The Costs Of Building A Cable Park – A Comprehensive Introduction

Financing and building a cable park is no trivial task, but we’ve pulled it off successfully with customers around the world. We want to share our unique insights into obvious and not so obvious cost factors to give you a better perspective on the costs of building a cable park.

When it comes to the costs of a cable park it first of course depends on whether or not you’re building one yourself or plan to buy an existing business. The latter is hard to put a price tag on, because the estimate depends very much on circumstances. If you intend to build a new cable park yourself, one of the key factors is of course what type of cable system you choose and the size of the wakeboarding park. But we’ll get to that in a minute – let’s first take a detour into how property factors into the overall costs of a cable park.

Circumstances, condition and location of your property impact the costs

Naturally, you will need a body of water for the construction of your own cable system. The property you already own or plan to purchase should therefore ideally have a suitable lake or is adjacent to a body of water that you can use for your operation. If that’s not the case, digging an artificial lake is just as viable, but of course increases the overall costs of the project. In some cases digging your own lake might even be the better alternative, since size, orientation, layout and depth can be set and shaped based on needs and architecture of the wakepark.

The soil and soil conditions on your property as well as the specifics of natural bodies of water, such as flow speed and depth, have a further impact on planning, construction and price of your cable park. Soil conditions have an impact on the cable anchor foundations while water depth directly impacts the anchoring and required height of cable towers.

On top of that it’s important to remember that unique circumstances raise the complexity of the construction process, directly impacting the cost of the building phase. If, for example, the water depths are vastly different across the body of water or if the tidal range or flow speeds are high, planning and construction has to accommodate that. Those unique solutions come at a cost, equal to the additional complexity of the overall project.

Property location and accessibility also play a role in the final price calculations. Our cable system is exclusively manufactured in Germany. The ease of shipping to your country from our facilities as well as getting the parts delivered to the actual construction site factor directly into the cost calculations for your cable park.

Cable system type and size influence cable park costs

Sesitec cable systems have been around for a long time and have proven themselves to be a reliable and cost-efficient cable system for small operations. If the budget is tight, Sesitec might be worth considering, especially if you do not plan for a multi-attraction Wakepark with plenty of attractions and adjacent businesses. In that case we recommend that you go premium. Wakeparx is a scalable premium cable system for large commercial endeavors. It’s suitable for a wider range of circumstances, deeper water levels and allows for a higher capacity of simultaneous guests on the cable. Wakeboard enthusiasts, casual riders as well as amateurs have attested to a smoother, and more accessible experience on Wakeparx cable systems.

At the same time, it is praised by professional wakeboarders for its wide range of possibilities for adrenaline-pumping stunts and more air time. From a commercial point of view, Wakeparx cable systems allow for a higher capacity on site, but also on the cable itself and are therefore ideally suited for large-scale operations with additional attractions, leisure activities and guest accommodation.

Complete list of cost factors for planning and building a wakepark

Good planning and being aware of your options pays off

Something that we always encourage our customers to do is to look for the possibility of synergies near and around your property. Especially if you’re still on the hunt for a suitable property, knowing about what synergistic possibilities might benefit operation and construction. A good example is the additional construction of a solar farm to reduce the running costs of your business and potentially create additional revenue. But that’s just one example of many, although a very prominent one, since high energy prices are a key concern for running a wakepark.

The actual costs of planning and building your own cable park depend on a multitude of separate and intertwined factors which is why it is near impossible to give a reliable estimate that would hold true for customers around the globe. Over the years, we’ve developed a process that lets us quickly evaluate your current situation and provide you with crucial information and services as well as a rough idea on what costs to expect. Contact us straight away or use our Cable Creator, a free online tool that enables you to virtually place a cable system on any property.

Anne Eaton
Director of Sales & Project Management