For Sale: Canvas Shop

[Randyonr3]

Well the wife and I decided to get out and go..
We cruised in about a year ago and happened to start a business in a place where someone else had just moved out..
The place is OxBow Marina in the California Delta.. It was by accident that we started.. just started doing repairs and before long, we,re in the business and working 50 to 60 hours a week...Business is good and we've made a bunch of money over the last year but its time to move on..
We started a website but havent to do to much with it.. its at www.stitches-n-snaps.com
This is a turn key business..
if interested, what you would want to do is complete the canvas school, North Coast Marine puts on a great school.. and then come to california and take over.. I'll stay throughout the summer which is the busiest time of the year and then in October, you pay me for the inventory which with all the machines and stock would be less than 10k.. and the business is yours.. sooner if you want to shell out the cash now..
Right now.. January 13 th.... I'm booked for work for the next two months..
This is a "Liveaboard Marina" and we live on our 42.. and I'm sure that when I move on, you can have the slip..
To check out the Marina... do a search on "OxBow Marina in Isleton Ca."
any questions, I can be reached by phone # on the bottom of my web site
This is a great oppertunity for someone young wanting a lifetime business..
By the way, this Marina is an upper class marina with two yacht clubs and and over 500 boats... the owners also own Willow Berm and Korths Pirates Lair marinas.. all within a couple miles of here..
Thanks
Randy and Ramona Garrett

[winterbuoy]

Whats the learning curve on that, I mean I have done a little sewing like cushions but getting paid for it? Were you guys experienced when you started or did you take the course you mention?

[Randyonr3]

Over the last 7 to 10 years as we've been cruising, we've done repairs for people but not really any indepth canvas work..
When we pulled back in here last year, I had no intension or idea to do Marine fabric work.. the wife was the one that had all the knowledge but hers was in clothing..A couple jobs came our way in replacing zippers and then we were asked to do a bimini.. so I read a couple books on Marine fabric and started sewing, with an older Sailrite sailmaker..
The wife said that she need a place to sew and we made an agreement that if she got her sewing room, then I got My photo studio..
we rented the shop for a year and started doing double duty.. you can see the shop on the photo website at www.photo-opps.org
It just happened that more canvas work came in than the photo work so we figured we'd throw it all up in the air and see what came down with a dollar attached... the canvas business won out...
so the answer your question, the learning curv happened really fast, infact over night, and I started doing work the way I would want it done on my boat .. because of that, ther quality I developed was very high but on the other hand, I had, and am still learning through process and error..
I've worked in steel fabrication for years and am a special inspector for concrete and steel.. so putting things together is easy for me..
Why I recomend the school, is because they show you all the shortcuts and the skills needed to do the job.. infact the most inportant part of the canvas build is that of fitting.. to be able to mark where and how to put it all together.. sewing is easy.. its looking at a project and figuring out how to do it.. they teach that in the school..
What I have to offer, is the business know-how and sales of what we do.. and who-ever takes over the business, I'll stick with them for a few months to help along the process..
I myself wanted to go to the school but could never find the time to get away.. so I've had to learn through hard knocks..

[s/v Beth]

Randy, this may be a bit of a thread drift. If so I apologize. I was thinking of sending you a PM, but this info may help you sell your shop, so I will post it here.
question- how much could a person net and gross from a marine sewing business in a year? Assume busy, but not terribly so- say 30 hours a week...

[Randyonr3]

The wife has kept pretty good books on the subject.. We offically opened the business april 1 of last year... It took a month or so for the word to get out that I had opened the shop again, so from May until December we made 32 k on the books.. probably another 3k being cash over the counter... and that was our first summer.. thats 4k a month .. our lease is 700 a month.. and she says we spent 15k in setting the shop up and materials used in that period of time.. So at the end of 8 months, we came out with a few thousand in hand.. but we purchased a few thousand in new sewing machines, and stock..
The shop has been here for over 30 years in the marina.. but the last owner didnt get along with the marina owners very well.. its an upper scale marina and they like to keep the image.. he had his old trucks parked out front, not running and was stacking junk around them.. wouldnt clean it up so they asked him to leave..
we had just happened to come in at the right time to set up the shop..
Back to the origional question..
I think it would be very easy to pull in 800 to 1000 a week, clear if you knew what you were doing and and watched you pennies..
A good example is the job Im doing right now.. Its a full inclosure on a 57 foot Californian.. the top is 11 feet wide and 17 feet long in the fly bridge..
I started on it last Saturday morning and have been working streight through..
I'll have it finished by sunday so thats 8 days of work or roughly 2 weeks..
I charged the guy 4200.00 for the job, and it will probably run in the 1500 to 1800 for materials so I'll come out with somewhere between 2000 and 2500 in my labor cost..
This is one of those business's that you can make money is you work at it or you can say you have a business and set around drinking coffee all day doing nothing..
If you want to bust your butt, you can make good money out of it..
Now thats only my side of the business.. the wife is on the other end of the shop doing her thing... and she pulls in a 1000 or two a month making custom clothing and alterations......

