Does your marina charge you if you have an outside contractor work on you boat?

[2007Amberjack]

Im really haveing a problem with my marina's policy of haveing outside contractors work on my boat on the marina grounds.
They charge $50 for every day you have any outside contractor work on your boat.

On every occasion which has been about 6 times in the last year I had to have the dealership where I bought my boat from send down a mechanice to fix a warrenty issue on my boat.

What would you guys say or do if you had to go through with this? Is this common practice at your marina?

 

[temptress]

NO! That stinks, our marina has resident contractors that even lease space and park their trucks and traliors in the parking lot. THey may pay a fee to the Marina but It certainly did not show up when I had one do some work for me. It was great! I had a problem on sunday, left the key at the marina office the guy went out identifed the problem, called me with a quote and had it fixed and the keys back in the office by the next weekend!

 

[ChuckW]

Mine only requires they provide proof of insurance. Other than that, no fees. http://www.palmislandmarina.com

If it is busy in the main basin, they will ask that you move your boat to the back basin so the work can be done out of site of the main facilities. They also accomodate (for a fee) putting the boat in a service bay if needed.

 

[Stray Cat]

My marina allowed the selling dealer to perform warranty work without issue or charge. Then again, my marina doesn't sell boats...only outboards. I have always used their mechanical services when needed. But think for a moment, if you were running a business, and offered repair, would you want other contractors working on your property? They own the business and make their own policy so they know who is coming and going off their property for perhaps liability and other reasons.

 

[tdschafer]

The marinas by me are funny that way. I can't say I've ever paid a fee directly but, friends of mine who do mechanical and canvas work tell me that some charge them a 10 % surcharge to access the marina. The marina I stored at this last winter will not even let you paint your own bottom. I guess they have such a short time frame up here to pay the ridiculous property taxes and fees that they have to give everyone a little ball kick now and then!!!:smt013

Update: Although I cant paint my own bottom, I am allowed to work on my own boat. I also informed the guy who runs the marina that my detailing guy was coming monday and he was fine with it. Said he would paint the bottom as soon as they were done! So, I can't complain. It probably doesn't hurt that the mechanc is a good friend of mine. Also I dock @ a Town owned slip in the summer that has no service available so anyone I want can come down. I usually call ahead as the security is good and might hold the contractor up if they caught them on my boat!

 

[Russ Calasant]

Ours charges 10% - 20% added to the invoice. They request that the invoice be given to them so they can add it and then they bill us. Its BS, although I have never tested it.

 

[JVM225]

I'm no longer in a marina/boatyard, but when I was they made money on everyone who came in the gate.
They were pretty liberal about letting me do some basic stuff myself.
(Some places won't even let you do anything on your own boat.)
Anything else went through them.
Either they did it, or they called in the outside contractor to do something they couldn't handle. They paid the contractor, and billed me, so I'm sure they made money on it.
If their was something unique that either they, or one of their contractors couldn't handle, they would let me call in an outsider. But, they wanted 10% of what the contractor charged, and they made sure he had insurance.
It was tough to take, but made sense on some level. It's their property, and they are in that business to make money.
The upside was that the outside contractors they used for stuff they couldn't do were really good. They wouldn't let shysters in because they didn't want any problems.
I bought a little piece of property on a canal last year to dock my boat at, and can now do any repair I want, or use anyone I want.
It's great, and has saved me a pile of money already just by what I saved on the winterization and re-launching. But if I were to use someone for something on the boat, I wouldn't hesitate to use one of the outside contractors that the old place used, or call them for a recommendation.

 

[Lazy Daze]

Two parts to this question:

By any chance are the issues related to the engine/drive? And, is your marina Mercruiser Certified?

If yes to both of those, they could do the warranty work. Just a thought that might save you some money.

 

[dpmulvey]

It's gone to hearings and probably will end up in court in R.I.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Nope. I can have any outside company come in and do whatever I want them to do and I don't pay the marina anything.

 

[2007Amberjack]

Two parts to this question:

By any chance are the issues related to the engine/drive? And, is your marina Mercruiser Certified?

If yes to both of those, they could do the warranty work. Just a thought that might save you some money.

My marina has mercruiser certified mechanics but the marina is not a mercruiser certified dealership.

 

[skolbe]

Ours allows warranty work at no charge but they are required to provide proof of insurance. With Marine Max - the marina assumes they have insurance. But outside contractors for non-warranty work is prohibited.

 

[2007Amberjack]

Here is the email I got from my marina describing the reason for the charges. From what I gather they are just trying to make an extra buck. Looks like i am going to find a new marina next year!

"Let me explain our XXXX XXXXX Marina Contractor policy which has been in place for a number of years. One of our biggest overhead expenses is liability and workers compensation insurance premiums as well as the administrative expenses we incur in order to satisfy our insurers. Outside contractors are a major factor in all of these areas. Each year we get audited by our insurers to make sure we have the proper policies and procedures in place, that we maintain accurate records, and that we receive evidence of adequate insurance coverage in place prior to any work being performed. Should a contractor get injured while on our property he, his employer, and/or his insurer will likely sue XXXX XXXXX Marina. While our own insurance would provide for defense coverage and cover any judgment against us this risk of loss is a major factor in the premium we pay and our loss history (which is related to the number of outside contractors who come to our property) is also a contributing factor.

To a lesser extent but worth mentioning is the use of the XXXXX XXXXX facility. We have a great deal of non insurance related overhead associated with maintaining the marina. Many outside contracts have only a fraction of our overhead and it would not be equitable to provide others with a free platform with which to work and profit on our property and at our expense.

