Completed RV costs

I haven't found a thread in the forums which address total costs of completed RV's. I'm curious about the total costs I know that some are going to be really high and some are going to be almost unbelievably low. I'm interested in seeing the price range of some completed 9's. This could aid in some of my budgeting and planning.

Go to vans website, use their cost estimator. Add 10% and you should come close.

RV-9 build cost

Your right about everybody's costing differing amounts. Like everything in life this is all about choices and sticking to a plan as best you can to meet your needs, desires, and budget. Here is a rough look at cost for my 9A. When I first went to the factory and ordered the tail kit I got a list of builders from Van's in my area and contacted a local 9 builder to see if I could come over and learn from him and help out until my stuff arrived. About an hour into our visit he sat down on a stool in his shop and said I'll make you a deal on everything that you see if you'll just get it out of my garage. After confirming with Van's that I could assume his kit and builder number with no glitches from either them or the FAA I cancelled my order and bought him out. This consisted of the tail feathers already completed, and the wing kit which had the ribs cleco'd between the spar and rear spar. Also included were his tools which was the entire Avery kit, his power tools, stools, down to and including framed pictures of RV's in flight that were hanging on his walls. For all of this I traded him $3,500 and was in the RV business within a day. (Note, he has since retired and is well on his way to finishing a RV-7 now)

Airframe $12,500'ish
misc tools $300
engine $16,500 AeroSport 0-320 D1A
prop $5,200 Hartzell C/S New from Van's
Avionics $7,000'ish New from Pacific Coast
Instruments $2,000'ish Vacumn DG/horizon/Van's engine guages/EI fuel
Upholstory $1600 Becky Orndorff Including cover/tonneua/leather
Paint $6,000'ish Call Grady, pay anything he asks!!!


So do the math, It is right around $60K. There are nicer panels, etc. to be had, but personally I'd put the bulk of the money into the plane and forget the video games inside. With a used engine and a fixed pitch prop you could cut $10K off imediately. Put in a single radio, no autopilot, use a GPS 296, basic instruments, take off at least another $5K. Paint it yourself or polish it and it will be about the prettiest airplane at any fly inn and take off another $5K or so. You could easily build a plane that will serve you well and bring looks of desire and envy for $40K without shopping to hard for bargins. If you do everything right I'd bet you could get one in the air for $30K or so that would still be an RV and every bit the equal of the others. In fact it would probably be lighter and out perform most of the "Loaded" airplanes.

Good luck,

Good post, Bryan. It's nice to see someone encourage "budget" building.

Speedmerchant: I've found that this forum (for all the great things that it is) is definitely not representative of RV builders in general, so take any numbers you get here with a grain of salt. If you look at some of the price posts in the past you will see a lot of $70K-80K+ figures. Look also at the old "what do you do" thread and you'll find that every other builder seems to be an IT person who by nature probably likes LOTS of avionics and for whom $$ spent probably isn't a big issue. I used to get a little depressed whenever this topic came up until one Saturday I went to the airport and just happened to find 3 RVs (two 6's and one 7) finished within the last two years that all cost less than $45K and two were under $35K. All three looked fantastic. (Not coincidentally, I think, none of these builders surfed the internet, so they -- and their $ figures -- don't tend to figure in the averages you see on forums like this). Like Bryan said, though, a lot has to do with engine and avionics. The "use Van's estimator and add 10%" sounds on target as well.

I'm not yet finished, and haven't bought my engine, so take my thoughts as you will. I'm aiming under $45-50K. Which it is probably depends on the engine I find. Good luck.

Rv Total cost.

We've gone through this before but here we go.
RV-4 Day-Night VFR
Partial time 0-320
wood prop
Vetterman exhaust
EIS 4000
Dynon D100
Garmin GPS 196
Garmin GTX-320 Transponder
Trio EZ-Pilot
Icom A5 Radio
Flightcom FC-403 Intercom
GBI seats
Ray Allen grips
Electric trim
Electric flaps

With careful purchases approx 32,000.00 even with a 9 it could come in pretty close to this.
It all depends what your goals are, like Van's says keep it light and simple.

This thread might help answer your question.

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=1519&page=2&pp=10&highlight=bare


John