RV DEALERS
Built for the Tough Repairs
Nomadic Camper & RV Repair has carved out a niche in water damage, restoration and complex RV service.
By Ronnie Wendt
Photos courtesy of Nomadic Camper & RV Repair
When Luke Underwood launched Nomadic Camper & RV Repair in 2021, his equipment list was short.
“I started with $75 in tools and a $500 2001 Jeep Cherokee,” he says. “That was my service vehicle.”
Five years later, the Christiansburg, Virginia, company looks considerably different. Nomadic operates from a 9,100-square-foot, four-bay facility and employs four technicians, a service adviser, a full-time parts employee and an operations manager, in addition to Underwood and his wife, Madison.
The company’s services have also grown to include plumbing and electrical repairs, major water-damage reconstruction, collision work, custom fabrication and FlexArmor roof installations, in addition to basic RV repairs and mobile service.
Madison & Luke Underwood and the Nomadic Camper & RV Repair team
COVID-19 Launch
Underwood was working as a tool-and-die machinist when the pandemic shut down the shop where he was employed. He quickly moved to a friend’s company, driving a rollback truck.
But at home, he and Madison were busy installing a solar system they’d built onto a teardrop camper and fixing an electrical issue in a fifth wheel.
Underwood says that working on those systems rekindled an interest he had developed years earlier through his father, an aircraft mechanic. Growing up around avionics technicians instilled in him an interest in electronics and electrical troubleshooting.
As Underwood worked on his own campers, an idea took shape.
“I really liked it, so I started doing a little training and thought, ‘I could take this knowledge and start a business,’” he recalls. “I made a listing on Google, and the next day I started getting calls. It’s been wildfire ever since.”
A nearby pipeline project provided an immediate customer base. Within a week of the Google listing, Underwood’s workdays stretched from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
It was a mobile-only business until cold weather prompted a shift to indoor operations. Underwood rented a bay at a local auto auction and operated there for a year before renting a building across the road. He says that move opened the door to more complicated work.
Luke Underwood
Building Around Problem-Solving
Underwood attributes Nomadic’s success to his machining experience.
“Being a machinist helped me manufacture parts and solve problems,” he says. “In the machining world, if we had issues, we either made the part or we repaired it.”
That mindset matters, because manufacturers often discontinue ceiling panels, cabinetry and other components used in older RVs, making exact matches difficult to find. A climate-controlled shop allows Nomadic to fabricate parts as needed.
The large facility also enables the company to specialize in water-damage repair, collision work and restoration. These specialties have led customers to bring Nomadic increasingly challenging projects, including the restoration of a 1946 Rolling Homes Invader — a now-vintage RV with aluminum framing built by American Aircraft Products/Rolling Homes.
The RV arrived with rot, water damage, failing floors and aging systems. Nomadic stripped it down, rebuilt the floor and frame, replaced insulation and updated the electrical and plumbing while retaining the exterior shell and vintage metal cabinets.
“Restoration projects are definitely challenging, and I just love challenges,” Underwood says.
The goal was to preserve the camper’s vintage appearance while rebuilding what lay beneath it. Nomadic kept the customer involved throughout the restoration, mocking up portions of the project, walking through the proposed work and securing approval before moving forward.
“This project opened the door to many more restoration projects,” he says. “Now customers send me pictures of their restored RVs traveling around the country.”
Finding a Specialty in Water Damage
Water intrusion has become one of Nomadic’s largest specialties.
Underwood says owners don’t always understand the maintenance required to keep water out of their RVs. Even roofing systems marketed as long-lasting may still require owners to inspect and maintain sealant around penetrations and seams.
Nomadic’s website describes water damage as one of the most common and expensive problems RV owners face and lists soft floors, delamination, water stains, failing sealant, sagging ceilings and rot around windows, doors and roof openings among the warning signs.
The shop’s ability to rebuild damaged walls and roofs eventually led Underwood to add FlexArmor, a spray-applied, seamless polyurea roofing system for RVs.
“I knew I had to do it,” he says. “I knew that it was going to give my customers more peace of mind.”
Becoming an installer required a significant investment, but Underwood saw the service as an extension of the company’s philosophy: Don’t simply repair the damage; address what caused it.
Invest in the People Doing the Work
As Nomadic’s capabilities expand, so does its need for technicians who can handle complex repairs.
When recruiting, the Underwoods look for transferable skills and problem-solvers. Knowing how to use a multimeter is a strong start. Carpentry experience, craftsmanship and attention to detail are also sought-after skills.
During the interviews, Underwood sells prospective technicians on the purpose behind the work.
“These are vehicles that people are taking to spend time with their families and create memories,” Underwood says. “I tell them their work will make a difference.”
The variety of the work helps with recruiting, too. Underwood explains that no two units or problems are exactly alike.
Still, he says finding the right people remains one of his biggest challenges. Underwood explains that the labor shortage and complexity of the work make it hard to find a technician that is the perfect fit.
As a result, Underwood invests in internal training and apprenticeships to grow the technicians the company needs.
He and Madison traveled to Tennessee for in-person Dometic training and completed training through the RV Technical Institute and other industry suppliers and manufacturers. They then built a training area inside their shop for manufacturers to provide instruction on-site. Here, Underwood holds lunch-and-learn sessions for employees every Wednesday and provides ongoing product and process training.
Sell the Experience
An exemplary customer experience keeps customers coming back, according to Underwood.
“We sell a better experience,” he says. “In the service world, just like in the automotive industry, it’s not about your service rates. It’s about the experience and the speed of service you provide.”
Nomadic greets customers when they enter, offers a waiting area with snacks, beverages, Wi-Fi and charging stations, and performs a complimentary 15-minute inspection on every RV.
A customer who arrives with a water heater problem, for example, may leave knowing the technician also spotted deteriorating sealant or aging, dry-rotted tires. Underwood pays technicians for that inspection rather than billing the customer.
“Our goal is to create transparency and show that we’re looking out for you by looking for safety concerns coming down the road,” he says.
Underwood credits that approach with generating repeat customers and word-of-mouth referrals, including customers who travel from other states for repairs.
Nomadic supplements that word of mouth with Google and Facebook advertising, social media videos, campground map ads and old-school marketing, including flyers and yard signs. The company also puts its name into the community by sponsoring school sports T-shirts and providing branded cups and tumblers to local diners.
Underwood says Nomadic also participates in back-to-school supply drives and Christmas programs, sponsors charity golf events and volunteer fire departments, and once cleared its shop for a weekend to host a Sleep in Heavenly Peace event that built 200 beds.
“I didn’t create Nomadic just to have some income,” Underwood says. “I created Nomadic to have a family atmosphere and give back to others.”
Still Growing
Underwood says he isn’t finished with what he started.
His goal is to double Nomadic’s physical capacity, ideally by adding another facility nearby. He wants to separate water damage and FlexArmor work from general service work, while keeping the operations close enough to feed work back and forth. He also wants to expand the company’s mobile service capabilities.
And despite the company’s name, RVs no longer define the limits of what comes through the company’s doors. Nomadic also works on food trucks, utility and equipment trailers and livestock trailers, and has completed work for local fire and rescue departments and, more recently, the U.S. Army.
Nomadic has come a long way from a $500 Jeep Cherokee and $75 worth of tools. But the principle behind the business has not changed. Someone comes into the shop with a problem, and Underwood and his team figure out how to solve it.
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