# Class B Motorhome Repair for Factory Built Vans > Class B motorhome repair covers factory built camper vans, meaning a recognized coach builder bought a bare chassis and sold a complete motorhome on it. Work runs about $1,500 for a roof seam and seal job to past $40,000 for structural and interior rebuilds. The advantage over a homemade conversion is that the factory documented what is behind the panel. | | | | --- | --- | | Business | OCRV Center | | Service area | Westminster, Orange County, Southern California | | Facility | 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887 | | Phone | (949) 799-3387 | | Email | info@ocrvcenter.com | | Typical range | $1,500 to $40,000+ | | Source | https://ocrv.online/vehicles/class-b-camper-van/ | Class B motorhome repair is its own discipline, and Westminster owners often find that neither a van body shop nor a big rig RV shop is set up for it. A Class B is a complete motorhome built and sold by an OEM coach manufacturer on a purchased van chassis, with a build plate and factory documentation. That last part matters more than anything else on this page, because it tells us what is inside the wall before we open it. ## Factory Built, Not Converted, and Why That Changes Everything Three van pages on this site cover three genuinely different vehicles, and owners mix them up constantly. This page is about a factory built Class B: an OEM coach manufacturer purchased a bare chassis, built a complete motorhome on it in a production line, and sold it as one unit with a coach build plate. Our Sprinter page covers the chassis platform itself, whether it is carrying pipe or a bed. Our conversion page covers upfitter and owner builds. The practical difference is documentation and repeatability. On a factory Class B, the wiring runs where the build sheet says it runs. The roof penetrations are in the same place on every unit of that model year. The furniture is a production module with a part number. When we open a wall, we usually know what is behind it, and that removes hours of exploratory labor from the estimate. It also means parts. A production coach builder generally still supplies or can identify the roof cap, the bath module, the window and the trim. That is a very different sourcing conversation than a one off build where the only person who knows the answer is whoever held the drill. - Factory build plate and a documented coach VIN - Production wiring and plumbing routing we can look up - Modular furniture and bath units with part numbers - Consistent roof penetration locations by model year - Parts path through the coach builder rather than fabrication ## The Fiberglass High Top and Its Bonded Seam Most Class B coaches gain their standing height from a molded fiberglass roof cap bonded and fastened to the cut steel roof of the van. That seam is the defining maintenance point of the vehicle. Steel and fiberglass expand at different rates, the van body flexes over every driveway, and the sealant along that joint is doing real work every day of its life. When that seam lets go, water does not drip into the middle of the van. It runs down inside the cavity between the fiberglass and the steel, then appears at a completely different spot, often above a window or at the rear corner. Chasing the stain instead of the seam is the classic mistake, and we see plenty of vans that have been resealed three times at the wrong place. Repair means stripping the old sealant back to clean substrate, inspecting the mechanical fasteners and the bond, replacing any corroded steel at the cut edge, and re bedding the joint properly. Budget $1,500 to $4,500 for a straightforward reseal, more if the steel lip has begun to rust through. ## Penetrations the Coach Builder Cut Every hole in the shell was put there on purpose by the builder: the roof vent or fan, the air conditioner if the model carries one, the refrigerator vent, the shore power inlet, the water fill, the awning rail fasteners and the exterior lights. Each one is a sealed assembly with a service life shorter than the van itself, and each one is a place where our repair has to restore a water path, not just a surface. On a factory unit these are in predictable locations, which lets us inspect all of them in one pass. We pull the trim, check the sealant condition, meter the surrounding panel for moisture, and reseal what is due rather than waiting for the stain. That inspection is part of our $150 systems assessment, which is credited against the repair. - Roof fan and vent flanges, the most common early leak - Air conditioner gasket if the model carries a rooftop unit - Refrigerator sidewall vent and its upper flashing - Shore power inlet and city water fill housings - Awning rail fasteners along the upper sidewall ## Wet Bath Modules and the Floor Under Them A Class B wet bath is a molded one piece module dropped into the van before the walls closed up. It is durable, but the drain fitting, the shower pan flange and the door seal all pass water toward the floor, and the floor in that area is usually plywood over the steel van pan. Water that gets under the module sits on steel and does exactly what you would expect. Symptoms show up as a soft floor at the bath threshold, a bath door that suddenly does not latch square, or a rusty smell in the rear of the van. Pulling the module is a substantial job because the furniture around it was installed after it, so the repair sequence is usually bath out, floor section repaired or replaced, steel treated, module reset and resealed. That job runs roughly $3,500 to $11,000 depending on how much floor and how much steel is involved. Catching it at the threshold stage rather than the rusty pan stage cuts it by more than half. ## Tight Packaging and What It Costs in Labor The single biggest driver of Class B labor is access. A twenty two foot van holds a bed, a galley, a bath, a house electrical system, water tanks, a heater and often an air conditioner. Nothing is reachable without moving something else. A dent in a rear quarter that would be a four hour repair on a cargo van becomes a twelve hour repair on a Class B because the bed platform, the water tank and the interior panel all have to come out to reach the backside. We tell owners this at the estimate rather than as a supplement, because it is predictable. When we quote a body repair on a Class B, the interior removal and reinstallation hours are in the number from the start. A worked example: a parking lot strike on a rear quarter, no water intrusion, typically runs 14 to 20 hours of body and paint at $210 for $2,940 to $4,200, plus 4 to 6 hours of interior removal and reinstallation, plus $500 to $1,400 in panel, trim and refinish materials. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is the difference between a Class B and a camper van conversion? A Class B is a complete motorhome built by an OEM coach manufacturer on a chassis they purchased, produced on a line, and sold with a coach build plate. A conversion is an upfitter or owner build: someone bought a van and built the interior afterward. The vehicles can look similar in a parking lot and repair completely differently. On a Class B we can usually look up where the wiring runs and order a module by part number. On a conversion, nobody documented the build, so we survey it before quoting. We run separate pages for each because the work genuinely differs. ### Water is coming in near my rear window. Is the window leaking? Possibly, but on a high top Class B the more likely source is the seam where the fiberglass roof cap meets the cut steel van roof. Water enters at the seam, runs down inside the cavity between fiberglass and steel, and shows up wherever gravity and a bit of framing send it, which is often a window or a rear corner. Resealing the window will not stop it. We find the actual entry with a water test and a moisture map, then repair the seam properly: strip the old sealant, inspect the fasteners and the steel lip for corrosion, and re bed the joint. That work commonly runs $1,500 to $4,500. ### How much does Class B motorhome repair cost? Roughly $1,500 to past $40,000. Roof seam resealing and penetration service is at the low end. Body repair on a quarter or sliding door with paint typically runs $3,000 to $7,500, higher than a bare cargo van because the interior has to come out to reach the backside. A wet bath and floor repair is commonly $3,500 to $11,000. Structural collision work with interior rebuild is where the top of the range lives. Body and paint is $210 per hour, mechanical is $260, and any authorized repair over $2,000 carries a 50 percent deposit. ### Why does interior work drive up a simple dent repair? Access. On a Class B, almost every exterior panel has cabinetry, a bed platform, a water tank, a wiring run or the bath on the other side of it. Proper body repair needs the backside of the panel: to push, to weld, to corrosion treat, and to confirm nothing behind it was damaged. That means removing interior components and putting them back correctly, including reconnecting whatever house wiring and plumbing crossed the area. We put those hours in the original estimate because they are predictable, typically four to eight hours added to the body time depending on which panel took the hit. ### Can you service the house electrical and plumbing, or only body work? Both. A Class B carries a house battery bank, a converter or inverter, a shore power inlet, a twelve volt distribution panel, a water pump, fresh and waste tanks and usually a heater. We diagnose and repair those systems at the $260 per hour mechanical rate, with diagnostic time at $285 per hour credited against an authorized repair. The $150 systems assessment covers a full walk of the house systems and the sealed penetrations, and it is also credited. Where a factory component is discontinued, we will tell you what current equivalent fits the space and the load rather than chasing an obsolete part number. ### My floor feels soft at the bathroom door. How bad is that? It usually means water has been under the bath module long enough to soften the plywood, and on most Class B builds that plywood sits on the steel van pan. So the question is whether the steel underneath has started to corrode. We pull the threshold trim and meter the area first. If it is caught early, the repair is a floor section and a reseal of the module drain and pan flange, in the $3,500 to $6,000 range. If the pan has rust through, the module and surrounding furniture come out, the steel is repaired and treated, and the job commonly reaches $8,000 to $11,000. ### Do I have to take it to the dealer for coach parts? Not usually. Factory Class B coach builders generally still supply or can identify roof caps, bath modules, windows, furniture and trim, and we order them the same way a dealer would. Where we do send you to a dealer is chassis specific work that requires manufacturer programming or a proprietary procedure, and we will say that up front rather than billing you diagnostic time to prove it. Parts carry 100 percent markup at or under $100 and 35 percent over $100, with 7.75 percent California tax on parts and materials but not on labor. ### How long will a Class B be in the shop? A roof seam reseal or a penetration service pass is typically two to five business days. A body panel repair with paint and the interior removal it requires runs one to three weeks. A wet bath and floor repair is two to four weeks, longer if the steel pan needs section work. Collision repair with structural involvement is four weeks and up, driven mostly by parts. If we are waiting on a long lead coach part and the van is drivable, we document, order and give it back to you rather than parking it in our yard, then bring it in when the material arrives. --- OCRV Center performs all work in shop at 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. Serving Westminster and Orange County. Call (949) 799-3387 or email info@ocrvcenter.com. Posted labor rates are published at https://ocrv.online/prices/.