Last week I posted a video walking two different properties on opposite sides of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
One in Cosby, Tennessee – 10 acres on a mountain about an hour east of Knoxville. One in Bryson City, North Carolina – 22 acres with views of the Smoky Mountains and near a beautiful lake.
Both were stunning. Both had existing infrastructure. Both had motivated sellers. And both had real problems that could quietly kill the business before it starts.
That’s what land evaluation actually looks like.
Today’s email details some of the framework I use when I walk a property.
1. Usable acres matter more than total acres
The Cosby property I saw is 10 acres – which may sound like plenty (and it usually is). But although the lower section along the creek is gorgeous and developable, everything else climbs steeply up the hillside. When I counted actual buildable sites, I got to maybe 13-15, pushing hard.
That’s short of the 20-unit threshold I need to see before a Ferncrest makes financial sense.
Why 20 units? Because even if you start a glampground with fewer than that (as we normally do), not being able to grow and get to 20 or more glamping sites is limiting your potential. When you don’t have enough scale, you can’t afford to hire the right people and you become handcuffed to your property. In short: 20 is when things turn into a real and meaningful business. Buying land that can’t support that is often shortsighted.
And although Bryson City was 22 acres with the same challenge, the extra acreage means there is more flexibility with the places we can place sites.
Always ask: not how big is this property – but how much of it can I actually build on in phase one?
2. Existing infrastructure is valuable – but only if it can scale
Both properties had utilities already in the ground, which is real value. It can shave 12-18 months and significant capital off your development timeline versus raw land.
But in Bryson City, the spring-fed water source caps the property at 15 units without drilling a new well. Hit 20 units – the minimum for a sustainable operation – and you’re adding a well and new septic. That cost will now need to be in our pro forma as well as something we confirm before pulling the trigger on the purchase.
If a property is big enough to expand but can’t add more utilities (either due to limitations with the property or with the municipality), you may not want to move forward with it.
Existing infrastructure can be a value multiplier when looking to build a glampground, but not a guarantee of success.
3. Lack of scale is a big reason small glampgrounds fail
The Cosby owner built a genuinely nice operation – four geodesic domes, two Airstreams, a bell tent, beautiful creek setting. But it’s listed at $725,000 because it can’t generate enough revenue to service the debt he took on to build it.
That’s not a marketing problem. That’s a unit economics problem.
Under 6 units you may not have enough revenue to cover debt, operations, and payroll. Or rather, you may have to work 60 hours a week to avoid paying others to do things for you (aka: you’ve bought yourself a job).
The Ferncrest model targets 20-30 units for a reason – that’s where you can afford a manager, a cleaning crew, and step out of the day-to-day.
Before you buy, map your realistic unit count at buildout. If you can’t see a credible path to 20, the land may not support a standalone glamping business.
4. Conversions beat raw land
Both of these opportunities are conversion opportunities, which are currently my favorite type of project largely because conversions compress the timeline dramatically when the fundamentals work.
And time is money.
The Smoky Mountains check every demand box. The question with both sites I visited in the video is whether the land can support the scale the business needs.
That answer comes from walking the property and counting realistic sites – not from photos on a listing page.
I’m going deep on all of this next Wednesday.
Join me Live on April 15 at 1:00 PM EST for:
How to Find the Perfect Land for a Glampground.
I’ll review the full framework – when you should move forward and the red flags that should kill a deal.
Already own land? Bring it to the Q&A.
Until next time… Happy Glamping!
Brian
