How to find marine contractors?

[ncoif]

Hello,

I’m a new boat owner, with a boat currently in Southampton, in the UK. What would be the best way to find reputable marine contractors to help me with the initial refit of my boat? Is there some websites that would reference marine contractors? Is it mostly word of mouth? How do you find/choose marine contractors?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Tranona]

Almost impossible to give a clear answer. There are several yards who do the complete job, for example Berthons in Lymington who will project manage and do the work with their own staff, But most refit work is carried out by specialist subcontractors, or a project manager, often a surveyor who deal with the subcontractors for you. Some subcontractors have specialist skills, for example electrics and electronics, or structural work or interior refitting, others are individuals that may well take on a range of work.

I am carrying out a relatively small scale refit which I am project managing myself, doing some of the work myself and finding my own contractors. So far I have employed a general shipwright for mainly GRP work, a specialist in wooden boat repairs, a dealer for engine and bow thruster installation, blasting contractor for the hull and a separate contractor for epoxy coating and antifoul, rigger, stainless steel fabricator, machine shop for sterngear, upholsterer and sailmaker/canvas workers. Some on a fixed price for the job, some on a day rate.

Finding them is a mixture of advertising, mainly larger firms or googling for specific services but mostly word of mouth and recommendation. Once you start if you are based in a decent sized yard you quickly get into the local network of contractors. Biggest challenge is then tying them down to when they can do the work, agreeing a price and often co-ordinating their work with that of other contractors.

Some idea of the size and type of boat and the work required might lead to more specific suggestions.

 

[jac]

Would echo Tranona’s points

Also beer in mind that in Southampton you are pretty much ideally placed to access specialists.

My suggestion would be to speak to the surveyor you used before buying, agreeing the priority and seeing who they / the yard where currently based recommend.

You can then check any recommendations out - even if just asking on here - lots of us Solent based so have probably used most trades.

 

[laika]

Word of mouth is definitely the best approach but when I bought my first boat I didn't know anyone else with a boat to ask so I went with a combination of approaches: the local people in the yard your boat is in (they have no travel costs and they're easy to badger), the main dealer for something you own like an engine, or asking for quotes from a few companies (good for expensive things like a complete re-rig).

Do expect flakiness in the world of boat contractors. Out of the three rigging companies I approached to quote me for a complete re-rig and guardrail replacement on a 12m boat (so a reasonably lucrative bit of work), none returned my initial call, 2 eventually said they'd come and look at the boat and the the company that got the work was the only one who actually gave me a quote (and, as it turned out, their work was excellent and I've mostly used them ever since). I understand that people are often fully booked out but "Thank you for your interest: we're fully booked for the foreseeable future but please do consider us next time" would seem to only take a few minutes to not alienate potential customers in future lean times. Isn't the standard comment "Cheap, Good, Reliable: pick (at most) two"?

As jac says above can always do worse than asking here and people often do. I think after a few years of boat ownership most of us will have put various contractors on the "naughty" and "nice" lists, with the standard Internet recommendations caveat of course that two people can have entirely different experiences of the same service and there are both "bad customers" who will not be satisfied with perfectly reasonable work and clueless folk who won't notice/question dubious work so long as the contractor turns up on time and is polite.

 

[Stemar]

Obviously there will be exceptions, but the guy who can't fit you in until next month is likely to be a better bet than the one who can take on a job at short notice.

As for finding them, I'd ask around in the local marinas. Just choose a marina that suits your budget. If the new toy is a £1/2 million job, that's Ocean Village, if she's a Centaur, Kemp's Quay would be a better bet.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

And like any contract work, don't expect the final bill to look anything like the quote!

 

[Never Grumble]

Some subcontractors have specialist skills, for example electrics and electronics, or structural work or interior refitting, others are individuals that may well take on a range of work.

And like all walks of life some have no skills at all, just a lot of BS!