The Importance of RV Park Signage

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One of the most overlooked improvements you can make to your RV Park or Campground is professional-quality signage.  Good looking signage gives customers a great first impression, and has a real purpose -- giving good information and directions.  It’s the amenity that keeps on giving; making your job easier and looking good while doing it.

Many RV Park and Campground owners don’t want to spend the time or money creating good signage. They are prone to just hand write some letters on a good old piece of plywood and nail it to a tree or lean it up against a wall.  Boy, that sure looks good to your customers!

Nobody would disagree that great signage has many benefits to the RV park owner including:

  • - Makes a great first, and lasting, impression on your customers, making them feel good about their choice and increasing the odds they’ll come back.
  • - Gives the customer accurate instructions on when to check in, where to go etc.
  • - Leads to higher appraised value when financing.
  • - Can cause the RV park to sell for a higher price to a new owner.

So if we all agree on this, then why would you not have good quality signs in your RV park? Normally it’s money that stands in the way.  Here is some ideas on how to improve your signage on the cheap:

  • - Make the standard post to hold up all of your signs a 4” x 4” wood post sleeved in white PVC.  Then put a nice white PVC cap on the sleeve.  This low cost finishing touch makes your old wooden post look great.  And the PVC never needs paint.  You can even use this trick on any existing 4” x 4”.
  • - Convert all your signs to vinyl lettering on painted aluminum.  I use white lettering on a forest green aluminum background, but there are many other choices.  The key is that the finished product lasts virtually forever and requires no painting or maintenance.  And you can get signs like these inexpensively at Kinkos or Fast Signs.  They are strong and can be easily attached to almost any surface.
  • - Consider putting your entire budget into your entry sign.  This is where you make the first impression of your business, and customers may not come in if the sign looks less than professional.  For entry signs. I use routed PVC.  I chose this because it is permanent, needs no maintenance or painting, an is hard to vandalize.  The signs I installed a decade ago look as great today as they did then.  And you can choose a color scheme to complement your park and your other signage.

Before you re-paint that old plywood sign, consider the cost of perpetual maintenance and periodic replacement of your poor quality sign against the program I have just outlined.  You will soon see that the permanent solution is better financially.               

Great signage can mean better sales and greater re-sale value.  Invest in good signage, and the dividends will be endless!

By Frank Rolfe Frank Rolfe is a mobile home park investor and owns over 100 parks with his partner Dave Reynolds. Frank also teaches about RV Park Investing through www.RVParkUniversity.com.