Small craft surveys

[Romagould3]

Hi,
Long time yacht owner in Greece, recently retired. I have found out there is a shortage of uk surveyors in my area. Questions are:
Can anyone recommend a good diploma in yacht and small craft surveying course?
What is typical small craft survey cost?
What is typical liability isnurance cost?
Want to know whether it is worthwhile and how many surveys I would have to to to make it pay.
All input welcome.

 

[chinita]

Hi,
Long time yacht owner in Greece, recently retired. I have found out there is a shortage of uk surveyors in my area. Questions are:
Can anyone recommend a good diploma in yacht and small craft surveying course?
What is typical small craft survey cost?
What is typical liability isnurance cost?
Want to know whether it is worthwhile and how many surveys I would have to to to make it pay.
All input welcome.

Have a look at:

http://www.ibtc.co.uk/

I did the first course back in 2006. Very enjoyable and the Instructor has written an excellent book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Surveying-Y...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322662845&sr=1-1

Professional Indemnity Insurance is expensive (about £4k pa, I think) and you will also need Public Liability insurance. Takes a lot of surveys to cover this.

The other consideration is that you really must be a member of the YBDSA which requires you to submit copies of your surveys. It can be a bit chicken and egg as without the surveys you cannot develop your membership and status, without the status, you cannot get the business.

Also remember that there is a statute of limitations on PI insurance (eight years I think). this means that even if you do only ONE survey, you must keep your premiums up for eight years as you could be liable for that period.

I did the course for fun and I went on to do the one year wooden boatbuilding course - again for fun. Paul Stevens is the best and most knowledgeable surveyor I have met. His teaching method is utterly hands on. I learned a great deal but I would be reluctant to try to make a career out of it.

 

[fisherman]

I enquired about this as a part time winter job, as I have experience in FV construction, but came up against the same problems, insurance needing accreditation, reliant on being insured, bit of a toc h or is it catch 22? Plenty of on line learning outfits who will say you can be earning £££s immediately.
Local surveyor is about £15 a foot.

 

[Mr Cassandra]

You can set your self up as a limited company if the business go`s tits up you can close down without any debt

 

[Tranona]

You can set your self up as a limited company if the business go`s tits up you can close down without any debt

The whole point of "professional" businesses is that it is the individual that is putting their name to the service, so even if they operate through a limited company they could still be personally liable so would require insurance.

One of the golden rules of choosing a surveyor is to ensure that s/he hasPI insurance.