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[Splitrock]

Hard to tell value without a good inventory. Mine "looked" better (stored inside) and I have over 10K in addition to purchase price and am not finished.

[nesvt]

Splitrock, can I ask where most of the cost came from?
I mean, out of the $10k, were there one or two items that made up most of the cost (frame, floor), or was it just a lot of things that added up?

I ask because it might help me focus in one or more spots. Don't even know if I will hear from them. If not, I will probably approach them again in the future. I downloaded the inspection checklist. Wanted to check the frame, floor, windows, the door problem, appliances, plumbing, etc. Based on your restoration, if you noticed specific areas with issues that resulted in costly repairs, I would check twice.

[Splitrock]

My trailer was licensed and in use the day I bought it. The owner was packing it for a trip. He kept it in a shed when it wasn't in use or parked at the side of the road with a for sale sign on it. His brother had bought it new. The trailer did have some deferred maintenance and needed some repairs. I bought it as is, untested.

As I looked the trailer over, much was either filthy, ugly, or broken. My wife didn't like any of the appliances, furniture, curtains, or shades. Some things I replaced without testing, like the water heater, furnace, and refrigerator. It all came out.

I started with replacing the air conditioner, removing the three roof vents and adding Fantastic fans, replacing all the window and door gaskets, tinting the windows, repaired the frame, replaced parts of the wood floor deck, laid Allure flooring, replaced the plumbing, water heater, oven/range, furnace, refrigerator, sink, cabinets, bathroom walls, counter tops, replaced all the gas lines and shut offs, new tires, wheel bearings, grease seals, all new clearance lights, all new tail light lenses, new 7-way fuse panel, new 7-way socket, new 7-way umbilical, new tongue jack.

For the go and tow, I bought a new hitch, rock guards, and extended mirrors.

Left to do is a new jack knife sofa, recliner, side table, curtains, bed pedestal & mattress, front window rock guard, new awning material, strip and buff exterior, and one spare wheel for the tire I bought last year.

My total budget was $14,000. That's about the cost of this trailer when it was new. I'll be over that figure. I've done all the labor myself, except I hired a guy to mount and balance the new tires on the rims.

[Splitrock]

I'm a pretty good welder. I welded the frame repair myself. I still need a new battery, two rear stabilizers, new sewer hoses, and a television antenna. Things add up pretty fast. I finished the cabinets with Sherwin Williams pre-cat over SW vinyl sealer, over Gemini lacquer stain. That stuff was over $300 by itself. I still need to make and finish the refrigerator panels, the bed pedestal, bed side tables and one wall cabinet over the big bedside table. That'll take another $300 in finishing materials.

[nesvt]

Thanks Splitrock. I was checking your blog. WOW. Thanks for posting your progress and the great images. I'm a bit awestruck. I have some skills, but nothing like what you're demonstrating. Thanks for the info.

[Splitrock]

This project was different than fixing up a house. With a house I could hire help to get it finished from any point. With this trailer project, it was just me all the way. I felt the risk as soon as I tore out all of the interior. It wasn't worth a lot when I bought it but I knew when I gutted it, I had cut the resale in half.

The pressure was on. I wanted to get the trailer finished before I had a stroke or broke my leg. There was a point where I had it all torn up, not much fixed, and most of the money spent with all new fixtures and appliances sitting in the shop. I've seen more than a few of these trailers gutted like mine was and never finished. I knew if I didn't finish it in a good way and in good time, it could be sold by my sons for a couple grand, just to get it out of the yard, if I'd die or become disabled before the project was finished.

And . . . it's a HUGE project. It'd be easy to become uninterested before it was completed. This summer I've forced myself to stay on schedule. The heat stopped me most of July. I fixed that by installing a rather large air conditioner in the shop. That let me finish the cabinets and countertops. The cool shop will be nice in future years for future projects too.

Now . . . I have to connect the water to the kitchen sink and run the gas line to the oven/range to be at my planned stopping point for this season. I may get more done, depending on the weather and my business.