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

the marina we dock at is owned by the searay dealership and he does not allow outside contractors. as a businessman myself I understand and agree with his policy.
 
YES! I just had canvas work done and when I received the bill it was appx 10% higher from my marina vs my conversation with the company.

I called and he said it was normal practice to have Marina's add % to the invoice or charge the company a flat charge and have them adjust their qoute. Either way WE PAY.

My only option was , trailer it and bring it done to their facility...
 
I've watched this unfold over the last 15 years at our marina.

The business elements are pretty simple........it is a restraint of trade to keep others from working on boats if the marina is open to the public, i.e. slips are leased to the general public. But, here is the rub......the marina owns and controls the access to the leased slip, the marina has the right to establish rules of conduct for the leased property, the marina has the right to require that anyone on their property indemnify others in case of accident, or negligence by requiring insurance. See where this is headed........like it or not, the property owner can control access to his property and he can require those entering to have liability insurance.

It is possible to litigate the access question, but do you really want to make your marina your adversary? Marina relationships are delicate balancing acts. What works for me is to be fair, positive, abide by the rules, go thru the marina with as much work as they want to do, but also hold them responsible for the cost and quality.

Our marina is a Sea Ray dealer and has the best service department and technicians in the area. They do allow outside contractors who have the proper insurance, but they really prefer that owners go thru the marina's service department for work we need done on our boats. Obviously, they add a mark-up, but at the same time that allows them to control the quality of work done and the methods used. For the boat owner it gives us one source responsibility for what we need and it keeps us out of the business of unknowingly hiring unskilled or incompetent tradesmen and of payroll. Initially, I didn't like the marina making a margin on my work, but it honestly solved a number of problems.

Some of the smaller marinas here try to charge the tradesman for access by requiring charging a % of the deal, but that is hard to police and tend to really pi$$ customers off.
 
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I went back and looked, there is no such clause in my rental agreement. I would think if they were to do this at my Marina they would have to spell it out in the rental agreement.:huh:

We do have a pretty good mechanic on staff that I would use, but the detail and canvas items I would certainly go outside. Of course my Marina does not offer a self service area like for waxing your own boat out of the water anyway.:smt013
 
No fees at our marina, Lankford Bay. They treat us right on every turn.

I agree with Gary that it is the owner's business decision. That's ust one of the reasons I cruised as fast as I could from SkipJack. The customer comes last there.

I also agree with Jim, that there are risks and costs incurred when others enter and do work on the property.

If there was an industry standard that defined a simple procedure to cover the costs and it was LOGICAL and REASONABLE, I would completely support it.

I just can't stomach a business that takes advantage of their customers.
 
Marina I am in charges the contractor a 10% fee to work at the marina, plus he must have insurance....However.....I am allowed to do any work on the boat myself, except painting....they will even install parts that I purchased elsewhere......going on 6 years with these folks......
 
I just had a mechanic work on my boat all day yesterday. He went to the marina office and they allowed him to enter the secure dock with no problem. The City owns the marina and there are no services for repair there so it's not an issue.

I am moving to a new marina in 3 weeks and the policy there is that I have to notify in advance when I have someone coming to service the boat. I see why a marina with service would not want outside contractors coming in. They take business from them and also there is a hint of liability. I would at least expect any marina to request they be listed as additionally insured and verify the mechanic's insurance.

My 2 cents
 
At my marina......."The owner can not touch the boat while it is out of the water."

As others have stated 1.) These are the rules. Abide or leave. 2.) Its probably best for everyone in the long run.

At first I was a little miffed but after seeing some of the habbits of some of my marina neighbors I'm ok with it. I don't know how things are billed but I have seen the sign in log at the office.
 
2007Amberjack said:
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."
Click to expand...

BS...

A current insurance certificate, and a hold-harmless agreement leaves the marina without liability exposure of any kind.

They should at least be honest and tell you they're charging you $50 day purely because they're pissed off that you didn't hire them to do the work, and because they can...

Like Gary says, it's their playground. It's up to you whether it's a big enough deal to move your boat somewhere else.
 
At my marina......."The owner can not touch the boat while it is out of the water."
Click to expand...
You're telling us that you can't work on your boat until its in the water ??. That sucks !!. :smt021.
I'm glad I'm not at your marina. :smt001
 
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Yep. Thats what I'm telling you.

As far as moving - Its by far the best marina around. I'm stayin! If I had the time, tools, talent & desire, it might be a little different. However I have no desire to sand & paint the bottom of my boat & more importantly I don't want my boat on blocks 10 feet away while Jim-Bob is attempting to do his.
 
"However I have no desire to sand & paint the bottom of my boat & more importantly I don't want my boat on blocks 10 feet away while Jim-Bob is attempting to do his."


Exactly..........!

Everyone seems critical of the closed marina issue, but try to look at it from the marina's viewpoint. The marina, if it is a good one, is responsible for the care of its customer's boats while there. There isn't anything that can do more damage than some idiot trying to save $100 doing his own bottom job nearby. Bottom paint dust is harder to get off a boat than paint over-spray. Our marina is closed.......absolutely nobody can do bottom work on the property except marina employees and the marina won't even soda or sand blast on property. The marina also washes every boat in the boat yard every day to avoid bottom paint problems. Now, do you think you can get the guy who is trying to do a bottom job on the cheap to wash 6 boats before going home? Then look at it another way, Let Bubba do his own bottom job and you pay the detail guy $17.50/ft to clean up your topside and re-wax it.

There are plenty of do-it-yourself yards around.......go find one if you need to do your own bottom work. But, be prepared for the rules they have in place to satisfy the EPA, DEP, etc.
__________________
 
tobnpr said:
BS...

A current insurance certificate, and a hold-harmless agreement leaves the marina without liability exposure of any kind.

They should at least be honest and tell you they're charging you $50 day purely because they're pissed off that you didn't hire them to do the work, and because they can...

Like Gary says, it's their playground. It's up to you whether it's a big enough deal to move your boat somewhere else.
Click to expand...

I agree big B.S.! If you don't work on your boat, fine hire someone, but someone you, as the owner, chose. It is a tax or fine. If they want to charge that fee, they should be more competative.

If I was at one of these marinias and I could not wax or work on my boat AND there was nothing in the rental agreement, they would be told to kiss my rosey born pround American redneck A$$!

Then I would talk with my feet.:thumbsup:
 
My yard offers full mechanic services. It's a two-man operation: the owner and one other guy. They do some basic services themselves; beyond that they have a mechanic on-call. The yard handles all the billing so it's transparent.

Being more of a yard than a marina, owners may do any work they want by themselves with the exception of bottom paint. For hired services, you need to use the yard for mechanical work; dealer-provided warranty work is excepted. All other trades / service providers must have liability insurance.

We used to be able to do bottom paint work. The restriction on bottom painting is due to NYS environmental regs. The regs changed a couple years ago, basically making it impossible to legally apply / scrape anti-fouling paint except on your own boat on your own property. Anything else requires an applicator's license and insurance. Sometimes the yard will allow a pro to come in to do bottom sanding / blasting but they must be state certified.

All in all, I'm quite satisfied with this arrangement. They man owns the property, and deserves to make a living. If he can't make a profit the yard won't last. They are very responsive about repairs and simply take care of business. Of course, it might be a different story if the mechanic was lousy or they didn't make timely repairs.
 
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