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How do you fund your RV Project?

ty1295

Well Known Member
Curious today as to how others have funded their project.

I make good money, glad I went to college and its paying off. As with everybody you never make enough for all the toys you want as quick as you want.

Fairly new to aviation hobby, but been building and working on cars for years. I've made a fair amount of cash on the side doing side work, fabrication, design, manufacturing of items for cars in the past. Probably be doing similar to build my RV.

Wondering what others have done?

Coffee cup on the street corner?
Adult favors?
Donate plasma?
Grown goofy plants in your basement?
 
The old-fashioned way... Single, rich (relatively), and living quite below my means. No debt, save for the condo mortgage, and I'm just really good at a high-paying job (software design). And it's all through hard work. No inheritance from the parents or anything like that. Even with retirement investment and such, I'll have my -9a paid off at the same time that I finish building, in roughly 3-4 years.

... and that's about the most gloating you'll ever get out of me. I'm honestly very sheepish and humble about saying that my life's accomplishments have gotten me to this point.
 
I started building in 1988. First flight 1997.

I asked myself, if someone GAVE ME the airplane I wanted, how much could I afford to fly it? Back in 1988, that answer was $75 per week out of my weekly paycheck. I set up automatic deposits into an account at my Credit Union. In September 1997 when I made my first flight, the airplane I wanted was in my hangar and paid for.
 
I am also on the pay as you go route. It was much easier back when my wife and I were dual-income, no kids. Now that we are single-income with a kid it is much more diffucult to find extra airplane funds. I have most everything to finish the plane, but that last 7-8K + training I have to go will hold me up for a bit. Well worth it though.
 
Work

Mine is a pay as you go. Funded through working, at a small printing company, and will end up selling my English Cobra 289 kit to help. I made most of my money back in England creating software installations. I'm the sole wage earner, which means that it'll just take a little longer, that's all ;-D
 
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Same way you eat an elaphant!

One bite at a time. start with EAA bench,Tools & Tail kit,an air compressor,go from there.If you have the money buy quick build this will save you years off the build.If you have time slow build one kit at a time.Want to save on both?Buy someones project,second owners have a higher rate of completion then first time kit builders.Do something everyday to move the project ahead,don't over think the money,just build the plane.For me Money is tight but a small issue compared to time,family commitments.
Bob
 
I'm using my kids college funds :)

I put aside 10% of my income in my company's stock purchase plan over the last 20 years. Had some really good times and some really bad times in the market, but overall I've made money. Bought a lot of cool stuff with the money - cars, ATV's, motorhome, home improvements, and now an airplane. Still had enough saved to put my kids through college (1 down, 2 to go). So far we haven't had to dip into those funds to pay the tuition, since my wife's paycheck covers the school expenses and we basically live off of my income.

I have no debt other than my mortgage (which we just refinanced again at a much lower rate). I will have to dip into the college funds to buy my engine, but the plane will be completely paid for when I am completed and flying.

Moral of the story - save, save, save, invest, invest, invest.
 
........


I make good money,


......



I've made a fair amount of cash

......


That's danger right there Jeff you might have too many temptations. :D

I still cannot believe how I built this thing on average paycheck without any credit history :D
 
I guess my post came out a bit off. I have no problem taking it one step at a time, already have the tail. The tools in my garage would probably make a few builders drool, although they are overkill. (Bridgeport Mill, 14" Lathe, tig, mig, plasma cutter, sandblast, powdercoating over, tubing bender, etc.)

I've been down this road in my car projects more than once.

Just curious of some of the alternative ways others have done to fund it, and in that matter some of the unusual workshops people have used. (basement, condos, car trunks, etc.)
 
Repeating an oft-told story. I too was pay as you go (until engine, that had to go on a home equity; fortunately, I didn't sell my house every five years to move into bigger and bigger housesand have almost paid off the mortgage).

I delivered newspapers every morning for 10 years to raise money for the project. 7 days a week. In all weather. At 2:30 in the morning. Then I'd come home, sleep for an hour, and go work an 8 hour day.

In the latter stages of the project, I pulled out the cable TV/DISH. It was mostly junk and I got a lot more work on the plane done. I didn't waste money on booze and cheap women. :) My only vice was an airplane project.

