Custom Fabrication, Welding and Build Outs

Because the part does not exist, or because the one that exists does not fit. Both are extremely common on vehicles that came out of low-volume production or that have been modified before.

Coaches from manufacturers that no longer exist have no parts channel at all. Trailers built to a customer order have dimensions that appear in no catalog. A van that has already had a shelving system installed has holes, brackets and reinforcement that a bolt-in kit was never designed around. And plenty of owners simply need something specific: a carrier for a particular generator, a rack that clears a particular awning, a bumper that accommodates a spare of a nonstandard diameter.

Fabricating with the vehicle in the bay is what makes those parts fit. A bracket built to measured dimensions and then carried to the vehicle needs rework roughly every time, because measurements do not capture the flange that is 3 degrees off, the fastener head that intrudes, or the wiring loom running exactly where the mounting foot wants to sit. A bracket tacked in position, checked for clearance through the full range of whatever it interacts with, then pulled and finish welded, fits.

Material choice is deliberate. Steel where strength and repairability matter and weight is acceptable. Aluminum where weight matters and the joint design suits it. Everything that stays outdoors in coastal Southern California air gets a finish coating, because bare steel here does not stay bare for long.

A sequence, and the order is not negotiable if the finished vehicle is going to work.

Insulation and sound deadening go in first, before anything covers the walls. This is the stage owners are most tempted to skip and the one that determines whether the vehicle is usable in summer. Insulation and sound deadening runs $750 to $4,500 across 4 to 20 hours.

Then structure and penetrations: roof reinforcement if an array or a rack is going up, window and vent cutouts, floor structure. Cutting a hole in a van roof after the ceiling is finished is a very different job from cutting it before.

Then electrical rough-in. Cable runs, battery location, inverter and charger mounting, shore inlet, and the circuit layout all get established while the walls are open. Van 12-volt systems with auxiliary battery and inverter run $750 to $7,500 across 4 to 30 hours.

Then plumbing rough-in where fitted, then wall and ceiling finish, then cabinetry and furniture, then trim and final electrical.

Full custom build out for camper conversion, office or specialty use runs $5,000 to $80,000 across 40 to 400 hours. Trailer interior build out and conversion runs $2,500 to $50,000 across 20 to 250 hours. Rates and bands are posted on the price sheet, and the cabinetry side overlaps with interior remodeling.

Anything that carries load has to be tied into structure, not into skin. That single rule accounts for most of the failed aftermarket installations that come through here.

A hitch receiver carries tongue weight plus dynamic load and it belongs on the frame, through a mounting pattern that distributes into the rails rather than concentrating at two bolts. A bumper that carries a spare tire and a generator is a cantilever with a heavy mass at the end of it, and the fatigue loading on its mounts is far higher than the static weight suggests. A roof rack carrying a solar array and a storage box loads the roof structure in a vehicle whose roof was designed to support nothing but itself.

Which is why roof reinforcement is a real line item at $750 to $6,500 across 4 to 30 hours. Adding structure under a van roof before mounting an array is a fraction of the cost of dealing with a sagging roof afterward.

Welding on any structural member is performed by certified technicians in shop under frame and structural repair, which carries the $750 to $20,000 band. Joint design matters as much as weld quality: a weld across a frame flange creates a stress riser at the worst possible place, and a properly designed attachment distributes load into the web rather than concentrating it at the flange edge.

• Custom Bumpers and Racks: bumpers, tire carriers, ladder and roof racks at $400 to $3,500.
• Custom Storage Solutions: shelving, racking, drawer systems, underbody boxes and tie-downs at $750 to $7,500.
• Custom Modifications: conversions, build outs and specialty modifications at $5,000 to $80,000.
• Welding and Metal Fabrication: structural and non structural welding, brackets, guards and repairs at $750 to $20,000.

Sibling lines under additional services are detailing and reconditioning and inspection and evaluation. Fabrication also feeds directly into collision repair, where a bracket or panel for a discontinued model has to be made rather than ordered, and into commercial work: lift gates at $1,500 to $8,500, service bodies at $2,500 to $15,000, headache racks at $750 to $3,500. Jobs over $2,000 take a 50 percent deposit at authorization. We stand behind our work.