I'm a member of a private campground that hosts events and short-term camping, but also has long-term site holders - People who basically have a ground lease for an RV, cabin, etc. I have an opportunity to acquire a long-term site that already has a cabin on it, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to assign a value to it when I propose the deal to the board and voting delegates. I figure the OB would be a good place to start since this is kind of like having a deer lease.

The cabin is a 12x16 portable building that was placed between 20-25 years ago. It was used as a rental cabin up until 2023. There are visible signs of significant water damage to the ceiling and the smell indicates the presence of mold. The exterior siding has degradation from water along the bottom edge, and the roof needs replaced. Simply put, the cabin basically has to be rebuilt around the frame.

For comparison, a brand new portable building like this with an unfinished interior would run me between $5,000-$6,000, not including delivery. Finishing out the interior the way I want it would run about $6,500. Rehabbing the existing building will cost me between $8,000-$9,000.

The way I see it, the building is of zero value due to its age and the fact it needs to effectively be rebuilt. The value is really in the convenience and savings of not paying to have a new building delivered. So the question is - what is the value of the cabin if I propose the campground convey the cabin to me and I do the rehab?

My approach is that the building already being in place is worth a couple thousand at best, and I intend to propose purchasing the cabin for $1.00. After rehabbing it I would let the campground rent the cabin to event attendees for a year or two, which would be a max of 10 times per year at $100 per event. After that any rental revenue goes to me. That would generate revenue for the campground they would not get if they were left with an uninhabitable cabin.

Obligatory pics for your pleasure:

CanyonAg77 said:

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Mold...and you want to rent it out.

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Mold can be remediated. The (relatively) good thing is there is no visible mold inside, so we believe the mold is most likely contained to the ceiling and roof insulation (the ceiling is covered with LVT). I am gutting the interior of the building next month so we can see what is actually going on. It's possible the structure is not salvageable, but we think it is.

If it is salvageable, the roof and decking will be completely replaced first, followed by the exterior siding and insulation. If any rafters are damaged they will be replaced during the re-roof. If any rafters or other framing members have mold on them, they will be treated with an industrial mold inhibitor and sealed.

ETA: No, I would prefer not to rent it out, but the voting members are going to want to get something out of the deal, especially if I am asking them to simply give me the cabin.

agnerd said:

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First offer should be for the organization to remove the cabin at their expense and sell you the land without deficient structure.
2nd offer is $2000 less if you have to remove the structure yourself.
After the sales price is agreed on, then all of the rehab vs replacement issues become applicable.
I'd suggest not having any kind of future rental agreement. Seems like only problems.

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I don't get the land. It is effectively a really cheap ground lease.

ETA: I am proposing they sell me the cabin for $1.00. The future rental agreement is to cover any additional funds they might think they should get.

CanyonAg77 said:

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Good on you for trying to do it right.

I still think the cheapest in the long run would be to haul it off and bring in new. Pencil out both options, and that should tell you whether the current building has any value.

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The difference for me between rehabbing this and bringing in a new building would be somewhere around $4,000 more if I purchased a new building. I personally think there is a big difference in the value for me and the value for them. If I walk away from it, they are on the hook and it becomes an albatross that will almost never get dealt with. It's been sitting there without a rehab plan for two years and rehabbing it would consume the entire cabin fund, so I'm really doing them a huge favor. If they did rehab it and get it back into inventory, the break-even point would be 9 or 10 years. Break even for demo and a new building would be 13-15 years.

Unfortunately, 22 people get a vote in how this goes down.

Get the mold issue taken care of. Concrobium or Bora Care w/ Mold Care will take care of the mold.

Get a new roof installed & fix any damage that was affected by the leak. Replace any insulation that may need to be replaced from water damage. Maybe re-paint the walls give it new life.

Throw up some hardy plank siding on the outside to further protect from the elements.

Hit up Lowes and Home Depot damaged wood cart in their lumber departments. I picked up enough 2x4 and 2x6 to build a 5x5 blind frame for less than $10. If I couldn't make it functional on the cheap, I would spray the mold, clear it out and turn it into a storage shed for things that don't matter if critters run around on them.

Many years ago I was on the board of directors of a church when someone wanted to "donate" an old building to us.

Everybody else was crapping their pants happy. It's free!!! They're giving it to us for free!!!

I warned them it was free like a free puppy, and would cost us plenty.

Nobody listened.

About 50K later we had our "free" building usable... and it was still an old ratty building.




So I guess I'm saying the start over option sounds best to me.

You're gonna end up spending over $1,000 easy to fix the mold issue. It's going to be much more than just the eternal siding.

sam callahan said:

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Your proposal sounds logical and fair.

In my experience, neither of those factors carry much weight in dealing with committee decisions.

Identify who the leader is. Make sure he is convinced and then watch the rest follow along.

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The chairman happens to be my best friend. He's already helping me grease the wheels to make it happen. The wildcard is what I find when I drop the ceiling and open the walls. He already said the board agreed to spend the $2500 they have earmarked for this cabin on improving my road access, which I would have had to pay for.

My only fear about the committee vote is there will inevitably be some people who can't see past it being given away and won't accept that this is me helping the organization escape from a boondoggle.

95% of our maintenance and improvements are done with volunteer labor and donated money, which means a project that should take 2-3 months takes 2-3 years or longer.

