How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

I was wondering how much others are paying for Service labor on their boats?
Locally in Beaumont, Tx I am paying 84.00 per hour.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

Cheap..........120.00 here

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

Palm Beach
Broward
Miami-Dade
Counties $85.00 per hour.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

the neighbour usually charges out at a six pack per call out, but he shares

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

I make sure I get at least $50 per hour. That's on troubleshooting/than fix it jobs. Where I know what has to be done? $100.

The job gets done in the morning, the day after a customer calls, and he/she can be out on the water that afternoon...

Try some of this for yourselves, you'll understand why the rates are up there!

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

Nothing!

I do it myself.

But really, that's not bad, when I was a auto tech, the shop I worked at charged $120, and most car dealers now are like $150.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

grahamh,
Last weekend changed out the ball joints in my Volvo wagon. Parts cost me $63.

There are those who can do the job, and there are many more who pay to get the job done...that's where we make our money!

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

It's bound to be expensive. My guy is $90 hour, less if he has to find/troubleshoot. I honestly don't think its unreasonable when you consider all the schools, overhead, insurance, equipment, rent, etc, they have to pay for just to work on your boat.
Yeah they're gonna make some money. It's also somewhat of a niche market. I put $4K a year into my slip/maintenance/repair/new boat/insurance fund. You gotta budget for it, at least I do.

Then again, the boat is my only real toy and I enjoy it immensely. You're gonna spend it on something, might as well be something you enjoy.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

werthert said:

It's bound to be expensive. My guy is $90 hour, less if he has to find/troubleshoot. I honestly don't think its unreasonable when you consider all the schools, overhead, insurance, equipment, rent, etc, they have to pay for just to work on your boat.
Yeah they're gonna make some money. It's also somewhat of a niche market. I put $4K a year into my slip/maintenance/repair/new boat/insurance fund. You gotta budget for it, at least I do.

Then again, the boat is my only real toy and I enjoy it immensely. You're gonna spend it on something, might as well be something you enjoy.

Click to expand...

The proverbial "nail on the head"...

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

Last I saw it was $85/hr in Peoria. So, very similiar.

But I wouldn't know for sure, I don't pay anyone to work on my boat (even if I still had one! )

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

$0.00
I won't let anybody touch my boat.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

Our dealer charges $80/hr. BUT, we can also buy oil, filters, anti-freeze and fogging oil under places like Bass Pro, etc. ( I just this week did some checking on prices. :redface: )

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

TilliamWe, National Marine in Peoria, IL just charged me $79/hr and they quoted $65/hr for winter repairs in Dec, Jan, and/or Feb.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

here in Burlington WI $100.00 an hour. I just have them do what I do not have the tools for, like changing the lower impeller.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

I guess when we have work done we dont figure in all the extra stuff that goes into getting it done. But nobody wants to be done in on repair prices either. Its very hard to smile when you are paying per hour and you know that the service dept is guessing how to fix a problem.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

bugsbunnyboater,
if your shop is guessing you need to go to another shop....... i have to admit some techs may be making an educated guess... if they are lazy or head the same prob over and over again.

thats where troubleshooting comes in.

when i worked at ford, a few years back, we had a big problem with interior lights staying on. the switch inside the door collected a lot of dust and would stick causing the lights to stay on. ford wanted me to put new ones in..... but after i changed a few i realized you could just clean them up and they were fine, then i realized you didnt even have to remove the door panel. you just needed some brake clean with a straw in the end. i started telling customers the simple procedure and got griped at by management .

i couldnt see charging someone for a stupid little switch that shouldnt have been stoping up with dust once or twice a month......... i said "arent we here for customer service?"........ nope we were there to make money was pretty much the answer i got....... a**holes . what irks me is when somone brings you their car to fix then argues that the problem you found isnt it, and yes it has even happened at the dealership. i told one guy "if you know whats wrong with it why did you bring it here, why didnt you just fix it yourself?"..... yeah i got in trouble for that one too.

as for marine shops around here right at about $100 per hour............... of course everyone who has a screwdriver and a pair of pliers is a mech.. around here.

i do some boat repair from home, but im honest about my experiance.. or lack there of. if its easy i wont charge but maybe $10 per hour since i like to work on things. if its too bad or i cant fix it without major help i will just tell the customer the truth... and of course if it aint fixed i dont charge anything. its like i tell them "you can throw parts at it all day long, making guesses, and maybe still not find the problem.. thats where troublshooting comes in"

good question though...... i really thought places around the coast would be sky high, but i guess there are more techs around so that would keep the cost down.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

I spend ZERO on labor, I'm cheap and wouldnt dream of paying someone else to do something that I can do myself. And as d.r. alluded to, all the shops around here seem to be in business to make money instead of to help customers.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

The mobile guys around here are $50-$75 an hour. The guy at the boat salvage yard is $75/hr, does decent work, but won't estimate in advance. All of the landlocked "Marina's" ? $100/hr min, nothing older than 8 model years, exhorbitant parts markup.

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

Metric, not to correct you, but, all businesses try to make money (excluding non-profit places), otherwise, they would be out of business

A good business will be profitable AND help customers at the same time. Some are just better than others.

For some businesses, part sales could represent well over 80% of their profit because people like you and me keep buying them Factor-in China-made components and profits can go off the charts. Sad but true, sad but true...

Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?

seabob4 said:

grahamh,
Last weekend changed out the ball joints in my Volvo wagon. Parts cost me $63.

There are those who can do the job, and there are many more who pay to get the job done...that's where we make our money!

Click to expand...

Yup!

Ironically, I was a Volvo tech. Good job!