I just got a 10th job today with 2 big jobs already,im out 2 month at least. anymore call now there going to get a premium quote to thin the load.
they just had the local boat show so ill probably get a few rush jobs from the local dealer I got
Two months out, that is pretty heavy work load, what is your busy months Mike? Or, put another way, do you have any slow months?
Doyle
now doyle is the busiest and September is typically the slowest
the nice thing it when it slower its nice weather (to me) for boating and swimming ect
Just finnished one job last week and got 2 more so far this week.
10 on the books. I told todays i probably 8 weeks away
That's awesome Mike. Glad to hear it.
just got anout small 1 day job a a friend called about having 2 bhcket seats done too.
Joe you need a vacation right ?
That really is good news, Mike. My phone is starting to ring, too. I'll be glad to see the winter doldrums move on out.
Quote from: bobbin on January 29, 2014, 03:32:56 pm
That really is good news, Mike. My phone is starting to ring, too. I'll be glad to see the winter doldrums move on out.
that's the cool thing here bobbin its busy busy now and come spring it slows down
I just got back from the Keys and a friend moved into a new marina where it seems everybody needs canvas. I did a freebie for him making a whole boat cover out of some old sails and ended up with work galore once people saw his cover. I already had a job waiting in tampa that I had promised to be present for so i headed back up with a waiting list there.
I planned on stopping by for a visit but my engine died when i was pulling anchor near cape sable. Turns out i had a saltwater drip where I couldnt see it and it ate thru a fuel line. It took 4 days of round the clock sailing to make it to 'tampa. I slept for almost a full day when I dropped anchor outside a girlfriends house in apollo beach.
Then I was towing magic in with my dinghy to her dock and somebody saw me and came to my rescue. That encounter ended up in a complete enclosure job on a 40ft cruiser. So yes Im booked solid and have customers lined up waiting in 3 ports. Im thinking I may be working more than usual this year which is good and bad.
It's colder than a mother-in-law's kiss up here again. If I crewed on to help you catch up would we technically be working off shore? If we were I wouldn't need a passport or a green card , would I? LOL
forsail I forget where you spend your summers I was thinking the northwest for some reason
Just starting to get hit with the snowbird rush - everyone wants their toppers replaced before they head North for the summer.
I am still on my 7 day a week schedule but have managed to punch some holes in the schedule to give me a few days off. I need the rest as I am on my second bout of bronchitis and second round of antibiotics.
It will be interesting to see how the orders flow in the next two months. 30 days till the kickoff of the rally season which will provide me business through the summer months.
It appears people are spending their money again as many jobs have been full orders.
Chris
Quote from: Mike on January 29, 2014, 01:51:13 pm
just got anout small 1 day job a a friend called about having 2 bhcket seats done too.
Joe you need a vacation right ?
Yes I do Mike. When do you want me to come down?
If you dont mind a sleepi g bag on a sewing table joe monday ;).
My guest room romodle inst quite done yet.
And the bath tore out.
3 day of rain here Yesterday it was a good excuse as i did t have one last lice done cor a project and today was still pouring. So i got to go over tomorow to install and not loose too much time next week.
I usually summer on the Folly river near Charleston. For some reason canvas is about twice the price there than it is in Florida. An average bimini recover is well in excess of $1k.
boy for a recover no frame, id never ever see that here maybe in ft Lauderdale
last year I had a guy with a 4 bow deckboat turned down at 600
You can't get more than $700 for a 4-bow bimini cover around here - unless it's something unusual. I'm sure the very wide beam boats cost more, but for a standard 8.5' beam and 3 or 4 bows it's $500 to $600 on average. I wonder why it's so lucrative up in the Carolinas. I would have expected the exact opposite.
June
It seems like Charleston is still mired in the old south. Theres the withs and the withouts. I was amazed when I visited a musuem that seemed to still espouse the benefits of slavery. It had plaques of famous historical figures touting the morality and "rightness" of owning slaves. Strangely enough I was getting a liveaboard slip for $200 a month. I guess people bought big blocks of slips for exhorbitant prices during the peak of the housing boom. Now theyre way upside down in them owing much much more than the slips are valued at. I get to see the work that was purchased in my absence. One that comes to mind is a four bow bimini recover that was saggy and flapped in the wind that the owner had paid $1200 for. I restitched a 6 month old job for $700 that the owner had paid $4000 for. Bimini , boomcover and dodger. I think it was originally done with cotton thread as it burned instead of melting with flame. The very first job I did there was for the Dockmaster at the time. It was a 3 bow that I charged $400 for and it turned out to be the best bimini I have ever done. Not a wrinkle. He was my best salesman and had people lined up at my boat getting quotes. As it turned out he was also the proprietor of the bar and I dont think I paid for a drink all summer :) Id slide a $20 across the bar and hed smile and slide it back.
I wonder at those [rices if a shop would stay busy ? if there are enough ( haves) rather then "have nots"
for a shop to stay consistently busy with $1200 bimini canvas I assume a lot more if you bend the frame and 4000 dollar bimini boom dodgers ?of coulrse if you did one every couple seeks give you more time to go fishing, but then more time off id spend more in gas then :(
June:
There is alot of money in and around Charleston. Even more so as you go North like Myrtle Beach, the Outer Banks, Chesapeke. These areas are weekend play grounds for the wealthy.
Chris
I got a chuckle out of the recent 6.6% unemployment rate.
I've been following this stat for decades and they've stopped counting so many groups of people who are unemployed, such as "Those who are no longer actively looking for employment." And they no longer clarify if a job is part time or whether someone used to make $100,00 per year and is now making $10.00 per hour.
They count illegals who are working but do not count illegals who are in the country and not working.
LOL
Pretty soon the gov. will only be counting people who are working and the unemployment rate will be 0%.
gene
QuotePretty soon the gov. will only be counting people who are working and the unemployment rate will be 0%
We had a Prime Minister (Jean Cretian) solve the issue of how many people were living in poverty in a single step---he raised the $ amount considered the poverty line and
poof thousands of people were living better.
quote author=gene link=topic=12858.msg104537#msg104537 date=1391952174]
They count illegals who are working but do not count illegals who are in the country and not working
gene
[/quote]
illegals should NOTeven be counted should be illegal period
Glad to hear so many folks are busy! I too have a two or three week back log on boat covers right now. However if the weather would warm up I could get caught up much faster.
Oh and by the way, we are not supposed to call them "Illegals" anymore, it may hurt their feelings.
I think back when my parents came here from Italy in the 1950's. In order to come here, they had to have a sponsor, a job to come to and a place to live. And they had to LEARN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE and go to school to become a citizen. No free rides.
Now we make it so easy for the "illegals"....and I don't care if it hurts their feelings. Today they speak THEIR language and don't even try to learn ours.
Something is wrong with this!!!
Sorry for the rant....back to work I go.
IMHO theres an undeclared class war going on in this country. The uber rich who finance the politicians are laughing as they orchestrate the rep vs dem fight while they are robbing us blind with the high fuel prices , mandatory outrageous insurance prices and banking scams. Meanwhile the average joe is saying damned republicans or damned democrats, whichever team they have chosen. The illegal influx of cheap work and opening up trade with china were just a message to the lower classes, We dont need you.
It's time to rise up!....... Okay, I'll get back to work now.