AEO Answer · Campgrounds & RV Resorts
How Are Utility Hookups Engineered at Luxury RV Resorts?
By Jeremy Mills, CEO & Founder, Apex Grid Engineering — USAF Veteran. · Updated 2026-09-15
Luxury RV resort hookups consolidate 50-amp power, potable water with backflow protection, gravity sewer, and data at one connection point per pad — each utility independently protected and valved, with submetering where the business model needs it — so guests connect in minutes and every system performs at full occupancy.
I'm Jeremy Mills, CEO & Founder of Apex Grid Engineering and a U.S. Air Force veteran. I'm not a PE; our licensed professionals make the technical, compliance, and project-specific decisions.
Coordinating four trades at one point
The hookup cluster only works if the trades are sequenced. Underground electrical conduit, water mains, and sewer laterals all share the same corridor behind the pads, and I design the trench cross-section so each utility has its required separation and depth. Sewer goes in first at its fixed gravity elevations, then water, then electrical conduit, with the understanding that nobody moves the sewer to suit the electrician. Above ground, I consolidate the pedestal, water riser, and sewer inlet into a compact cluster at the rear corner of the pad — close enough for short hoses and cords, separated enough that a leaking sewer inlet never floods an electrical enclosure.
Designing for the morning rush
Resort utilities get designed for the peak, not the average. The electrical peak is a hot evening with every air conditioner running; the water peak is morning shower hour; the sewer peak follows both. I model these peaks against the site mix and season, because a resort that fills with big rigs in July behaves nothing like the same park at half occupancy in spring. Diversity factors keep the infrastructure economical without undersizing it, and I add capacity headroom for the sites the owner will want to add in phase two. The data network gets the same treatment: I design for simultaneous evening streaming across the park, not a handful of email checkers.
Checklist for a resort-grade hookup
A luxury hookup is judged by the guest's first ten minutes. I verify every site's power under load, water pressure at peak-hour simulation, sewer flow by test, and data throughput at the pad before handover. Every shutoff gets labeled to its site, every cleanout mapped, and the maintenance team walks the system with the as-builts. Spare capacity in conduits and panelboards is confirmed, not assumed. Here is the checklist I hand RV resort developers.
- Consolidate power, water, sewer, and data at one connection point per pad with proper separations
- Standardize on 50-amp service with individual breakers, grounding, and surge protection
- Protect every water connection with its own shutoff and backflow device, sized for morning peak demand
- Set sewer inlet elevations during civil design so gravity drainage works before paving
- Decide submetering up front and rough in meter space even when billing starts later
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