Quote for work

There's a big difference between reasonable and usual here! A week is reasonable; I'd hope that they'd at the very least come back within that time either to say they can't do it, or to ask for more information, or even with a quote! But most boatyards are small businesses, and if they have plenty of work, new enquiries are at a low priority - getting jobs out of the yard is the priority. This tends to be true of all small businesses, such as plumbers and electricians. With boatyards, their work is very seasonal, and at this time of the year I'd expect them to be a bit slow - winter is their peak season.

Many small businesses are slow to respond to electronic communications. Have you rung them to chase your enquiry?
 
AntarcticPilot said:
There's a big difference between reasonable and usual here! A week is reasonable; I'd hope that they'd at the very least come back within that time either to say they can't do it, or to ask for more information, or even with a quote! But most boatyards are small businesses, and if they have plenty of work, new enquiries are at a low priority - getting jobs out of the yard is the priority. This tends to be true of all small businesses, such as plumbers and electricians. With boatyards, their work is very seasonal, and at this time of the year I'd expect them to be a bit slow - winter is their peak season.

Many small businesses are slow to respond to electronic communications. Have you rung them to chase your enquiry?
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They are pretty snowed under to be fair to them. But they have always responded promptly in the past. The work I need is quite substantial, new decks, etc, so it's a good job for them. I'll give them a couple more days and call them. If they don't want the job I wish they would say.
 
38mess said:
They are pretty snowed under to be fair to them. But they have always responded promptly in the past. The work I need is quite substantial, new decks, etc, so it's a good job for them. I'll give them a couple more days and call them. If they don't want the job I wish they would say.
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As it's a big job it will take time and some work pricing it up, checking cost of materials, deciding how much they can squeeze you for, then preparing an estimate.
 
Depends to some extent on what alternatives there are. If the yard is the only one who can reasonably undertake the work they you may have to bite the bullet and avoid antagonising them. If you end up giving the yard the job it might be worth specifying "Work to be completed by ..."
 
Yep patience. Perhaps they are focusing on this weeks work. big jobs need planning and to ensure they get any pricing right. They wont mind you asking if they have got anything yet. perhaps looking at material prices, as with everything its rocketing up.
Steveeasy
 
steveeasy said:
Yep patience. Perhaps they are focusing on this weeks work. big jobs need planning and to ensure they get any pricing right. They wont mind you asking if they have got anything yet. perhaps looking at material prices, as with everything its rocketing up.
Steveeasy
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You could always suggest to them that they are obviously finding the project difficult to quote - thus is there any way you can expedite the quotation by providing further information.

Your other option is to ask around and request other quotes from other yards. This is what you might need to do anyway if the quote that you eventually receive is too high. I have to ask - how are you going to determine if the quote is reasonable?

Jonathan
 
When I was in the leisure business and quoting repowers, this was a busy time of year and I often struggled to get quotes out in a decent timescale (often 3/4 weeks) even with working all hours!

An estimate is easier to produce as you don't have to account for every penny, but most clients wouldn't accept these, so where the risk was all ours if I got the pricing wrong it took time to proof and check for a quote.

So it might be worth aligning your expectations with theirs. They may be able to give you a budgetary estimate faster. If you then decide to proceed, you can go ahead on an estimate basis with an agreed cap for any differences, or find out how long it will take for them to draw up a fixed price quotation.

Good luck.
 
WoodyP said:
You are in Wales. Manana is a bit urgent.
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A Scots friend who did some work with Gaelic speakers in the North of Scotland, tells the story of one of them saying to her ‘That sometimes they wish there was a word in Gaelic that was as urgent as manyana“.
I have to admit that in our area of West Wales we have GMT, BST and AMT (Aberaeron Mean Time) a completely flexible timescale that inevitably results in something starting at least ten minutes after the advertised time.
 