And, most important, I came to be comfortable with the notion that there were people who were going to have nicer panels, better paint jobs, and bigger crowds around their plane at Oshkosh.

Once you accept that, you can save a heck of a lot of money.:p

As for future funding, I'm going to attend a lot of fly ins and sell the space on each side of my plane to other RVers who want their planes to look better than they really are.
 
Like the others, I paid as I went along.

I bought my first engine (O-290-D2) off of Barn Stormers for $3500, flew it for 250 hours until it hit something. Then the insurance company gave me $40K to put an O-360, new cowl, etc. up front and had enough cash left over to pay for the paint job.

When I finished after a little more than four years my total credit card balance was $350.
 
Curious today as to how others have funded their project.

Adult favors?
Do you mean that you can get paid for that rather than paying?;)

Donate plasma?
Actually did that in college!

Like others, I am strictly pay-as-I-go. Sure, it is getting near the 10 year mark, but I got to watch 3 kids grow up, watch them play sports, music, graduate law school (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rdweG7-qqYc ) etc. Wouldn't have missed any of that for the world. At 52, we may be done having kids! Now I just need to get it done to take any future grand kids flying.

Bob, save a spot for me next to you at the fly-ins. I can make you look like an OshKosh champ.

Sid, saw your post after I posted this. No offense intended.
 
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How I paid for it, quit smoking

I Quit Smoking , and took the money out of my paycheck in a credit union, every time I thought about smoking I thought of my airplane .
Seems like I smoked more after I quit ;-)
The cost of smoking and the insurance reduction for not really helps nice to see the money piling up !

Quit Smoking
Cleaned out the Garage - 2 years
Built plane - 6 years

Cheers
Peter
 
I see I may be a little different than most of the other posts. Personally I couldn't justify spending money on my hobby until all other family needs were met, so I dreamed about it for nearly 30 years, until the son was out on his own, and there was enough money saved up for both retirement and the airplane. And I wouldn't have had it any other way, it's just my personality. I did sleep at night, and when I did build the airplane there were no money worries.

PS Don't forget that when it's finished the money flow doesn't stop. Insurance, hangar, taxes, gas,.....
 
About half was from the EAA Sweepstakes....they pulled my ticket from the cement mixer at OSH in 2006. Sold my free airplane, paid the taxes, retired a debt for a new shop, and spent the rest on RV parts. The other half was pay-as-you-go. Some of that was selling another airplane project, which was mostly the fruit of building and selling other projects.

Yes, I am the luckiest SOB you know ;)
 
Same story second verse

Had been saving for 10+ years had enough to buy a -4 project that had almost everything to complete.

Completed that in 2004 flew 700+hrs saved some and bought a -10 tail kit sold the -4 for what I had originaly in it +the upgrades that I made to it through the years to finish buying the -10 parts near completion.

Dont smoke
Dont drink

Used that to help finish the -10.

I drive a 1997 Toyota Tacoma that has 310,000+ miles that someone gave to me at 195,000 miles.

I went cheap on the house when we built it and cheap on the hanger.

Have had 2 jobs for the last 18 years.
 
second jobs

I have a dual addiction. Sailing and flying. I started paying for the sailing addiction with a part time job in the Navy Reserve. As I got promoted, I bought bigger boats with my navy pay check. I am now retired from that second job and my boat is paid off. My retirement pay now goes to the flying addiction. I will be headed to Spain next spring to fly gliders in the Pyrenees. My Navy retired pay will help support that as well.

To help pay for the RV I took another second job (actually a third job while I was still in the Navy) as an adjunct professor at a local law school. That is working out just about right to have the RV paid off with the proceeds of that gig when I retire from it.

I have also avoided paying alimony and child support :)
 
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creatively?

I deduced after 25 years of wishing that I was never going to have:

1. spare time
2. spare room ( shop/garage)
3. spare money

in the correct proportions, all at the same time.

the family sold a piece of property that was appreciating at about 2% a year, and the cash would have earned about 2% a year in the bank, so creatively invested it in a flying RV that I sit in about 2% of my spare time.
...funny how things are the same, yet different.... all at once?

I admire all you guys/gals that 'just did it' and made it work.
 
