Preliminary Cost Estimates

[Willallison]

I have a how long's a piece of string question for you...]
How do you guys do a preliminary cost estimate. And by preliminary I mean just that
A guy comes to you and says, "I want a 40ft powerboat like XYZ - how much is it going to cost me?"

Do you base it on displacement - I dunno ... $50 per kilogram
Or is that just too simplistic? You do a rough model, take the surface area, multiply it by say $100/sq.m then add a displacement based estimate for labour?

[MikeJohns]

There are different fields here Will. The designer supplies sufficient data for yards to give a construction estimate. You are best advised to contact commercial small craft builders (if you can find them) and get a range of recent work and prices. Small boat yards are notoriously transient afairs these days.

Some yards like NW Bay Ships here will do the entire job from prelim design to production and will give a good price estimate for the entire job to start. But they will only touch small projects if there is nothing else on at all and then only Alloy.

If you are not a yard it's a hard call to give a good estimate unless it's based on a recent prior completion. As a designer it is advisable to distance yourself from the building and just consult or you end up carrying the entire project on your shoulders.

cheers

[Raggi_Thor]

40USD per kg, 40.000 per ton.
That's a good estimate FOR SIMPLE BOATS :-)

[Willallison]

I put this forward because in my studies we were taught that the designer usually prepares some preliminary drawings (plan, profile, inboard profile and a couple of construction sections) and basic specs, which would then be sent out to prospective builders to put bids in, or provide estimates.
However, I have a mate who recently visited a one of the better known Australian builders (in Queensland) who said that few builders are prepared to do this anymore - as it frequently ends up in an argument between builder, owner and designer later.
I can fully understand this position, as without all the info it would be very difficult to provide a sensible price - at least not a firm one.

But surely - as with the $40/kg that Raggi suggests - there must be some basic rule of thumb estimates that people use.

Mike - I take all your points - and a trip around the local few will definitely be a good place to start....

[Raggi_Thor]

Material can be 5 to 15 $ for glass, 3 to 5 $ for polyester, 10 to 20 $ for epoxy and so on.
Labour can be 0.5 to 1.5 hour per kg, depending on size, complexity and method.
How much is outfitting per kg?

[Willallison]

ok - point taken
like I said - it was a how long is a piece of string question

[Alik]

40-50$ per 1 kg is same You look similar boats in catalog. This is very rough, as equipment differs in price a lot.

We used to calculate hull structure - 10-12 USD for CSM-reinforces FRP per 1 kg. All big equipment should be calculated one by one, adding 15-30% for small parts.

[Seafra]

Raggi_Thor,

I remember you making a similar statement, but I'm still left somewhat confused by it. I can think of a quick handful of 22' sailboats right off that sell new for half of that 40K figure and weigh 2-3K lbs.

Am I comparing apples to oranges by using mass-scale production boats like catalina capri as my price-guide?

[D'ARTOIS]

It depends on a number of parameters: most yards today do not produce anymore the casco; i.e. bare hull - they subcontract the hull mostly.
Your basis of calculation will be the total of cost of man hours plus material plus profitmargin.
Take always 5% as a safetymargin - on every part of the construction.
There are yards and yards.......