Boat canvas repair

[ssor]

I have favor to ask. I have a friend who is doing boat canvas repairs this winter and she does meticulous work. She doesn't feel that she can charge a rate for her time and labor that will make this effort pay for her.
So what I would ask is; if you have had repairs made on boat canvas, worn seams stitched, zippers replaced, rips and tears repaired, webbing straps replaced. Could you please tell me the cost and how satisfied you were with the service.
Thank you very much.
Ross in Bel Air

[Gary E]

This was a long time ago and I dont remember the rates but I needed some cushions made. Got a quote from the "canvas/bimini/cushion/etc shop" at the nearby marina. YIKES !!!!!! Then a friend told me about a lady in Philly that did hiz and I went to see her...Holy mackerel, such a good deal, can not express how good the quality and reasonable price. It would of been a good deal at 2x the price...

I guess the only thing this is gona tell you that she needs exposure in the right areas...cards at marina's, the EXPENSIVE MARINA's maybe even a cut to the marina for a referal fee. Seems craftsmen who do work for wealthy can charge more.

[Todd Bradshaw]

I wish her all the luck in the world, but the small, one-person canvas shop is an extremely tough way to make money. Been there, done that, ain't going back, would have made more working at McDonalds. Customers expect you to work cheap, even though you're doing better work than the big guys, having to pay a lot more for your materials and not using cheap hourly labor to do the grunt work and basic sewing. You're also frequently working on projects that are one-of-a-kind or on repairs, both of which often take much longer than either you or the customer initially thought they would. Since most people want to know what it's going to cost right from the onset, you usually wind-up screwing yourself by underestimating.

Yes, you can make money in $40-$100 chunks at irregular intervals when maybe you normally would have just been sitting around watching the boob tube, but if you are doing enough work to actually sit down and figure out what you're really making, it's usually pretty scary.

Given the option, I'd also much rather be known for doing really top quality work and being expensive than for being an economical place to get repairs done. It brings in a better group of customers and projects. The last thing you want is a reputation as somebocy who works cheap. Otherwise, you won't believe some of the rotted, bug-infested, gasoline-soaked old canvas crap that people are going to bring in and dump on your floor.

How's that for an encouraging answer?? Sorry, but all too often that's reality and the novelty of working on old, semi-rotten, mushy, dirty Sunbrella wears off pretty quickly, especially when the market is so price driven and much of the stuff wasn't built properly or to last in the first place. In any case, she needs to be charging at least $40-$50 per hour, plus materials and working on developing some sort of line of related new goods to eventually replace the repair end of the business. Within two or three seasons, she'll have a very good idea of what works and what falls apart and can incorporate those things into her own products.

[Concordia..41]

To continue Todd's rain-on-the-parade scenario...when I first started what I expected to be a gangbuster cleaning and brightwork business, I would look out at a marina, see a couple hundred boats,and think, "Geeze, there's 200 potential customers!" :cool:

So let's say you've got a marina (or mooring field) with 200 boats. Think you've got 200 potential customers??? Yes & no.

Yes, there's 200 boats there and all probably could use some degree of work, but (rough #'s here) easily 75 of the boats are owned by folks who don't have the time or inclination to maintain their boats. And let's say 50 of the boats are owned by handy folks who do their own maintenance and repairs. Poof! Now you're down to 75 potential customers. Geeze, that was quick. :eek:

Now out of that 75 there's 25 who have a friend or family member do their work. And there's 25 who have an existing relationship with a canvas shop. Now you're down to 25 boats. You can bet your Sunbrella that 15 of those folks will expect you to accomplish miracles for next to nothing. Bottom line, it's tough to even get the work, much less make it pay.

Not to say it can't be done. I've got all the work I want from 2-3 regular customers and the occasional referral they send my way.

Now as for pricing, I don't know why, because most of the marinas and service folk around here charge hourly regardless & often include travel time, but I price based on a combination of time and actual good accomplished.

If it'll ever warm up, I've got a guy's bimini and overhead that I said I'd clean. It really needs to be replaced, but I can tack the crucial seams in strategic spots, give it a good cleaning, and get him another season out of it. I'll have between 2-4 hours involved and I've already decided the bill (if it comes out as good as I hope) will be about $150 - roughly 10% of what a new bimini would cost him. If it doesn't come out good, I'll charge half of that - regardless of the time involved.

No, this isn't my retirement plan, but I'm blessed to be able to do something I enjoy, meet some great people, and work on some of the nicest boats in the marina. :D

Good luck with whatever route you choose.

- M

[ssor]

Todd and Margo and Gary, Thanks for you replys. Suzanne is suplimenting her other income. During the season she and her husband have a successful sail boat rigging business. Come winter and they do the best they can. She waits table in a local pub and he is a licensed captain and works as crew on a supply boat for a dredging operation. Todd, I know what you mean about going for the high end of the market, I repair houses and when I priced myself out of the low end market the high end market opened up. It seems that if you charge only fifteen bucks an hour people think that you can't be very good, but if you charge sixty or seventy then you must be in great demand. I have often told her that if she gets every job she bids on then her price is too low. Margo, I have gone through the same exerize. They are building two thousand new houses a year in my market area and"daddy" takes care of most of them while the kids work two jobs. Still I make a living.

Gary I think at this point in Suzannes' canvas work she is in the catagory of the "it would have been a deal at twice the price". Thanks to all of you.
Ross in Bel Air