Where to start the conversion

[davide2-3]

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum, I tried to see if this was already asked, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I am in the process of getting my bus, but before I make that step I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions where I can work on my bus if I don’t have a garage o shop where to work on it. Did it happened to any of you? Sorry for the dumb question, but I don’t have any family where I am located.

 

[N5tavniec]

Some people have the luxury of a shop to fit the bus. Others rent a storage unit and have been able to work on the bus there. Myself and a lot of others work on their bus in the driveway/yard out in the open.

 

[nikitis]

The storage solution works better if you tell them you'd like to store the bus and may use some light tooling on it on occasion to do maintenance like fill the tires with air etc, but nothing too loud. It's about how you word it too so word of advice.

 

[davide2-3]

Thanks a lot everyone really appreciate it!

 

[Dbacks2k4]

I had a storage unit for a while. It was a 50x14 if I remember right. I made sure to clear with the landlord ahead of time for doing work in there, his only concern was oil spills on the floor. It had a single 20A circuit which was convenient for lights and charging batteries. It was tight working space, so I took the bus home a lot where I also had running water, but it was ok for a while.

Then I moved and the bus is in a much larger shop now, an old cattle barn I rent which has largely sat un-setup for the last almost 2 years while I've been rennovating this new house I bought. Someday....

 

[Bean Bus]

Hello everyone, I am new to the forum, I tried to see if this was already asked, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. I am in the process of getting my bus, but before I make that step I was wondering if any of you have any suggestions where I can work on my bus if I don’t have a garage o shop where to work on it. Did it happened to any of you? Sorry for the dumb question, but I don’t have any family where I am located.

I just bought my bus this week and plan on working on it in my neighbors driveway..

 

[Tejon7]

I'd hazard that most skoolies are built outside. It sucks, but most of us have no other reasonable option.

My suggestion is to park it where you live if at all possible. Mine has been shoved into an 11' wide space between my garage and the neighbor's tall fence. It makes it extremely hard to work on anything outside or underneath the bus, but the benefit of being 30' from my front door cannot be overstated. I'm almost done converting after 5 years. If I'd parked it out at my parents 20 minutes away, I'd have 5 years left to go.

 

[Rucker]

Truer words never spoken, Tejon7. My bus was steps away from a fully equipped workshop and right behind the house.
It's not that you can't do it ... remotely ... everything just becomes an order of magnitude more complex, so your work discipline and schedule need to become rigorous to avoid burnout and receding horizon syndrome (I just made that one up).
If you don't have good space, I recommend following others' advice elsewhere in this forum: shoot for passing with a D-, get the bus barely useable and start to use it! Focus on 'time to first road trip' so you can experience the bus in real time. That should help focus you on the real priorities of the conversion.
You must have at a minimum a secure place for tools and materials storage, and a means to quickly access them so on a day off you can roll out of bed and get hammering and drilling within minutes. When I built our current house (down the street from where we lived at the time) I outfitted my Geo Tracker with all the electrical tools, wire, boxes etc. and took it with me to work. After work I'd drive straight to the house under construction, back the tracker up to the porch and stage my 'workshop' there. Did that for about two months while I wired the house. After each day I'd pack the gear back into the tracker, leaving behind only what was installed.
It might be worth considering setting up a similar mobile workshop to keep your gear secure and minimize 'time to first hole drilled'.

 

[ism minerals]

It took me a while to get it done, and still have a bunch to get done, but it is comfy and usable. I have worked on it right out front of the houses that i rented...it was always a conversation with my landlord. Most were ok but wanted limited time it was there.... My current location neighbors have have called the town enforcement and tried to go the legal route..ivey league teacher type of folks... it did not work, because it was legal to be there. had to behind front plane of the house.. i had around 1.5 ft if i backed right up to the garage... and town stated it was ok... but i parked it at camp for winter so it was going to be moved anyways...if they try anymore..I will paint some stupid phase on the side of it facing their house and ensure iit is legal. I have worked on it at camp and other locations each around 35 mins away. I prefer to have it out front as it is eaiser and can work on it as desired.

 

[heimlich]

If you have a house and can park it there do that. It makes it easy to get to. Then when you have free time in the evenings (even if it's only an hour) you can do a little work. All those little hours add up.

 

[WRS_Mark]

Built mine in my driveway. Easy commute to the jobsite and I could go for beers whenever I felt like it.

Best of luck!

 

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

built both of mine in the driveway and started out by putting in a mini fridge in the bus so i didnt have to go in the house for beer?
had it right there.

 

[#1FordFan]

Did my box truck conversion in the front yard.
I learned to not cut holes in walls for windows with a chance of rain.

 

[Dbacks2k4]

the benefit of being 30' from my front door cannot be overstated

Very true. I'd get a lot more done on mine if it wasn't a 20 minute drive away.

 

[LargeMarge-TC]

... suggestions where I can work on my bus...

.
Contrarian here.
.
1 : What are your goals for your bus?
2 : What type of work on your bus?
.
Readers, show of hands, does this sound familiar:
For first-time converters, a common path involves planning every detail ("... to the nth degree..."), then investing hundreds of hours in demolition and construction, re-wiring and plumbing.
And the obligatory roof deck accessed through the skylight over the bed.
That common path requires months and years of fussing before any camping or traveling.
[see Question '1', above]
.
Second-time converters acquire a suitable candidate, toss in some car-camping gear, and go have fun.
.
If you skip the first-time converter method, going straight to the highly-acclaimed LM-approved Second-TimeConverterSystem©...
Could you work on your bus out in the forest or desert?
Could you work on your bus on an isolated Baja beach?
.
.
A generic aside:
If I had zero construction experience, if I needed to watch YouTube for those elusive clues about insulation and floors, I might consider hiring a team of professionals.
They have the tools, they have the safety equipment, they have the muscle-memory to reduce do-overs.
Let them work on the vehicle inside their climate-controlled shop.

 

[Dbacks2k4]

If I had zero construction experience, if I needed to watch YouTube for those elusive clues about insulation and floors, I might consider hiring a team of professionals.
They have the tools, they have the safety equipment, they have the muscle-memory to reduce do-overs.
Let them work on the vehicle inside their climate-controlled shop.

"The journey is the destination" or so they say....