Lazydays RV

Interesting announcement from an RV dealer. Lazydays RV just opened the doors to a dedicated service center in Houston, Texas. Here is the original press release announcing the new center from September of 2019. And here is the release on the grand opening.

Given the number of issues that RV owners experience, there must be a booming business for mobile and fixed location RV repair facilities.

There is no dealership attached to this service center and it is apparently a bit of a test for Lazydays.

This is a rendition of the service center from the Lazydays website:

Lazydays RV must have a certain level of confidence in the business model for this test center. 30,000 square feet. 20 service bays. All staffed by certified RV technicians.

They likely spent upwards of 2 million on the building and probably another few million to equip the service bays. Annual operating costs for the business might be in the range of 3 million or so. That would include capital depreciation, staff and other expenses related to running the business.

The service center should produce at least 5 million of revenue assuming that they can keep themselves busy all year.

Looks like some profit to be made with this test service center.

I wasn’t all that familiar with certified RV technicians but it turns out that the RV Industry Association does certify mechanics as RV technicians.

Here is what they have to say about their technical institute initiative to certify RV technicians:

While RV sales are increasing, the number of proficient, well-trained RV technicians has remained steady or declined across the country. With more and more Americans taking to the road to enjoy the outdoor lifestyle, it’s more important than ever for the RV industry to address the shortfall of trained technicians.

To tackle this critical issue affecting RV owner satisfaction, the RV Industry Association Board of Directors approved a comprehensive strategic plan and multi-million-dollar investment creating the RV Technical Institute (RVTI). The program is tasked with reducing Repair Event Cycle Times (RECT) for consumers seeking to maintain their RVs by increasing the number of high-quality trained RV technicians.

The RECT metric can be impacted by various factors including availability and timely delivery of parts, as well as through technician training. To focus on this aspect of RECT, the institute has developed a world-class training curriculum that will be standardized nationally to develop a cadre of technicians who can diagnose and repair RVs and ultimately improve the RV consumer experience. Training will be delivered at an Elkhart campus and through accredited regional partner schools.

The RV Industry Association and the RV Dealers Association contributed a combined $10 million dollars to create the curriculum, credentialing and career path for RV service technicians, along with an institute to deliver the new and improved curriculum. It is the only industry-wide supported path to certification.

There are four levels of certification broken out this way:

LEVEL 1: A pre-delivery inspector (PDI) technician with a proven skill set to prepare an RV for customer delivery by verifying the operation of all components. To achieve this level, you must successfully pass Level 1 written and skill-based (practical) exams.

LEVEL 2: A technician that has theoretical knowledge of all the systems and components within an RV and a proven skill set to be able to perform basic diagnostics, troubleshooting, and repairs on those systems and components. To achieve this level, you must successfully pass Level 1 and 2 written and skill-based (practical) exams.

LEVEL 3: A technician that has completed the supplier trainings on specific types of components and increased their skill set to be able to perform advanced diagnostics, troubleshooting, and repairs on those systems and components. To achieve this level, you must successfully pass Level 1 and 2 written and skill-based (practical) exams as well as attend and pass 24-hours of approved hands-on vendor trainings within five years covering the minimum topics listed for each specialty.

LEVEL 4: The Master Technician has completed all five designated specialties through vendor trainings and is proficient in troubleshooting and repair of all the major systems and components within an RV.

Might be interesting to ask your local RV dealer whether the people servicing your coach are certified and, if they are, their level of certification.