When I started flying, I was single, with a good paying job and low overhead. So I took a second job teaching in the evenings to pay for flight lessons and later, for an airplane. Then I took on an airplane partner and that substantially improved my cash flow and allowed me to get the RV well underway. Later, I sold him my remaining interest in the airplane to fund the expensive bits in the cockpit and firewall forward.

Also, I did a good bit of scrounging to get a better value on things as I was building my airplane. For instance, I got my tail kit and about $1,000 in tools (Rivet gun, rivet sets, c-frame tool, hundreds of cleco's, and a bunch of other stuff) for $600. My wing kit was a similar deal and I saved myself some money by buying a core engine and rebuilding it.
 
I see I may be a little different than most of the other posts. Personally I couldn't justify spending money on my hobby until all other family needs were met, so I dreamed about it for nearly 30 years, until the son was out on his own, shed the money flow doesn't stop. Insurance, hangar, taxes, gas,.....

Actually, that's EXACTLY why I went and took a second job. I couldn't take money from the family budget. We still got the vacations at Disneyland and new gutters for the house, the computers blah blah . There was no reason that anyone else in the house had to sacrifice because of *my* hobby. There still isn't.
 
One $5000 chunk at a time! Why is it that everything RV related costs $5000? (or there about)

2 Jobs also helped.
 
Saw my first RV at Merced in June 1984

Purchased the tail kit in October 1984, then built a 24 foot x 24 foot shop in my backyard to do the build. That was when you really had to build your own. Worked on the project for 3 1/2 years, first flight of my RV-4 in July 1988, at age 50. Finished my fifth RV in December 2009, an RV-12 that was sold.

All my projects were self-financed from jobs in banking and state government.

Currently flying an RV-4 purchased from a friend's estate that I assisted in building, after I had built my first RV-4, sold in 1993.
 
AFU

One $5000 chunk at a time! Why is it that everything RV related costs $5000? (or there about)

Don't you know? One Kilobuck = 1 AFU (airplane financial unit). $5000 = 5 AFUs (doesn't sound like as much money when you use AFUs)
 
Double Meat

I tell people that they "Just can't live without double meat" on their sandwiches! You would be surprised how it adds up over a few Subway's... :D
 
Paid for everything but the engine out of pocket as needed. I will have the Loan for the engine paid off in 2 years. Took me 2 years to pay for the Kits
 
I bought my first engine (O-290-D2) off of Barn Stormers for $3500, flew it for 250 hours until it hit something. Then the insurance company gave me $40K to put an O-360, new cowl, etc. up front and had enough cash left over to pay for the paint job.

Hmm, are you thinking what I'm thinking! ;)
 
I wrote an app for Palm Pilots back in 2000, the first A/FD available there, called Airport Insight. It sold well enough on Palm and later PocketPC/Windows Mobile to fund my entire RV project with enough left over to cover some gas when I finally get it in the air.
 
Pay as I Go

I had a Cheorkee Six 300 leftover from a earlier page in my life. ( Boat Skipper) and Air Charter opperator. I had moved from St Martin, to Dallas. I started my RV6 in 1995 and finished it in 18 months. I was making 2000 a month in a retail store.
I was able to buy a stalled out emp and wing kit from a fellow EAA Chapter member. I ordered the Fuse and finish kit within a week of the emp & wing purchase. Ordered the engine and FWF about a year later. I sold the Cheorkee Six to pay for the engine and FWF kit. Pay as you go..
Since then I continue to live the dream. Bought a hanger, finished my 4th personal RV, a RV8 in 2007. I have about 2400 RV hours since 1996.
Continue to live way below my means, drive old truck, but have time to fly. It is a lifestile, and requires sacrifice, in other areas.
 
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Kudos to those who have been creative in financing their RV. My story may not be so interesting but I suspect it may be common among many who have not commented yet. In short, my wife and I had careers, raised two kids (including college), saved money, paid off the house and retired. The RV (as yet unfinished) is paid for out of two lifetimes of savings. I used Van's estimator to decide "we can do this" although with the IFR panel and future (someday) paint job the project may exceed initial estimates we are still within the "we can do it" range.
 