Praxinoscope said:
A Scots friend who did some work with Gaelic speakers in the North of Scotland, tells the story of one of them saying to her ‘That sometimes they wish there was a word in Gaelic that was as urgent as manyana“.
I have to admit that in our area of West Wales we have GMT, BST and AMT (Aberaeron Mean Time) a completely flexible timescale that inevitably results in something starting at least ten minutes after the advertised time.
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That's a lot sooner than CMT, Cardigan.
 
In response to the OP as a week has now elapsed I would have thought a gentle nudge was in order, just ask them how the quote is progressing, they can either apologise for being late or say they have a full order book at the moment and can’t take on any more work in the near future.
At least that way you have the chance of knowing what is or isn’t going to happen
 
I requested quotes for a new battery charger and batteries plus a mast and rigging inspection . Three months later , the work is complete . I’m now waiting for a itemised price for a standing rigging replacement . Covid and the lack of boat parts due to Brexit import export problems have taken their toll . I’m in Suffolk , the lads in the boatyard are running around like blue arsed flys bless ‘em , Admin say they are “ pulled out with work “ .
 
Pretty much since Covid broke out the marine industry (amongst many others) has had a hard time, with one thing and another, add Brexit to the mix for good measure, oh, let's not forget the fire in the chip factory that's caused a Worldwide shortage of certain chips.

During the first lockdown a lot of people put pre-booked boat work on hold, as they didn't know when they would be able to use their boats again, that was a mistake. Other owners decided the fact they couldn't use their boats as a good time to have work done, so we were still very busy. At the end of the lockdown, all of those with jobs on hold came back, asking the work to be done, all at the same time, along with all of the other work that had been booked in, in the meantime. We were even busier, impossibly busier.

All of the boats that were sitting around for sale got sold, as foreign holidays were impossible. The new owners wanted the new (to them) boats bringing up to scratch, having faults fixed, upgrades doing etc. We were even busier, impossibly busier, lot's of jobs being turned down.

We've been hit with shortages of most things, with waiting lists months long for others. We order equipment and get a delivery date and book the work in, the delivery date changes, we have to re-arrange everything, over and over in some cases.

Normally, we tick over at a nice steady pace in the Summer and are flat out during Winter. Last Summer was busy, all of the time, Winter even busier. This Summer has been worse, all the more chaotic because of the shortages. I've worked all week, then add a Saturday, or a Sunday, add in working all day, getting home and spending until 8 or 9 o clock doing paperwork, invoices, estimates, quotes. If we all worked 9 till 5 this Winter, there would be a lot of boats not sailing next season.

There are just about enough people in the marine industry to manage on a normal year, just about. Barely any new people taking up some of the trades. With the abnormal workload we are all working more hours, trying to keep up, not always succeeding, despite best efforts. You can't just call the job centre or the local gangmaster up and ask for a marine electrician, a rigger, a GRP specialist etc, they are all employed already.

The vast majority of people i deal with are reasonable and understand the current situation, many of them are in business themselves and are also having a hard time of it.
 
WoodyP said:
You are in Wales. Manana is a bit urgent.
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We found that neither the Greek nor Caribbean language/patois included a word to express that degree of urgency either. That said, having returned to the Yorkshire Dales after forty years, I now understand why I could cope with 'Island Time' better than most:
I was button-holed by a local plumber in the Rugby Club last Saturday who was upset at having discovered that someone else was currently installing our new bathroom as 'that was my job' and one which he'd 'already pencilled in for next month'. My pointing out that I'd asked him to look/quote back in August, with a view to his doing the work in October and that it was now November and despite my eight subsequent phone/text reminders (I counted/showed them to him on the phone) he'd still not even got me a quote done, was seemingly irrelevant. I'd asked him to come and look, which made the job 'his' and apparently I'm not to bother asking him in the future as he's not interested in my business and 'won't even look at it'. I felt it prudent not to mention that he hadn't ever got around to 'looking' at this first job. ?
 
38mess said:
How long is a reasonable time to wait for a quote from a boatyard for work I need doing. It's been a week now. Do I get in touch with them?
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About four lunar months is the usual time. Waiting for the work to be done is counted in lunar years. ;)
 
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