By Alison Huth
When almost your entire family is involved in one aspect or another of a business, it can either be really good or a nuisance. Talking with Nicholas Trajcevski from Urban Caravans gave me a whole new view on the value of taking RV Masters throughout the whole widespread family business.
Nicholas’s grandfather, Con, started his caravan manufacturing business in 1970. Con had his family working for and with him, including Steve, Nicholas’s father. This business closed in 1989 due to the ‘recession we had to have’. However, Steve continued working in a caravan upholstery business called New Age Upholstery. This business is still operating today and is still part of the Urban Family!
In 2012, it was time to start building caravans again, and Urban Caravans was created. One of the high points was that the company used TIG Welding for their Aluminum frames from the beginning. One of the benefits of changing to aluminium frames was that they were rot-free.
Over the years, Steve has made major changes to their construction methods. In 2019, Urban moved into new production facilities, and again in 2021. One of the reasons was the need for a bigger factory to build other brands of caravans for companies that did not have their own factory. In 2025, they made another move into their awesome state-of-the-art facility.
Urban Caravans has been constantly on the lookout for new ideas that improve their construction methods to produce a caravan that gives its owners the quality they were looking for. This is still part of the system today. Products change, customers’ needs and wants change, and legal requirements change too. It can be very hard for some companies to keep up with all of these changes.
RV Masters was introduced by Caravan Industry Victoria in 2025 and involves a very deep look into all aspects of each individual Manufacturer. The programme fitted in with Steve’s constant search for improvements, new ideas, and maintaining compliance with all the rules and regulations that apply to the manufacturing industry.
The initial approach to RV Masters was to undertake a ‘fine-tooth-comb’ look at every aspect of the manufacturing process.
In this family, it spread further afield, and even New Age Upholstery was given the thorough investigation that Urban also went through. Plus, the Urban Dealers in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia are all part of the Urban Family.
Once the investigation into the RV Masters programme was completed, Urban reacted to the fine-tooth combing by making any changes and improvements needed throughout the family businesses. This extended compliance meant a great deal to Nicholas and everyone involved because they had a strong base to run the entire family business from.
One of the processes that they highlight is “Glue It, Screw It, Seal It.” This is how their systems ensure the strength of the internal products. Once the frame has been built, they install the furniture and prepare to lock it into place. They glue it to the frame, screw it in, and then lock it in. By the end of this process, the internal furniture is solidly in place and ready to deal with the travel they focus on – Off Road and Off Grid.
So many of their processes have been developed to tackle Off Road and Off Grid travel. Each one has been put through the RV Masters compliance and inspection. Nicholas told me that renewing the RV Masters programme every year is beneficial for the company. External assessors undertake the annual review, which gives the Urban Family an ongoing ability to review external changes that affect internal processes.
The Family is extremely proud of the quality of their caravans. They really do appreciate being so fully self-sufficient with their extended family involvement and how this gives them far greater ability to have oversight on everything and quality control.
Nicholas told me that they are looking at selling caravans in the USA. They were told that it would take 6 to 8 months to deal with the compliance issues. However, after just 3 weeks, because of the RV Masters programme, they had completed the process.
RV Masters is a major part of Urban Caravans’ high construction processes and has benefited the other Family businesses that work with Urban.