Hi future neighbor. Spook some deer over to my property.

That hovel is next door to y'all's place!?

CivilEng08 said:

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Hi future neighbor. Spook some deer over to my property.

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Are you actually in the area? If so, I'll stop by and say howdy some time.

OnlyForNow said:

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That hovel is next door to y'all's place!?

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You should the Louisiana swamp shack-looking thing near this one. I'll post a pic after I go back out there.

But seriously on the potential for mold.

You should strip some interior stuff off and see what it looks like on the backside.

Or figure out how to take an ambient air sample and send it off for testing

OnlyForNow said:

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But seriously on the potential for mold.

You should strip some interior stuff off and see what it looks like on the backside.

Or figure out how to take an ambient air sample and send it off for testing

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The plan is to take the entire interior down to the studs to see what the frame looks like. If the frame is structurally sound or requires minimal repair, we will move forward with removing the exterior siding (LP Smart Side) and replacing it either with the same material or sheathing it with OSB and putting Hardie Plank over that, and then replace the roof and decking.

Essentially the only thing that will be original to the building is the frame and floor. Every part of the frame will be treated with a mold inhibitor when it gets exposed. The flooring has already been pulled up and we looked underneath the building at the subfloor. The floor has no visible signs of mold or damage of any kind.

Moldy insulation can smell like sour milk, and that's what the strong odor is.

Gotcha, I was under the impression the interior was going to be mostly left alone.

I'd strip the outside off completely as well, double layering siding sounds like a bad idea and great place for more mold/moisture to end up.

I'm more concerned with the flooding to the ceiling in the last 20-25 years. Is this a good idea in general? Is the risk of this idea worth it?

OnlyForNow said:

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But seriously on the potential for mold.

You should strip some interior stuff off and see what it looks like on the backside.

Or figure out how to take an ambient air sample and send it off for testing

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That structure is a portable building intended to store stuff like lawnmowers and bicycles. You may be able to remediate the mold in the short term, but in the long run, you will always be fighting it because that it a storage shed not a place intended for habitation. You would probably find it easier to deal with mold in a shipping container than you would in that structure.

To be clear, replacing the building is not off the table yet.

That being said, I think "easier" is a relative term. It will no doubt save me some trouble, like hiring a roofer and spending time replacing the exterior, but I've looked around at options in the area for a replacement building of the same size and every single one of them will require some amount of modification to get it to what I want, unless I order a custom build, which adds time and money. If I bought a spec building, I would still need to add additional windows and install real doors inside the barn doors. The cost would be significantly higher with a new building.

However, I do quite like the idea of taking it completely down to the frame and rebuilding it for a variety of reasons, not the least of which gets to the point of those on here who are adamant that it was never intended for habitation. The frame is built with 16" OC studs, as opposed to 24", so it's already closer to residential code than a Tuff Shed. It also makes the addition of more windows much easier. I can rehab it to residential specifications.

If I had no experience in construction I would probably run as far away as possible, but I grew up in a contracting family and I've done some big projects before:

I converted my enclosed porch to a laundry room, mudroom, and pantry, which involved completely replacing all three walls in situ.


(pardon the messy hurricane debris)

I also designed and built this from the ground up:

Is the base frame, or floor frame rotted or in good condition? If it's gone you should have a large bonfire and replace the whole building. If not siding roof etc are easily replaced. You could easily do it in a weekend.

Floor is in excellent condition. Wall framing is TBD until demo happens in March.

Hopefully seeing Jacob and Lauren today, I'm sure they say hi

Yes. A little south of there. My dad is out more than I am, but I need to schedule a few days to go cut and burn at some point before it gets hot and droughty.

Many of the more modern style portable buildings don't have the barn doors and have regular doors. My metal building cabin that isn't that far off from the one you are talking about has a regular door for access and no barn doors or roll up doors.

With respect to needing to modify a new (to you) one brought in - you are doing that anyway. Having remodeled more than my fair share of things I have found it universally to be true that starting from a blank slate is infinitely easier, faster and cheaper than trying to modify what is already in place.

Beyond it being easier, faster and cheaper in the grand scheme of things (also with a newer building you won't have to worry about exterior siding, roofing, etc. - those aren't insignificant costs) you get to put things where you want them and know how things like wiring and plumbing are ran. To me, that is invaluable information to have 10 years from now when you are needing to make a repair.

With my cabin (since this is texags and we must be 100% accurate to 100% degree 100% of the time, I'll admit it is a storage shed that I'm turning into a cabin) I bought it used and had it delivered to the lease and set/leveled. All in for that part was $3500 - metal roof, metal walls, set 36" off the ground. It had crappy OSB interior walls and electrical ran, and instead of trying to force a square peg into a round hole and make work what was there - I decided to strip the OSB off the walls and run new electrical. Moved the breaker box to a location that fit my design better, new plugs, new wire, etc. I now exactly where everything is, how it was ran, what it was ran with and what circuits they are on. And I'm 1000% happier than just making what was there work. It took marginally more time and maybe $400 in materials, and it was worth every bit of it.

There are a thousand folks that will build them on site as well to whatever specs you want. We've had 2 cabins built at the deer lease by the same group of guys - both were shells built how the owner wanted them built. Done inside of a day as well.