Long cabin holiday parks are becoming an increasingly popular way of maximising tourism opportunities in scenic areas. Instead of advertising your holiday park as a camping and caravanning destination, you can attract a different type of tourist by offering log cabins as holiday accommodation, too. But do log cabin developments make enough money to justify the expense of building them, or is it a waste of time and money?
The Right Place to Build
In order for a log cabin development to be successful, you need to be in the right location. Tourists tend to gravitate towards scenic areas of outstanding beauty, the seaside, or within easy travelling distance of a historic town or city. So if you are in the middle of an industrial area and the only points of interest on the horizon are power stations and a landfill site, you may need to reconsider your business plan.
Starting From Scratch
As long as there is enough of interest in the local area to keep visitors happy, building a log cabin development could be a viable business opportunity. However, you will need to already own or be willing to buy a suitable plot of land for the development. Consider how much room you will need and have plans drawn up to see what your options are. And don’t forget, you will also need planning permission before any building work can go ahead, which is never a straightforward process.
What Kind of Resident Are You Hoping to Attract?
Log cabin developments can either cater for those looking for a short-term holiday let, or those who are after a second home or a permanent residence. In the case of a holiday let, the costs of building and furnishing the log cabins will be down to you. These costs will be paid for over time, assuming you enjoy a steady stream of visitors to your holiday park. If you decide to market your log cabins as a second home, or even a permanent residence, you can do the building work in stages. Many developers sell their properties “off plan”, so the new owner chooses the type of log cabin they want, hands over the money, and the building work goes ahead.
Landscaping Work
Building a few log cabins is not going to be enough to attract people to your development. You will need to have roads and services in place from the very beginning, plus landscaping of the area needs to be considered. Whether you are marketing your log cabins as temporary holiday lets or properties for sale, each log cabin will need privacy from the others, so remember that trees, shrubs and hedges all take time to grow and factor this in to your plans. Grass is pretty straightforward and will grow pretty quickly, in fact, the green lush grass around the cabin will actually compliment it, this is where you will need to hire a lawn service like that is offered by General Services Corporation to keep up with maintenance as nobody likes brown, dead grass!
Do People Really Want to Stay in Log Cabin Holiday Lets?
Log cabins offer the perfect middle ground between a holiday cottage and a tent. Tents and caravans are ok when the weather is hot and sunny, but when the weather is awful, it is far nicer to stay in a warm and spacious log cabin instead. Larger log cabins are plenty big enough to sleep large families and have all the facilities you would expect to find in a holiday cottage, but for a cheaper price.
Do Log Cabins Make Popular Second Homes?
The appeal of a log cabin as a second home is often the price. You get a lot more for your money if you buy a log cabin. Cottages and houses are more expensive and it is likely that you will need to spend time decorating and improving the building after purchase. Log cabins are often extremely well kitted out and require very little maintenance other than wood treatment to preserve the timber. And if your log cabin development is in a very attractive area with lots of amenities, demand is likely to be high.