The short answer
Before buying anything, settle six things: how you will actually use the van, your realistic budget including the chassis, payload, where you will do the work, how you will insure and register it, and your layout, mocked up full size in cardboard. The expensive mistakes are all made before the first screw, and none of them cost anything to avoid.
Most van build regret is not about craftsmanship. It is about a decision made in week zero that nobody revisited — a van bought for the wrong reason, a budget that forgot the chassis, a layout that never got tested.
Here is the list we give people who call us before they have bought anything. It is the most useful conversation we have.
1. Be honest about how you will use it
Write down your last ten trips, or the next ten you realistically expect. Weekends or weeks? Two people or four? Trailheads or campgrounds? Winter or fair weather? Working from the van or escaping work?
Almost every later decision — chassis, insulation, electrical, layout — falls out of that list. Building for the trip you imagine instead of the trip you take is the first and most expensive layout mistake.
2. Budget the whole thing, including the van
The conversion is the number people research. The total is the number that matters:
- The chassis — usually the largest single line, new or used.
- The build — parts, a kit, or an installed conversion from $31,485.
- The invisible 10–15% — tools, fasteners, adhesives, a second trip to the hardware store every single weekend.
- Registration, insurance, and taxes.
- The first year of ownership — tires, a service interval, the upgrades you will immediately want.
A finished conversion including a chassis typically lands in the $80,000–$95,000 range. Knowing that early is better than discovering it in month four.
3. Check the payload before you fall in love
This is the constraint almost nobody checks, and it is the one that cannot be fixed later.
Every van has a GVWR and a payload rating — the weight of everything you add, including the conversion, water, batteries, gear, and people. Water alone is 8.3 lb per gallon, so a full 20-gallon tank is 166 lb before anything else.
Find the payload figure on the door-jamb sticker of the specific van you are considering. Trim level, drivetrain, and options change it significantly between two vans that look identical. Overloading is not just a legal problem — it is a braking, handling, and tire problem.
4. Decide where the work will happen
A garage that fits a high-roof van is not a given. Before committing, confirm:
- Height. A high-roof Sprinter or Transit is roughly 9–10 feet. Most residential garage doors are 7.
- Power. You will want real outlets, not one extension cord.
- Weather. Adhesives and panel work have minimum application temperatures — which is why autumn is a better build season than midwinter.
- Time. A driveway build means tarping up every night and unpacking every morning. That tax is what stalls builds.
5. Sort insurance and registration early
Do this before you buy, not after you finish. A converted cargo van sits in an awkward category: some insurers write it as a commercial vehicle, some as an RV, and some decline it outright once they learn it has been converted.
Requirements for RV registration vary by state and commonly involve a fixed bed, a water system, a cooking facility, and sometimes an inspection. Call your insurer and your DMV and ask what they need. Ten minutes on the phone now prevents a genuinely bad surprise later.
6. Choose the chassis last, not first
This one is counterintuitive, and it is the advice we most often give.
People pick a van, then try to fit a life into it. Work the other way: decide your layout, then buy the chassis that fits it. A crosswise bed points to the ProMaster. Maximum standing height points to the Transit. Genuine 4x4 and resale point to the Sprinter. The full comparison is here.
7. Mock the layout up in cardboard
Painter’s tape on the floor, boxes for cabinets, a real mattress for the bed. Live around it for a week. Cook a meal standing where the galley will be. Get into bed the way you actually will, in the dark, tired.
Every awkward reach you find in cardboard costs nothing. The same discovery in plywood costs a weekend and a cabinet.
8. Size the electrical from a load list
Not from what the biggest build online installed. Write down what you will run and for how long. A realistic two-person weekend is 60–90 amp-hours a day, which makes 200Ah of lithium comfortable. The full method is here.
9. Order long-lead items first
Roof fan, windows, electrical. Hardware lead times set most build schedules — not skill, and not free time. Order them before you need them and the build never stalls waiting on a box.
10. Decide what you are not going to do yourself
This is not giving up; it is planning. Cutting a window opening is permanent. A heater that taps the chassis fuel tank involves fuel, exhaust, and combustion air together. Knowing in advance which jobs you will hand to a service shop keeps them from becoming the thing that halts your build for two months.
Everything on this list is free to get right and expensive to get wrong. That ratio never appears again anywhere else in the project.
Ready to start? Compare the three ways to build, or call 720-282-5075 and talk it through with someone who has done it.
Frequently asked questions
What should I consider before starting a van build?
How you will genuinely use the van, your total budget including the chassis, the van’s payload rating, where you will do the work, how you will insure and register it, and your layout — mocked up full size in cardboard before anything is bought.
How much does it cost to build a camper van?
Budget the chassis, the build, and roughly 10–15% more for tools, fasteners, and consumables, plus registration, insurance, and first-year running costs. A professionally converted van including the chassis typically lands between $80,000 and $95,000; an installed Timber conversion starts at $31,485 without the van.
How much weight can a camper van carry?
Check the payload figure on the door-jamb sticker of the specific van — it varies significantly with trim, drivetrain, and options. Everything you add counts, including the conversion, gear, passengers, and water at 8.3 lb per gallon.
Do I need special insurance for a converted van?
Usually yes, and you should confirm it before buying. Insurers treat converted cargo vans inconsistently — some write them as commercial vehicles, some as RVs, some decline them. RV registration requirements also vary by state and often require a fixed bed, water system, and cooking facility.
Should I choose the van or the layout first?
The layout. Decide how the interior needs to work, then buy the chassis that accommodates it. A crosswise bed points to a ProMaster, maximum standing height to a Transit, and factory 4x4 or strong resale to a Sprinter.