I stopped changing cars

Before starting this project, I bought a succession of 2/3 year old cars and traded them in every 2 years or so, while they were still 'fresh'. The current one is a BMW 520 from '04 that I bought in '06. In today's market, it is hardly worth selling, but I think it is good for another 9 years if I look after it, and it still looks good. By then I will have retired, so I will buy a much simpler used car from my retirement plan 'gratuity'.

In the meantime, all of the travel expense reimbursements from my job (which I previously saved to finance the next car upgrade) goes into the aircraft. So far, that has bought all of the kits (except FWF) without any time gaps. It has even helped to part-finance a low-time engine that I am almost ready to hang. The rest of the engine cost came from savings.

Like most posters here I refuse to borrow money for toys
 
Got divorced.

Got divorced and sold the castle that was keeping me house poor.
Bought my RV-8 kit, new truck and a Harley. I work a steady job and a have hobby that brings in a few bucks now and then. I'm at the tail end of the build and feel good that I own all of it.
 
I have a unique route to my RV. I made a conscious decision to remain single. I have way more fun being single that being married. I absolutely love children, but my brother has four kids, and most of my friends have kids. So I get to play "cool uncle" any time I want! I don't need my own.

I also live frugally. I can afford the big fancy house but I love my 1000 sq. ft. fifty-two year old ranch. Heating/cooling costs are low, and taxes are too!

I paid for my first airplane with cash as I went. I sold it and the hangar and paid off my college loans.

Then, my second airplane I built burned to the ground in a fire during start. The insurance money was enough to pay off my house and buy the fuselage and finish kit for my RV-7A.

Now being debt free, I can still save for retirement and buy airplane parts (engine, prop, etc...) as I have the cash.
 
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Combination of pay as you go, savings and putting retirement plans on hold for another couple of years.
 
Repeating an oft-told story. I too was pay as you go (until engine, that had to go on a home equity; fortunately, I didn't sell my house every five years to move into bigger and bigger housesand have almost paid off the mortgage).

I delivered newspapers every morning for 10 years to raise money for the project. 7 days a week. In all weather. At 2:30 in the morning. Then I'd come home, sleep for an hour, and go work an 8 hour day.

In the latter stages of the project, I pulled out the cable TV/DISH. It was mostly junk and I got a lot more work on the plane done. I didn't waste money on booze and cheap women. :) My only vice was an airplane project.

And, most important, I came to be comfortable with the notion that there were people who were going to have nicer panels, better paint jobs, and bigger crowds around their plane at Oshkosh.

Once you accept that, you can save a heck of a lot of money.:p

As for future funding, I'm going to attend a lot of fly ins and sell the space on each side of my plane to other RVers who want their planes to look better than they really are.

Bob,
Yet another reason why I respect you. You are a man of wisdom. You put your priorities first, worked hard and made your dream happen. I too am on the pay as you go. We make a good living but I don't think its being a good steward to dump it all into an airplane project (that is basically for me only) in a three year period. My family needs will always come first. Airplane will eventually get done.
 
Be cheap.

Live frugally.

The only NEW stuff we buy is food:) My wife's a retired Navy Commander and I collect Social Security.

She loves Thrift shops and I drive used cars/trucks/ bicycles in order to have airplanes.

Grill every Sunday after church and eat that almost all week...no expensive restaurant food.

I supplement my ag income by giving BFR's and occasional transition training.

Best,
 
Well, I'm not in the same class as you guys. Still dreaming of having my own RV. Life got in the way first. Starting helping friends with their projects, transformed that into a good little (getting bigger) company, still work full time for someone else (not for long!) Separated after 25 years, divorcing, live by myself (well sometimes:), but right now helping alot of you with your dreams. I'll do the pay as I go thing, but I want to have enough set aside to finish what I start.

Side note: 4 years ago, a good friend suggested 'strongly' that I help him. He introduced me to some other friends with this really bad habit of climbing into a bunch of rivited aluminum, and roaring off into the skys. Rivited things they built themselves. I was hooked like alot of you. (Thanks Lee!) Dreams of flying in a plane I built were overwhelming enough for me to get serious about learning more, and finding a way to get involved. Well, its been really good to meet alot of you, and help in a small way. Learning to fly with a retired fighter pilot is awesome!!!! But getting to know you guys and help is priceless.
Thank you all!
Tom
 
My wife and I are both engineers and were fortunate to have been successful in our careers. I funded my project out of pocket until the engine and prop. I retired, and a piece of the 401K paid for that large chunk!
 
