Charging for Serivces

[NINman]

I was wondering what you would charge for some simple recovery or boat work at a local small town marina? The work I would mainly do would be, recovery of personal items. Putting on a new prop and what not. Looking for mooring buoys and anchors. I don't know what the going rate is. Thanks in advance.

 

[jbd]

Can't help with prices but wondering if you are aware of the regulations involving commercial diving? This is what you would be doing. Pipedope and some other would probably be able to answer questions along these lines.

 

[NINman]

Sure I am ... this would be under the table kind of stuff ... and we all know that goes on alot in other professions.

 

[Ron Brandt]

We retrieve cars and snowmobiles that have gone thru the ice.Insurance pays us $1500 per vehicle.(cdn dollars).

The personal items and the prop I would charge about $500.

Be careful of the commercial diving regs. What we do here is classed as light commercial . For the vehicle recovery we use a 3-4 person crew at minimum.

I would class the personal items and the prop in the same catagory as pool repair of golf balling.

Ron

 

[jrtonkin]

Ok, not that I'm in a position to do this sort of work, but now you've gone and made me curious...

What sort of regulations are there, and why? I.e. why is someone with scuba gear doing simple recovery / installation work considered any different from somebody with a paint-sprayer taking the occasional job doing houses?

As long as you complete the work that you contract to do, report the income to Revenue Canada, and are carefull to not accept a contract for work at a depth/time that could cause health-problems, what would the legal issues be?

Now the insurance companies might have a few things to say, since you're no longer diving recreationally, but is there anything beyond that?

Jamie

 

[kodiak]

When I was fishing up north, I was about the only fisherman that carried diving gear on the boat, so I was alway getting calls to dive down and cut line or web out of the wheel for someone. But I usally was paid 150.00 to 300.00 back then for about 5 min's of work.

 

[Bob_Harris]

Hi NINman,

Obviously you are inending to do this as a "hobby" rather than a money making (ocmmercial) venture.
I have done this many times in the past and approach it as follows:

Always make sure the other party understands you are an amatuer recreational diver doing them a favour for which any paymnet will be considered a token of their appreciation to offset your costs.
I base my charges on a combination of the time the job takes, the value of the item and the cost to me in time, inconvenience and expendables.

For example, if I was at the marina after a days diving and someone asked me to recover a fishing rod then my costs would be low as my gear was already salty and I would have enough spare air in a used tank ot do the job. If the rod was a cheapy I would probably charge them $NZ20 and if it were an expensive game rod perhaps $NZ50. The exception to this of course is if she happens to be particularly attractive...

If asked to recover an anchor while on a dive trip (a reasonably common occurance) I would have to consider what effect it would have on my days diving. If the anchor was in 100 feet then thats half my dive trip gone and I probably wouldn't consider it for less than $200.

If someone asked me to change a prop and I had to drive to the marina, do the job, return home and scrub the antifouling off my gear then I would suggest they pay the $NZ150 it costs to have their boat slipped for the afternoon because it be be cheaper than me doing it.

I love diving and get a kick out of using my sills to hlep someone so money is never the real issue for me, in fact most of my payments come in a bottle.

One thing I will NEVER do is put my self at risk for someone else. If the job even comes close to my comfort level then I will back away from it.


Bob

 

[voidware]

Down in Florida, my uncle used to charge "$100 an hour, min 2 hours" to go down and hook up cars that fell in lakes. He got a license and only got business because the police divers ere "$150 an hour, min 3 hours" and insurance companies are really cheap.

brandon

 

[Bob3]

Be sure to stay on the good side of the marina operator. Swapping out a prop can cost him some bucks & take bread off his table, something most folks can get irate over.
If there's a commercial diving outfit in your town, they also get ticked over scoobie divers cutting in on their territory. They're paying a pile of bucks in worker's comp & liability insurance, and its hard to compete with a guy working out of the trunk of his car.
Nobody's going to mind if you mess with the small stuff, like wayward tools & fishing poles. Stay away from any industrial work, the vehicle recovery is border line, depending on your area.
It's best to cut a deal with the tow truck operators than with the insurance company directly. It may cost you a couple bucks but it'll get you out of the crosshairs. (maybe)
Police divers doing commercial work on the taxpayer clock can get their team's exemption yanked by OSHA, average shutdown time for the whole team is about a year.

 

[danceswithoctopus]

When diving in a marina, be sure you know how to test for stray current. I don't mean water current, either. Electrocution can really mess up your day. If you don't know what I'm talking about, stay out of the water in the marina. And don't rely on the marina operator or boat owner to know either.

I do marine maintenance, mostly involving galvanic protection and marine electrical. Marinas can be very dangerous places to dive. I do hop in the water occasionally, but only after checking the boat I'm working on and the nearby boats carefully.

That said, I don't know if you've ever swapped out a prop underwater, but be careful. On the bigger boats (40'+), they're pretty heavy and need to be tied off. It usually requires a prop removing tool as well, even for the smaller inboards and sailboats. And there are some boats that have to have the rudder removed before the prop. There's also the risk of dropping something into the muck. I disagree with Ron that a prop is in the same category as golf balls. The item recovery, on the other hand . . . .

Okay, I charge $50 to splash, and $100/hour after that. But I'm paying insurance and stuff too. And I can guarantee my work. I am also a member of ABYC and adhere to their standards for boat repairs/installations.

It doesn't sound like you're interested in getting in the way of a commercial outfit. But as Bob3 says, stay on the good side of the marina operator. You might consider sticking to the recovery and finding buoy anchors and stuff like that. (Watch out for buoy mooring maintenance, if the boat gets loose you might incur liability, not just from the person who you did the work for, either.) Be safe, and don't get in over your head