Where a budget van conversion is worth spending more, and where it isn’t

A budget van conversion fit-out costs $3,000 to $8,000, according to Rising Rides, against $25,000 or more for a professional one. Most of that gap buys finish and labour, not function. Two areas are worth paying for. Almost everything else you can cut.

What does a budget van conversion actually cost?

Between $3,000 and $8,000 for the fit-out if you do the work yourself, $10,000 to $25,000 for a semi-professional build, and $25,000 to $60,000 or more if a workshop does the lot, on Rising Rides figures. Those numbers exclude the van. Add a base vehicle and the same source puts an all-up budget DIY camper at $28,000 to $38,000.

A second estimate sits higher. KT Insurance puts a basic DIY conversion with a bed platform, storage and simple electronics at $5,000 to $15,000, a mid-range build with solar, cabinetry, a fridge and plumbing at $15,000 to $40,000, and a high-end build with lithium batteries and custom cabinetry at $40,000 to more than $100,000. The useful thing about that spread is what sets it. Your budget is decided by what you fit, not by which van you start with.

The item-by-item split from Rising Rides shows where the gap between a cheap build and an expensive one actually opens up.

Item	Budget build	Professional build
Insulation	$200 to $400	$1,000 to $2,500
Flooring and wall lining	$300 to $700	$1,500 to $4,000
Bed platform	$200 to $600	$1,500 to $5,000
Electrical system	$500 to $1,500	$5,000 to $15,000
Solar	$400 to $800	$2,000 to $6,000
Water system	$100 to $400	$1,500 to $4,000

Which parts are worth buying new?

Anything that carries current or has to work at two in the morning: the battery, the charger, the cabling, the solar controller and the fridge. KT Insurance names electrical systems, solar panels, lithium battery setups, plumbing and cabinetry materials as the biggest cost drivers in a conversion, and says buying secondhand parts through forums and marketplaces is a legitimate way to cut costs, provided electrical, gas and structural work is done to a high standard and by qualified people where the law requires it.

Buying new here is cheaper than it sounds. A budget electrical system and solar setup together cost $900 to $2,300 on Rising Rides numbers, roughly a seventh of the $7,000 to $21,000 the same two items can run in a professional fit-out. The parts are not what makes the expensive version expensive.

The battery is where budget builders overreach. Rising Rides puts lithium at $500 to $1,200 per 100Ah against $150 to $300 per 100Ah for AGM, so a lithium bank can be the single largest line in a build meant to cost $5,000. Start with AGM, run the van for a season, and find out what you actually draw first. A used lithium battery is the one secondhand bargain to walk past, because you cannot see how the previous owner charged it.

The fridge is the other item to buy new. A budget 12V unit runs $300 to $600 against $700 to $1,200 for a mid-range one, per Rising Rides, and a compressor of unknown age is the part most likely to flatten your battery overnight without warning.

Where can you save without regretting it?

Insulation, lining, the bed and the kitchen, because the cheap version does the same job as the expensive one and is easy to redo. Rising Rides prices budget insulation at $200 to $400 and flooring and wall lining at $300 to $700, against $1,000 to $2,500 and $1,500 to $4,000 respectively in a professional build. Almost all of that difference is labour and the finish you see, not thermal performance.

The bed follows the same logic. A budget platform costs $200 to $600 and a professionally built one $1,500 to $5,000, on Rising Rides figures, and a sheet of ply on a timber frame sleeps exactly as well as joinery. Budget kitchens run $300 to $800 against $1,500 to $4,000 for a mid-range one, and a slide-out box with a portable stove costs almost nothing to replace when the layout turns out wrong.

Heating is the easiest thing to defer. Rising Rides lists it as a $0 to $400 item on a budget build and $1,000 to $4,000 on a professional one, which tells you most cheap builds simply do without it. Secondhand is fine for drawers, a roof rack, a water tank, curtains and cabinetry carcasses, all of which you can inspect before you hand over money.

One cheap item should not be skipped. Ventilation is the smallest line in the whole build at $80 to $200 on Rising Rides numbers, and a van without airflow grows condensation and mould in a single wet week.

Which cheap corners come back to bite you?

Gas, insurance and weight are the three that cost more later than they save now. Gas is not a grey area anywhere in Australia. The Queensland Petroleum and Gas Inspectorate allows only a licensed authorised gas installer to install, remove, alter, repair, service, test or certify a gas system in a recreational vehicle, and requires the installation to comply with the 2020 edition of AS/NZS 5601.2. Its guidance, last updated in March 2023, reports that a high percentage of recreational vehicle gas systems are found non-compliant when inspected.

Building Commission NSW sets the same bar, requiring an endorsed LP gasfitting contractor’s licence or supervisor’s certificate, with unqualified helpers working only under immediate supervision. Its May 2023 guidance requires fully annealed copper piping, bans press-fit connections, sets a minimum 25mm clearance between gas pipework and electrical services, and requires gas refrigerators to sit in sealed recesses so combustion products stay out of the living space. Poorly supported pipework is among the failures it finds most often in audits.

There is a resale sting too. Under section 113 of Queensland’s Petroleum and Gas Regulation, the gas system in a recreational vehicle must be inspected and certified before the vehicle is sold. An uncertifiable DIY gas job becomes a bill at exactly the moment you want money out of the van. A portable stove used outside sidesteps the whole question. Queensland also warns against building an annexe around gas appliances, because it can trap carbon monoxide and push combustion products from flue terminals back inside.

Insurance is the second trap. KT Insurance warns that a custom conversion may need specialist cover accounting for the value of modifications and fitted accessories beyond what the base van is worth. A standard policy on a stripped work van will not replace $6,000 of fit-out. Ring your insurer before you start cutting holes, not after.

Weight is the third. Every sheet of ply, litre of water and kilogram of battery eats into the payload the van was built with, and a loaded camper over its GVM is both illegal and a claim your insurer can decline. Run the finished van across a public weighbridge with your gear and full tanks aboard, then compare the reading with the GVM on the compliance plate. Do it before you add the second water tank.

So where should the first dollars go?

Power first, then sleep, then everything else. On Rising Rides numbers, a build that puts $900 to $2,300 into new electrics and solar, a few hundred into insulation, lining and a ply bed, and under $200 into a roof vent covers the things that are hard to change later, and still lands inside the $3,000 to $8,000 budget band.

Best for a first build you plan to use for weekends and short trips, where the layout is still a guess and everything cheap is easy to rip out. If you are living in the van full time, the money moves toward battery capacity and a proper water system. Either way, keep gas with a licensed gasfitter and tell your insurer what you have built. Those two are the corners that cost you, and neither is where the savings were.