The budget, one record at a time.

A useful budget starts with honest entries

Walter’s $1,500 vehicle story is a good beginning, but it is not a conversion budget. Materials, mechanical work, specialist labor, hardware and later changes belong to different parts of the record.

This notebook separates the amounts we can support from the costs still being reconstructed. It also distinguishes a quoted or invoiced amount from evidence that a merchant marked a job paid. There is deliberately no grand total for an incomplete build ledger.

The estate-sale starting point

Michael paid $3,000 for the van and recovered about $1,500 by selling some of the tools that came with it. He kept other tools for personal use. The resulting effective vehicle acquisition cost was roughly $1,500.

Both the tool proceeds and the effective figure are approximate owner recollections. The retained tools have not been assigned a value, and conversion, registration, repair and running costs are excluded.

The amounts recovered so far

These entries mix different scopes and evidence types. Adding them together would not produce a verified complete campervan cost. They are historical amounts, not present-day quotations.

What the Mexico paint price includes

The repair order from Garage Los Panchos in Tijuana is dated June 26, 2019 and lists a $2,600 total, written as “DLS.” A matching photographed copy is stamped “PAGADO,” meaning paid.

The package includes general bodywork and paint, Raptor coating on both bumpers and running boards, matte-black trim work, and window removal, resealing and related plastic replacement. There is no separate paint-only line amount.

The deposit and later installment notes belong within the package total; they are not additional $600 and $1,000 jobs to add again. Small extra handwritten notes have uncertain inclusion and are not being added automatically. The final payment date, method and bank settlement have not been independently established.

The maintenance record lists June 29 for the repaint, while the workshop photo record continues into July. Those dates are preserved as different pieces of evidence rather than compressed into an invented completion day.

What still belongs in the full budget

The open ledger needs more than the headline purchases. Electrical cable, protection, terminals and mounting hardware can sit on different orders from the panels or inverter. Cabinet hardware, sealants, trim and finishing supplies may be spread over many small receipts.

Mechanical upkeep also needs its own boundary. A repair to keep a 1996 van usable is a real ownership expense, but it should not quietly be presented as the cost of building a cabinet or installing solar.

• Match purchases to the photographed installed component where possible.
• Separate specialist labor from material-only costs.
• Keep shipping, taxes, returns and mixed-order allocations visible.
• Distinguish original construction from repairs and later revisions.
• Preserve unknown values instead of filling gaps with a current retail price.

Share the useful amount, keep the paperwork private

The public notebook uses a transcription of the relevant amount and scope. It does not expose the original receipts, personal contact details, order identifiers, vehicle identifiers or account links.

That makes the record useful to another builder without turning the guide into a copy of Michael’s private files. A future complete budget will need a final reconciliation of the remaining entries before it earns a total.