone of site as caught his quids smoking weed in the van at weekends. He was not impressed with them!

Oh, an insurance, I cover the vans 3rd party whilst in store, so if they are damaged by a roof sheet or an accident then they are covered.

 

[traineefarmer]

Good point that storage works well when paired with a site. We have several 'vans in storage by people who like to use our site as a base, They book on our site and ask for us to take their van out of storage and pitch it on the site.

There's a lot of drivers out there who can't tow going forwards, let alone reverse into a space!

 

[Ted M]

Thanks, these are great replies. Lots of things that I may not have thought of myself.
Quite fortunate that we have a house on site and the access runs right past it.

 

[Mur Huwcun]

We’ve got three electric hook up pitches abd another hardstanding plot for motorhomes. We don’t do storage yet but have been looking into it. We use pitch up website for bookings. Was a godsend in the first season as we were struggling for trade but once the ball started rolling it’s been very good. We get some moaning that it’s a farm, where’s the clubhouse, haven’t you got a swimming pool, I thought there would be a lot more here etc but we state all that we have in the advert. Biggest expense was the shower and toilet block. First two seasons nearly covered the whole setup costs.

 

[Dman2]

As said
Storage and site work well together
Our 5 van regularly has 8 out of the storage on it most weekends

 

[traineefarmer]

As said
Storage and site work well together
Our 5 van regularly has 8 out of the storage on it most weekends

Ha! We find that our ability to count to 5 is quite poor in peak season too.

 

[RhysT]

Cassoa is just a big money maker for someone
We used to be registered, got next to no service from them so kicked them out
We are still full
We are on the insurance companies recommended list
But we pay Cassoa nothing

A far as business rates goes around here, we get small business rate relief which reduces the rates to £0
We run the storage as a separate partnership so that we dont have to chargeVAT

Do you pay business rates on the storage? Been toying with the idea.