We have spent a great deal of time on the issue of outside contractors so as to establish a fair and equitable policy for all while still allowing our customers the flexibility of using outside providers.

I hope this sheds light on our policy and provides you with an explanation in regards to the charge, and explains the same overhead exists for guarantee as well as non-guarantee work."

 

[Four Suns]

It's gone to hearings and probably will end up in court in R.I.

Are you serious? That's absurd. Although no one may like if a marina tacks on a percentage to a bill or limits outside work, at the end of the day it is private property and a private business that we use. The rules are set by the owner and if one doesn't like it, then leave. Period. There are other private businesses that may give you what you want and if there are not, then buy your own property and build your own business. It is that simple. People have no right to dictate how a marina can monitize their business. There is no role for the government to step in a dictate what people can and can't do here...

Gee whiz... I don't like the fact that some marinas do this but it's THEIR BUSINESS and not mine.

 

[Gunn]

I'm no longer in a marina/boatyard, but when I was they made money on everyone who came in the gate.
They were pretty liberal about letting me do some basic stuff myself.
(Some places won't even let you do anything on your own boat.)
Anything else went through them.

This is the reason why I was worried about jumping into a boat that was too large to trailer. I have my own pier at my home, but would hate not to be able to do all of the work myself; that would price us out of a boat. So that's why I had been asked a queston about tow vehicles for a 280DA...our next boat we're in the market for now. I can trailer it home from the local marina ramp and do anything I want in my own private yard. :smt001 The expense goes way up once you can no longer trailer it...especially with policies like these.

 

[sbw1]

Ours is pretty flexible. Tiara was in this winter to perform some warranty work on our boat and the marina cooperated by placing the boat in a convenient location where it was easy to work on. The marina has done some warranty work in the past on my boat because they wanted to and Tiara did not object. This past winter, Tiara preferred to perform the work so they did not have to subcontract the work to a third party. Whatever the situation turns out to be the results are outstanding and provided with a smile.

 

[CSR_Admin]

We are going through this right now. We just entered our 2nd year of boatyard ownership where outside contractors come to periodically to do work. Detailing companies, outside mechanics, etc. Our insurance company just informed us of a bunch of fees we are no exposed to because of these outside contactors. It does involve workers comp and general liability. My wife handles this stuff so I am not up to speed on it. But we are going to have to consider a policy to charge outside contractors or boat owners to reimburse us for these expenses. Plus boat these outside contractors use our dumpster, use our water, etc. So there is a real cost to the property owner. Why should we have the risk to own the property and foot teh expenses of other businesses that want to use our site to do their work? I don't mind making our property available to them, but I really don't like paying them for that priveledge. Make sense?

 

[magster65]

There's no fee at my marina but they do ask that contractors check in the office before they go about their business.

 

[Summer Fun II]

At my marina you can work on your boat. No outside mechanics allowed.
We have the BEST 2 OMC & Merc mechanics [ Mikey & Tom ] at the marina and they only charge $65per hour. :smt038

 

[ChuckW]

Here is the email I got from my marina describing the reason for the charges. From what I gather they are just trying to make an extra buck. Looks like i am going to find a new marina next year!

"Let me explain our XXXX XXXXX Marina Contractor policy which has been in place for a number of years. One of our biggest overhead expenses is liability and workers compensation insurance premiums as well as the administrative expenses we incur in order to satisfy our insurers. Outside contractors are a major factor in all of these areas. Each year we get audited by our insurers to make sure we have the proper policies and procedures in place, that we maintain accurate records, and that we receive evidence of adequate insurance coverage in place prior to any work being performed. Should a contractor get injured while on our property he, his employer, and/or his insurer will likely sue XXXX XXXXX Marina. While our own insurance would provide for defense coverage and cover any judgment against us this risk of loss is a major factor in the premium we pay and our loss history (which is related to the number of outside contractors who come to our property) is also a contributing factor.

To a lesser extent but worth mentioning is the use of the XXXXX XXXXX facility. We have a great deal of non insurance related overhead associated with maintaining the marina. Many outside contracts have only a fraction of our overhead and it would not be equitable to provide others with a free platform with which to work and profit on our property and at our expense.

We have spent a great deal of time on the issue of outside contractors so as to establish a fair and equitable policy for all while still allowing our customers the flexibility of using outside providers.

I hope this sheds light on our policy and provides you with an explanation in regards to the charge, and explains the same overhead exists for guarantee as well as non-guarantee work."

We are going through this right now. We just entered our 2nd year of boatyard ownership where outside contractors come to periodically to do work. Detailing companies, outside mechanics, etc. Our insurance company just informed us of a bunch of fees we are no exposed to because of these outside contactors. It does involve workers comp and general liability. My wife handles this stuff so I am not up to speed on it. But we are going to have to consider a policy to charge outside contractors or boat owners to reimburse us for these expenses. Plus boat these outside contractors use our dumpster, use our water, etc. So there is a real cost to the property owner. Why should we have the risk to own the property and foot teh expenses of other businesses that want to use our site to do their work? I don't mind making our property available to them, but I really don't like paying them for that priveledge. Make sense?

I don't think anyone would deny the marina owner the ability to recoup costs... or even make a profit on those costs. To me it's really a business decision on how to go about it to ensure you are focused on #1, your customer.

To me, it flys in my face, that if I bring in my own contractor to my "rented" space, that I get charged a separate fee from the marina for that action. I like the concept of "full service" and as such would expect that any "fees" would have already been worked out between the marina and the contractor.

The point being, it's all about presentation and focus on customer, not giving away something for free and not feeing the customer to death outside of their "rental" and "contractor" fees. So just build the cost into the rental and contractor fees, instead of tagging them on separately like a leach.