Rossmonster Vans Does Things the ‘Rocky Mountain Way’

Rossmonster’s Baja truck campers are built on three-quarter ton or one-ton trucks that are designed to offer off-road and off-grid capabilities. (Courtesy photos)

Craftsman van and truck camper builder Rossmonster Vans occupies a unique niche between mass produced RV makers and ultra-luxury custom builders. The company is looking to roll out a dealer network for its truck campers in 2023.

Rossmonster Vans co-founders Luke Farney (left) and Ross Williamson are pictured in the company’s 30,000-square-foot manufacturing operation in Longmont, Colo.

LONGMONT, Colo. – In the Rocky Mountain West, RV manufacturer Rossmonster Vans is finding success by pursuing its own unique course.

Founded in 2015 as a factory-direct maker of camper vans, the business brought together several friends with backgrounds in custom woodworking, carpentry and engineering who shared a passion for the outdoors, according to company co-owner Luke Farney.

“Craftsmanship” is a word Farney uses repeatedly when describing the manufacturer. It’s a word reflected in the company name, which was taken from a combination of co-founder Ross Williamson’s first name, and the Swedish word “Monster,” which he says loosely translates as “to design and create beautifully and simply.”

“Ross’s grandfather, who was of Swedish descent, was instrumental in getting him into woodworking, and when the time came to form the business, it all kind of aligned and the name Monster had the right ethos and story for us,” he says.

Rossmonster’s camper vans can be built on Sprinter, Transit or Promaster chassis, depending upon the desire of customers. The vans feature custom woodwork, with features that can include walnut slab door cabinetry, birch butcher block countertops, pine tongue and groove ceilings, and walnut five-panel cabinetry.

Located Outside of the RV-Centric Midwest

There are a mix of advantages and disadvantages of being located outside of the Midwest, the traditional hub for RV manufacturing, Farney acknowledges.

“It (Colorado) is where we were living when we started the business and it’s still where we love to live,” he says. “With the easy access to the outdoors and all of the recreating we do in our free time, it’s all right here at our doorstep. It’s a huge part of who we are.”

It’s likely that being located in a more manufacturing-centric state, with lower costs and easier access to suppliers, would have some advantages, he notes.

Still, Farney says Rossmonster benefits from having a highly trained workforce that is committed to living in Centennial State and he adds that the company can tap into a large pool of potential customers who are geared toward outdoor activities.

“Being here in Colorado, we do benefit from a strong local market,” he says. “The people here in our backyard are far more likely to purchase a vehicle from us than some (company) out of the Midwest. So, I think that plays to our advantage.

“Obviously, things out of Colorado are more expensive. And the cost of transport is increasing,” he adds. “But we have done a lot to build a very efficient production line, and so, through our process design, we’re able to stay competitive as far as price.”

Farney adds that he and Williamson do not see Rossmonster—which recently expanded into the custom truck camper business with the launch of its Baja model—as being in competition with traditional manufacturers of mass-produced RVs. Instead, he says the company generally occupies a space between those mass-produced manufacturers and the ultra-luxury custom manufacturers that sell their RVs for $600,000 or much more.

An Endless Level of Customization Possible

So, how much do Rossmonster RVs sell for?

The short answer, Farney says, is it depends upon the level of customization the customer wants. Many of the Rossmonster vans pictured on the company website are built on a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis, but Farney says the company also makes use of the Transit and Promaster chassis.

On the company website, Rossmonster highlights a multitude of van models, with names such as The Ajax, The Santa Fe, The Palisade and The Big Sur. Farney says those various featured models are shown to give customers a sense of the company’s capabilities for designs, systems and custom features. Not including the cost of the vehicle itself, Farney says the price for camper vans tend to start at about $60,000 and go up from there.

The company equips its models with appliances and accessories from many top RV suppliers, but Farney says where Rossmonster sets itself apart is with its tailored layouts and custom woodwork, with features that can include walnut slab door cabinetry, birch butcher block countertops, pine tongue and groove ceilings, and walnut five-panel cabinetry.

“We’ve built hundreds of vehicles at this point, and on the camper van front, no two builds have ever really been the same,” he says.

Much like vans that Rossmonster builds, the Baja is not specific to a particular truck chassis. The company says the Baja can be built on any 2019 or newer three-quarter ton or larger chassis.

Unlike traditional slide-in truck campers, Farney notes that the truck camper and vehicle are fully integrated in Baja models. Those models are designed for overland travel and they can be four-season capable. Like the company’s van models, its truck campers offer tailored layouts and custom woodwork.

Not including the cost of the vehicle, Farney says the company’s truck campers generally start at about $150,000 and go up from there.

“Our fit and finish of the vehicles is the same across the board, but where you start spending more money is in your battery systems, in your suspension upgrades, in your off-road packages, and in the kind of infrastructure that happens behind the scenes that largely is geared toward getting further off the grid and staying out longer,” he says, referring to both the company’s truck campers and its camper vans.

In terms of “typical” Rossmonster customers, Farney says the company sees all kinds of buyers, but in general they tend to be couples that are empty nesters or younger “digital nomads” who are working remotely and living out of their RVs full time.

In terms of how they are using their RVs, “all of our vehicles are obviously capable of sitting in an RV park, but they’re all built to be more off-grid minded,” he says.

For customers who may not be sure if a Rossmonster RV is right for them, Farney notes that the company has its own in-house rental business, allowing customers to road test and camp in one of its RVs.

“I think this is now our fifth season of rentals, and the inception for that was a ‘try-before-you-buy’ model. We want to make sure people know what they are getting, because it is a big investment,” he says. “So, the more information people have upfront the better. We’ve converted quite a few people from rentals to build clients.”

“Rent one of our vans to try van life on for size, and if you love it, we’ll put two nights of your rental toward your build price when you commit to building with us,” the company touts on its website.

Humble Beginnings; Big Ambitions Moving Forward

Recently, Rossmonster moved into a 130,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Longmont, a community of about 100,000 people that’s located along the Interstate 25 corridor about 40 miles north of Denver. The company employs about 20 people and Farney says the business is building about 60 RVs a year.

Considering that Williamson and Farney practically built the company’s first camper van themselves, and then sold it on Craigslist, the company has grown substantially in size and scope from its very humble beginnings.

Still, Farney and Williamson are not resting on their laurels. He says Rossmonster is in the process of joining the RV Industry Association as a manufacturer member and is getting the Baja listed with JD Powers as the company looks to create a dealer network for its Baja truck campers in 2023 (while continuing to operate the camper van business as a factory-direct operation).

“Making sure the rollout is smooth and that we’re taking care of our dealers and our customers is important,” he says, “so we’re taking a cautious, deliberate approach in the way we grow here.”

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/rossmonster-vans-does-things-the-rocky-mountain-way/