Hourly Rate for UK Sailmakers Query

[savageseadog]

Anyone know or guess at what hourly Rate Sailmakers charge?

 

[xyachtdave]

Last 3 digits of your phone number x your age?

 

[Minerva]

Anyone know or guess at what hourly Rate Sailmakers charge?

well the spanner mechanic at my local garage is £75p/h and sail making is I suspect both more skilled and more niche. So £150p/h as a starter?

That’s also not considering if they have an expensive lease in a posh marina to also pay.

 

[Daydream believer]

A Philipino-Hyde employed, 20% off at the end of season- one, A North Sails- take the wee wee-- one, A chinese sailmakers- cheap at any price- one, or a Uk based - if you can find him- one, Or a bloke in a shed with a sewing machine- who will split the VAT for cash-- one?

 

[Sandy]

Anyone know or guess at what hourly Rate Sailmakers charge?

I get a price for a job. How long he takes is his business.

 

[savageseadog]

I get a price for a job. How long he takes is his business.

Embedded in the price is an estimate of the time required for the job muliplied by an hourly rate. This is why I suggested a guess (estimate) of what the hourly might be.

 

[KompetentKrew]

In August 2019 Kemp sails charged me £57 per hour (£0.95 per minute) to replace the sacrificial UV strip on a genoa.

They also repaired my mainsail cover - there is no hourly rate on the invoice because "it took too long" and they waived some of the cost.

 

[PhillM]

From what I can gather the independent shipwrights base on about £30-£40 and hour IF you are prepared to pay for the actual hours used to deliver the projects If you want a fixed price the double that as so often the jobs take much longer than they would appear to on first glance.

Rigging companies seem to be about £60 to £90 an hour. Mechanics about the same. Although these tend to offer fixed price for a job.

Prices all from recent estimates. Solent based

 

[savageseadog]

I'm told that the upmarket car marque, main dealer hourly rate, is around £200.

 

[Tranona]

In August 2019 Kemp sails charged me £57 per hour (£0.95 per minute) to replace the sacrificial UV strip on a genoa.

They also repaired my mainsail cover - there is no hourly rate on the invoice because "it took too long" and they waived some of the cost.

Exactly my experience - except now the minute rate has increased a bit. I have had a lot of custom work done by Kemp recently and the quotes are always based on minutes of labour, but the final price may not always be an arithmetic calculation!

 

[Daydream believer]

Embedded in the price is an estimate of the time required for the job muliplied by an hourly rate. This is why I suggested a guess (estimate) of what the hourly might be.

So conversely, you might just as well have asked how long it would take to do a certain job. Which, many on the forum tend to indicate first, when a job has been done & they get the bill.

 

[lustyd]

Of course, you're actually paying for hours of experience, not hours of work. As such an hourly rate that's halved may mean the job takes twice as long. I was once billed at £1200 for 15 minutes, 12 of which were drinking coffee in reception and 3 were logging in and changing a "yes" to a "no" in a config file. It might seem excessive, but knowing which config file to open took years of experience, and the customer had already wasted several months and tens of thousands of pounds on other consultants who didn't know which file to open.

I do, however, think the OP has a reasonable approach. Knowing what a good tradesperson's time is worth allows a guestimate of cost of the job and in this industry I think often makes the total price seem more reasonable. A sprayhood that needs two people for several days is going to cost thousands before you add materials, for instance.

 

[Mudisox]

£60 an hour +vat.

mind you I worked for one boss[tax lawyer] who charged by the 10 secs.

 

[wilkinsonsails]

Close ?£55 plus VT first hour, reducing to £48 there after.

 

[Resolution]

Don't forget travel time, if the sailmaker has to collect / deliver stuff to your boat.

 

[WoodyP]

The actual sailmaker will get minimum rates.

 

[savageseadog]

One issue for Sailmakers would be the cost of premises. Sails can be very large and to work effectively premises would be sizeable. UK commercial rents and rates are expensive, especially near the coast.
For equipment, a small operation would need to invest £20-£30K at a guess.

 

[gordmac]

Which is next to nothing compared to the premises of the £200/hr lot mentioned earlier!