Let me begin by saying that you are not alone, I've heard everything you've said countless times in my nearly three decade career in the marine industry, where I've worked as a mechanic, electrician, boatyard manager and consultant. The lack of professionalism and competency is a problem that has dogged the industry for much longer than I've been in it. Having said that, depending on where you live, it's not alone. Have you had an HVAC tech or plumber to your home recently? The only time I hire one is when I'm out of town, in July, the air-con fails and my wife threatens to go to a hotel. In most cases when I speak to the tech on the phone I find I know more about HVAC than he or she does.
There is, therefore, no doubt this industry needs a wake-up call, it’s a drum I’ve been pounding for years. Improvements have come, among them formal certification for techs, but they are too little and too slow. Indeed, the bulk of the problem is education and competency, both technical and business-related. I know this because I work in other countries where there exist a formal marine industry apprenticeship program. The result is, most folks in the trades, even the young ones, know what they are doing. Here in the US, sadly, it’s mostly OTJT, for which boat owners pay full rates. It’s simply wrong and it’s guaranteed to generate the sort of anger and resentment you’ve expressed.
In guiding boat owners through these rocks and shoals I’ve found the best medicine is prevention. Carefully and systematically evaluating yards and contractors, using a specific set of criteria, you can get a bullet point list here
Cracking the Code: Working with Boat Yards and the Marine Industry Part II | Steve D'Antonio Marine Consulting can go a long way toward avoiding heartache.
Ksanders said you should expect to pay more for a job than you’ve been told by the yard. Again, having run a yard I’d respectfully disagree, however, I fully understand why he’d say this, it’s so often very true. I’ve had clients say, "I ask the yard for a price, I triple it and then I know how much I can expect to pay”. That’s reprehensible but all too commonly true. Unless I wanted to argue with my customers, I always gave them as complete a price picture as possible, excluding something like the cost of the haul out for a propeller repair, or the cost of waste removal for fuel tank cleaning was simply asking for an argument. In fact, I quoted 85% of the work I did and as a result almost never had a billing dispute. I’d much rather have a boat owner disappointed over a quote than furious about a bill after the work was complete.
Tom.B speculated that the problem lies with greedy yard owners. While there are no doubt such yard owners out there, I can say from experience it’s an incredibly tough business to make money, if you do everything right, which is very rare, you can expect to make 10% or 15%. Overhead for a squared away yard is astronomical, especially if you invest in out of the area hiring (I hired and paid to move folks nationwide), training and retaining good staff, for which you must offer competitive pay and benefits. Outside major metropolitan areas skilled marine techs and boat rights can expect to make a good living, often better than those with college educations these days, most of those who worked for me owned homes rather than rented, drove newer cars (newer than mine often), and had money to go on vacation with their families. There are always those who squander their income and blame others, most didn’t. On the other hand I feel sorry for those who work in metro areas (I started my career in one and didn’t look back after leaving) because it’s almost impossible to pay them enough to live reasonably well, the cost of doing business is simply too high, a burden that trickles down to boat owners, by the way. I do endorse his practice of showing up unannounced, however, fro spot checks.
Bottom line is, as much as I don’t like it, it’s a caveat emptor business, and with the economy on the upswing it will only get more challenging, as there is once again a nearly endless supply of customers for incompetent yards and contractors to consume. Do your due diligence, expect to pay more for competency, experience and standards compliance, inspect what you expect, be present while the work is being done if you have that luxury, and get quotes and establish deadlines where ever possible.