# How much time do I need to build a haunt?



## Hobz (Oct 14, 2013)

I've got a tentative location for my first haunt. It's a piece of property just across the river from town, on the main road, with 20+ acres of woods and 12 acres suitable for parking. I've been trying to get the owners to let me use it for the last 3 years and they finally said they'd be interested for 2016 . . . IF they don't sell it by then. They put it on the market last week. Because the area is unsuitable for farming or building (it floods pretty much every spring) there is a decent chance that it will still be on the market this time next year.

As much as I'd love to, I don't have the finances to buy the land right now. My question to you is, how far in advance would I need the owners to commit in order to reasonably expect to be able to create a haunted forest for next season? With no back-up location other than my garage, I can't really invest any significant money until I've got something concrete, but is there anything I can be doing to prepare in the meantime?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

We usually start putting walls up the first week in August. Many late nights after work, weekends, a week of vacation and lots of help from others during the week when their schedule permits. Will you need more time? Can you do it in less time? Maybe.

Unfortunately it depends. Probably not the answer you wanted, but there are things to consider before being able to guesstimate how long it will take.


What are your plans for the haunt?
Are you going to need to build structures? How many? How big?
How much help do you have with the labor?
How much of what you need for your haunt do you already have? 
Can you start building sets now and store it until you get access to the property?


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

A lot depends upon what you plan on having in your haunt, the size of the haunt, etc. For many, getting their plans together for a complete haunt, recruiting labor, training the staff, getting permits, insurance, etc. is a job in itself. Haunts are hard work, often fun, but hard work just the same. They consume massive amounts of your time, patience, money, and garage space. If you are looking at this being an annual event, then you need to find permanent or long term storage for props and supplies. Props can take up huge amounts of space. Plan wisely.


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## iowachap (Aug 19, 2015)

Grin is there ever enough time? It always seems that no matter how early you start, there are always things you have on a list to do, and then things get added to the list, and then bam some other great thought comes up and added.. then there is unpredictable weather that could hinder days planned to do projects for outdoors you need to have indoor projects ready to work on when that happens if possible. But as the above comments state way difficult to say, but I can say this the more time and the earlier you can do things the better. 

You might think of areas and what you want to do in those areas, then you can plan to do projects for an area at your house, say I want to have a zombie hoard area, you know you will need zombies, so if not live actors you will need some static zombie props you could start to get cheap clothes together to jack them up and stain them etc, find cheap masks or heads make your own etc.. 

Think of things you know you will need, like will you need power cords, buy a few each month cuz trying to buy a bunch of power cords all at once can bust a bank real fast. Lights, speakers if any, little things like this that you can buy throughout the year and have on hand and ready. 

zip ties
hot glue
etc


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I would be hesitant to move forward on such a project if the property has been put on the market already. Folks will buy land for reasons other than farming and building (my boss is an example - he bought a piece of property so he could hunt and camp there). If the owner gets a viable offer, he is extremely unlikely to turn it down and it wouldn't be wise for him to do so, either. That would leave you high and dry, which is not where you want to be once you start investing time and money.


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## Hobz (Oct 14, 2013)

In response to some of questions/ points you've brought up so far . . .

I'm starting from square one. Other than some small piles of scrap lumber that I've started to accumulate, I don't really have any of the supplies, props, or equipment that I'll need for the haunt. I do plan on doing some shopping in the next week or two when Halloween supplies start getting marked down for end-of-season clearance.

I plan on keeping the haunt entirely outdoors and won't be building many structures. There will be a few sets but nothing that visitors would walk through. Any structures that I did need would be built in my garage and then reassemble when the time came.

I have plenty of storage. In addition to my four stall garage, I have access to warehouse space if needed.

My biggest concern time-wise is the recruitment and training of staff and getting all of the proper permits and insurance. I have no experience in those areas and don't know how long it takes. I'm sure you _have_ to have a location before you can apply for permits or get insurance. Recruiting also seems like it'd be next to impossible when you can't even say for certain that you will be operational for Halloween.

If anyone does buy the land, it'll probably be for hunting and camping like RoxyBlue said. If we got to the point where I'd decided to go forward with the haunt, I'd ask the owner to sign a short-term lease so that I'd have some guarantee it would sell and leave me high and dry.

Best case scenario (other than me finding a forgotten $100,000 in my coat pocket from last year) would be for the land selling quickly. I'd try to convince the new owner to let me haunt it. Whether they agreed or not, I'd be able to take the next step in either direction with some certainty.


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## joker (Sep 25, 2007)

For insurance quotes give Ken a call over at Donat Insurance. Rates may change some between now and then, but he should be able to give you a ballpark figure so you'll have an idea of how much $$$ you'll need. You'll need to fill out their quote request form available on their website.

Permits will vary depending on your location (i.e. city). I'm sure if you told them what and where you wanted to do the haunt they could tell you what you would need to do. Try to find out as much info as you can about any local ordinances.

Some other things to consider:
Are utilities established on the property? 
Will you be providing rest rooms?
Nearest fire hydrant? 
Are you or is someone else going to have concessions available?

Not sure about Iowa, but in Texas we have to pay sales tax on each ticket sold, so you may want to contact the State Comptroller to find out about that as well.


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## Hobz (Oct 14, 2013)

joker said:


> Some other things to consider:
> Are utilities established on the property?
> Will you be providing rest rooms?
> Nearest fire hydrant?
> Are you or is someone else going to have concessions available?


1) The property has electricity but no water. 
2) Restrooms would be provided in the form of port-a-potties.
3) No idea where the nearest fire hydrant is.
4) The property has a concession stand area already set up. We would probably sell beverages at least. There are also several food trucks in town that I'm sure would be willing to come out and set up if asked.


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## Hobz (Oct 14, 2013)

Given the uncertainty, I've decided to just scrap the idea of using this location. I'd wanted to start with an outdoor haunt because it seemed like it would require less of an initial investment and have fewer fire-prevention demands than an indoor, but I'm switching gears and looking for other venues. I've already contacted and am waiting for a reply from a few locations about using their property. I've also started talking to the city about possibly doing a home haunt in my garage next year if I can't find anyplace else.


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