[s/v Beth]

Thanks Randy, That gives me a great idea of what it is like out there. I have set up a few businesses, but never a sewing shop...

[Badsanta]

Thanks for the link for the school. I always wanted to learn this.

[4arch]

Randy, I'm on the east coast and looking to set up something similar withing the next few years. Like newt, I have a few questions that I'll post in the open forum in the hope that the answers would be helpful to a possible buyer.

So my questions are... 1. Have you had to do a lot of marketing and self promotion to keep the business going or has work pretty much walked in on its own since you got the ball rolling? 2. Are there a lot of competitors doing similar work in your area or do you have the market cornered? 3. Before you had some experience under your belt how did you figure out how to write estimates that were high enough to make a profit but low enough to get the job? 4. What's your take on where the economy has taken the business and the outlook for the next few years?

I understand you might not want to answer all of these questions in an open forum but any information you can provide is much appreciated!

[Randyonr3]

I dont mind answering the querstions as it might help someone else out the re in the same condition.. Marketing, yes and no.. I dont like to spend money so I would find ways around some of the costs.. I'm lucky enough to have a marina or 3 marinas belonging to the same people so I would print up a small add and have it sent out with the monthly billing.. so that was free, (except the printing) to place the add in about 1500 homes.. I also offered my photography in trade for space in a couple local mags.. and I made a point on being on the docks or avalable on weekends when people were around.. Joining both the Yacht Clubs here also had its return..
And I've always felt, it takes 75% more money to get a customer than it does to keep one, so I do my share of free repairs or snap replacement... you'd be surprised how replacing a couple snaps on someones boat at no charge will get you the full, $6000.00 dollar canvas job on the guys boat next door.
as cometitors.. there are a couple, but I wish there was another right next door.. compitition breeds more work..
When we started doing work, we not only figured what we would have into the job for labor and material but also what the job would justify..
The wife is doing a set of seat covers for a boat today.. The material will run around $125.. and she will have about 4 hours in the job.. we charge between 45 and 60 dollars an hour to do work but the seat covers wont justify with the owner at a price of $365... but they will at $225.. so instead of pushing the customer out the door, we'll give him a break, and we still make a clean $100 for a mornings work..
so sometimes you dont make the work on the front end but the customer will walk away with nothing but good things to say about us, and word of mouth is some of the best advertising you can get..
As far as the ecomony....And I'll probably ketch crap about this.. but we're in this mess because we put ourselves there.. and the only way out is to get down on your hands and knees and crawl out.. The labor force we had back in the 40s and 50s knew how to work, and they wernt afraid of it, no matter what you had to do..
I have a company here that I'm willing to almost giving away.. with the inventory of all Im asking to get out of it..and that can be paid for over time...
and I havent had anyone serious willing to take it over.. why, because its work, and some of it is hard work, and sometimes long hours.. but the work is there, and I'll almost bet, my business will go to someone who crossed over the border withing the last couple years that wants to make a new start..
We Americans have gotton soft, and we'll bitch about someone comming in from another county taking our jobs when the fact is, we feel to proud to get down on our knees to do the same job at the same cost..
I see the unemployment growing but there is a sign along the road out here looking for field workers and the sign has been there for months....
Awhile back I was looking for some help around here as things have become backed up and as I stated, I'm booking jobs 2 months out.. But every person that came in didnt want to work a % of what they did.. they wanted a hourly pay with bennifits and heven forbid if I asked them to work a weekend..
And if I bid a job at 45 to 60 per hour.. there making 22.50 to 30 dollars an hour..
I didnt have anyone willing to work. I even asked a guy who was out standing on the corner with a sign in his hand, (says "unemployed-please help") I offered him $50.00 to wash a boat I was working on.. he turned it down, saying it wasnt worth it for him to give up his space on the corner..
So back to the question.. economy...the problem isnt the encomy, its people.....

[s/v Beth]

Randy- excellent post about the working individual. I have found the same to be true. Finding someone who will accept responsiblity for his or her actions is key. I bet you sell to a former business owner. If I wasn't required to work here I would be there tomorrow. I analysized your business model with my hot shot economics son- he thinks you have a moving enterprise....

[4arch]

Randy, thanks for all your insights. I'd be all over taking over your shop if it wasn't 2,700 miles away!