Perhaps I'm a little different. I admire all the pay as you go. At one time I was in that crowd and very happy to be there. We lived in Dallas/Plano which had a really good cost of living and we made really good salaries. That was 7 years ago. We decided to move back to New Mexico. No one moves to New Mexico to further they're carrer or salaries. We moved back in part because my mother-in-law came down with Alzhemiers. My wife wanted to be with her folks and help them out while we could. That was a good thing for them and us.

On the downside for us I'm still trying to get my salary where it was 7 years ago and my wife is still a little below her 50% of her salary that she earned in Dallas. I just turned 60. Santa Fe is not a cheap place to live.

In the beginning 5k at a whack sounded easy and affordable. 6k, 7k, 8k and 9k at a whack now, not so much. I truly miss flying. My family is all back east.

Even if I were to go something like a cheap 172, I'd probably need to go through NAFCO. I still dream of an RV, who doesn't.

I say do it while you can. If you keep putting things off because life is getting in the way then life will continue to get in the way until its all over.

Go for it! You've never get any younger and your dreams never lose thier magic. I still dream. I still drive by the airport. I hope to actually get in a few hours in a 172 this year. That should feel good.

Live your dreams!

Bob
 
Deployed savings

I was deployed to Afghanistan in '04. All those tax free dollars went to build.

My wife is wonderful at saving money, so three deployments later I have paid cash for everything so far. But I am getting close to needing a finishing kit, engine, prop and avionics. The wife thinks there is another way instead of deployment number four.
 
Pay as you go

I saw a poor old lady fall over today on the ice!! At least I presume she was poor - she only had $4.20 in her purse.
 
Also pay as we go

I worked part-time as a CFI for the past 7 years and saved my paychecks to jump start the project. Once we ordered the tail kit, I figured out how much more we needed to save divided by the number of months I expect the build to take, and I have that drafted from my checking account each month. I've cut back on flying and other life style while we're building to cash flow that savings. We're committed to building the plane debt free, so it may not be finished as soon as I hope, but when it is finished it will be all ours!
 
Bank

I did mine the old fashioned way, I borrowed the money.
It was for the finish kit, fwd kit, engine-used, prop-used, avionics - (50k total). Like a true American, I didn't want to wait. No regrets!
 
I agree with purchasing someones not finished project,glad to hear finish rate is higher...bought slow build -4 with runout 0-320 and been chipping away every week for last 4 years...empenage,flaps,ailerons,most fuse bulkheads done....LONG time getting undrilled wing spars and reinforcements done....had most of tools due to many years working on street and dirt track modifieds. Should have started airplane sooner
TomcatRV4 (slow build)
2012 dues paid (worth every penny and then some)
 
Congratulation to all who have built & flown on tight budgets. My one observation is to absolutely minimize any debt you may be carrying. I know large debt like homes mortgages can be unavoidable but eliminating smaller revolving debt should be your first goal. It will make building & flying your own plane much easier. And ABSOLUTELY avoid usury level revolving Credit Card debt at all costs and of course stay away from any PayDay lender like it's a 900' runway with 50 knot cross winds.
 
I saw a poor old lady fall over today on the ice!! At least I presume she was poor - she only had $4.20 in her purse.

That's the best! Even from the Keller folks! :D (Cousin lives there. He says I'm the crazy for being in Dallas... :p)
 
Saving money for the RV's

I'll have to add my two cents here for saving money. Last year I purchased an RV-4 and paid cash that I raised from selling mostly unwanted stuff laying around the house on Ebay - So yes - my ship was paid via paypal. I made an Ebay store - and things just started selling. My theory was that if I wanted and RV bad enough that I would have to give up some other luxury's that I already owned but really made no sense in keeping. So - with that I'm a little lighter on some old Magic Houdini posters, and old Ham Radio gear. With 200 hours on the RV in just over 14 months...I'm a happy guy!
 
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