Inside a HubDub build: 16 weeks from spec to handover
What sixteen weeks in a small Surrey workshop actually looks like, week by week, from the first spec meeting to the morning the keys change hands.
Co-founder of HubDub Campers. Writes most of what you read here. Spends the rest of his time in the Chertsey workshop.
More about HubDubCustom campervan builders use the word "bespoke" loosely. Some take a stock layout, change a few colours, and call it custom. Some take a brief from scratch, design it on paper, and build it from raw oak. The two are very different products that often cost the same money.
This piece walks through what a HubDub build actually looks like, week by week. Use it as a checklist when you are comparing us against any other UK builder. The questions it answers are the questions a serious buyer should be asking before they put down a deposit.
Weeks 1 and 2: spec
Every build begins with two visits to the workshop in the first fortnight. The first is a workshop tour and a long conversation about how the van will actually be used. Two adults or four. Weekend trips or full-time. Mountain bikes, surfboards, a dog, none of the above. Every layout decision flows from these answers.
The second visit is a sit-down inside our reference build to check bed lengths, standing height, and how the door swings into the kitchen. Owners leave with a one-page brief and an itemised quote. No deposit yet.
Weeks 3 to 5: design
Three iterations of the layout, drawn in Vectorworks. Most owners arrive with a clear picture in their head and leave the design phase with a different one. That is the point. The third sketch is almost always the right one.
By the end of week five we have a signed-off floor plan, an electrical schematic, and a confirmed materials list. The base vehicle is on order. The build slot is locked.
Week 6: strip-out and sound deadening
Around twelve kilograms of dynamat across the floor, doors, wheel arches, and roof. Thirty millimetres of recycled cotton insulation in every cavity. It is ten quiet hours of work that nobody will ever see, and it makes more difference to how the finished van feels to live in than anything else we do.
Weeks 7 to 9: first fix
First fix is everything that has to be in place before cabinetry can go in: electrical conduit, plumbing runs, gas drop-out vents, water tanks, heating ducts, the structural plywood subfloor.
A standard HubDub spec at this stage: a 90L freshwater tank under the bed, a 60L grey tank slung beneath, a Webasto or Eberspacher diesel heater behind the driver's seat, and the conduit runs for the lithium bank that will land in week eight.
Weeks 10 to 13: cabinetry
Quartersawn European oak, four coats of hardwax oil, hand-finished joints. We do not pre-machine cabinetry off-site. Every piece is cut and finished in the same room as the van it will sit in. This is slower and more expensive than the alternative. It is also why our cabinetry never has the small alignment errors that catch the eye six months later.
Week 14: soft furnishings
British wool from a small mill in West Yorkshire. Cushions and blackout blinds made up locally. A bespoke mattress on a slat base sized to the bed. The colour palette is signed off by the owner from a fan deck during the design phase, so by the time wool arrives in week fourteen there are no surprises.
Weeks 15 and 16: snagging and handover
Three days of quality assurance: every system tested under load, every joint inspected, every drawer cycled, every light tested at full and dimmed, every drain tested, every door opened and closed enough times to be sure.
Half a day of owner training: how the heating works, how to read the battery monitor, what the fuse panel does, how to winterise the water system, where the spare keys live.
An overnight in the camper before keys are released. The owner stays in the van on our driveway, makes breakfast, charges a phone, sleeps. The next morning we walk through any final questions over a coffee. Then they drive home.
What can go wrong
Builds rarely run perfectly to schedule. The most common slippages we see are supplier delays on bonded glass and brass hardware, both of which can push a week if a shipment is late. Our policy is to order long-lead items in week one rather than week six, which catches most of it.
When something does slip, we tell the owner the same week. Sixteen weeks of build means sixteen weekly updates with photographs. Owners who want to visit are welcome at any stage.
Common questions
Sixteen weeks from spec sign-off to handover, plus a six- to nine-month waiting list.
Yes. We encourage owners to visit at week six (after first fix), week ten (after cabinetry begins), and week fourteen (during soft furnishings). Many owners come more often.
We respond to warranty calls within one working day. Most problems are diagnosed by phone or video call. If we cannot fix it remotely we collect the van and return it within seven days.
Please do. Most decisions are easier with two voices in the room.
