DIY Is It For Me?

This is a question that you need to consider carefully. The savings that can be made on a DIY fit out project are very worthwhile, it is possible to save maybe £20K plus, but this is only true if you actually complete the project!
Our fully fitted boats have at least 1100 man hours of labour involved using individuals who know their own individual trades who are often working together on one boat. From that you can see that it is quite a serious undertaking if you intend to complete the project single handed, even working seven days a week it is going to be a six month plus project.

You need to consider the following:-

• Time scale- How long are you happy for the project to take? DIY builds tend to be measured in months and years not weeks.
   
• Skills- Have you, yourself or friends and family got the required skills to complete the project? If not it would make far more sense to acquire those skills first.
   
• Tools- Do you own or have access to the tools you are going to require for the project? If not then these need to be calculated into your budget.
   
• Site or mooring cost- You need to consider the costs you are going to incur over the duration of the project if the project is intended to be long term then this needs to be worked into the budget. If the boat is going to be fitted out on the water you need to consider the licensing implications that can arise from a very long project.
   
• Labour costs- If you are providing the labour is it free? If you are retired maybe it is but for those working it is going to mean a very long project or loss of earnings. This also needs to be considered for family and friends too, asking a favour for the odd day is often fine but the time scales involved in the project might exhaust the favours!
   
• Budget- You have to be realistic. The only saving is going to be labour. You are always going to pay more for the fittings and materials than a professional builder.
   
• Conformity- The finished project will need to legally comply with the Recreational Craft Directive and also meet the requirements of the Boat Safety Scheme. Without you employ a professional surveyor to manage these elements of the build or have assistance from the hull provider to achieve this yourself this could add a fairly large bill to the finished project.
   
• Insurance- This needs very careful consideration, it is very hard to negotiate cover on a partially completed boat that is also increasing in value all the time. You also need to document the value of the project carefully including convincing the insurance company that your labour is actually of a value in order to achieve sufficient insurance cover when you have completed the boat or they may insist on a valuation by a surveyor that could actually be less than the total budget.
  It is also worth checking with potential site or mooring providers that they are happy for you to carry out work on their site.
   
• Investment- This might or might not be important to you. It makes financial sense for the finished project to be worth at least the budget expenditure and hopefully some more. If you can achieve this you will have a sound investment that could actually make money over the next few years to later be recovered if you choose to sell the boat.
  However you only have to glance in the magazines to see for how little part completed or bodged projects sell for!

Anyway it’s time for some hard thinking now! Although somewhat daunting it is perfectly achievable. If you would like to speak to some of our customers who have completed or are in the process of doing DIY fit outs we can arrange this for you. (Just drop us a e-mail with your details.)