Updated: August 2026
A shipyard quotation is a scope document with a number attached, and the number is the least informative part. What decides your final cost is which items are inside the scope, which are excluded, and whether payments are released against verifiable physical progress rather than against dates in a calendar.
- Milestones should be observable facts — keel laid, frames complete, deck laid, engines installed — not months.
- Exclusions are where budgets die: electronics, tender, sails, delivery, classification and owner-supplied items.
- A quotation without a written specification schedule is a price for an undefined vessel.
What a complete quotation contains
A quotation worth comparing has four parts. It has a specification schedule listing the principal dimensions, construction method, timber species, engine and generator makes and models, tankage, and the systems included. It has a scope statement saying what the yard will do and what it will not. It has a payment schedule tied to build stages. And it has a programme with dates for the major gates. A one-page price letter has none of these, and comparing two such letters tells you nothing except which yard is more optimistic.
The specification schedule matters more than owners expect. Two quotations can differ by a large margin purely because one specifies a named engine with a service network in Indonesia and the other specifies a generic equivalent. The same applies to generators, air-conditioning, water makers, anchoring equipment and glazing. Where the schedule says “or similar”, ask what similar means, in writing.
Milestones that can be photographed
The safest payment schedules are tied to physical states that anybody can verify with their own eyes. Keel laid. Frames erected and faired. Hull planking complete. Deck beams and deck laid. Superstructure closed. Main engines and generators installed and aligned. Tanks pressure-tested. Systems commissioned. Sea trial completed. Handover accepted. Each of those is a fact, not an opinion, and each can be evidenced with dated photographs and a short inspection note.
Where schedules are tied to elapsed months instead, the owner carries the risk of slow progress while continuing to fund it. Where they are tied to percentages without definition, the argument simply moves to what fifty per cent means. A reasonable structure keeps a meaningful final tranche, often ten per cent or more, payable only after sea trials and the closing of an agreed snag list, because that is the money that makes the last ten per cent of work actually happen.
The exclusions that quietly rebuild your budget
Low quotations are usually not dishonest; they are narrow. The items most often excluded are navigation and communication electronics, the tender and its davits or crane, sails and running rigging, soft furnishings and linen, dive compressors and equipment, classification and survey fees, tonnage measurement, registration and flagging costs, insurance during construction, delivery voyage costs and crew, and any owner-supplied equipment handling. Individually each looks small. Together they can move a total materially.
The discipline is simple. Take the exclusions list and price it as a separate budget line before comparing quotations. A yard quoting a higher number with electronics, sails and commissioning included may be the less expensive vessel by the time it floats. This is also the moment to decide what you genuinely want to supply yourself; owner-supplied equipment saves margin but transfers responsibility for lead times, damage and compatibility.
Variation orders, and how to keep them rare
Every build has changes. The question is whether they are handled as a documented process or as a conversation on the slipway. A workable variation procedure requires that any change be described in writing, priced before work starts, and signed by both sides with its schedule impact stated. That last element is the one owners forget: a change that costs a modest sum but adds five weeks to the critical path can be far more expensive than it looks.
The most effective way to keep variations rare is to spend longer on the general arrangement and the specification before signing. Time spent arguing over a drawing is inexpensive; time spent arguing over installed joinery is not. Owners who freeze the design at contract, and accept that late aesthetic improvements will cost real money, consistently finish closer to their original budget.
Retention, warranty and the first year
A build contract should say what happens after delivery. Timber vessels move and settle in their first season; systems reveal their weak points under real load. A warranty period with a defined scope, a named contact and an agreed process for returning the vessel for rectification is worth negotiating carefully. So is the treatment of consumables and wear items, which are usually excluded and should be stated as such rather than discovered later.
Where a retention sum is held, it should be released against a defined event rather than a date, and both sides should know exactly what closing the list means. Ambiguity here is what turns an otherwise successful build into a sour final month.
Frequently asked questions
What payment structure is normal for a phinisi build?
Structures vary, but a common shape is an initial payment at contract signature, then tranches released at verifiable physical stages through the build, with a meaningful final tranche held until sea trials are complete and the snag list is closed. What matters is not the exact split but that each release is tied to evidence rather than to elapsed time.
Should I pay in USD or Indonesian rupiah?
Contracts for international owners are commonly denominated in USD, which removes currency ambiguity from the payment schedule. If any part of the scope is quoted locally, the contract should state the exchange basis and who carries currency movement, because on a two-year programme that risk is not trivial.
Is a fixed price safer than a cost-plus arrangement?
A fixed price is safer when the specification is genuinely complete, because the yard then carries the estimating risk. When the design is still evolving, a fixed price simply produces a long variation list. Cost-plus can work well with a trusted yard and strong owner-side supervision, but it requires open books and a disciplined approvals process.
Who should hold the classification and survey relationship?
It should be named in the contract. Many owners keep the relationship with the surveyor on their own side, so that inspection reports arrive unfiltered, while the yard remains responsible for meeting the standard. Whatever the arrangement, it should be written down before the keel is laid.
Related reading
Speak to the build desk
If you are comparing quotations from two or more yards, a line-by-line scope comparison usually changes the ranking. Send the vessel length, intended operating area and target delivery window to our build desk on WhatsApp at +62 811-3941-4563 or by email at [email protected], and you will receive a written response covering yard options, realistic programme dates and the documents required before any money moves. All figures are quoted in USD.
Who you contract with
Phinisi Shipyard is a specialist maritime brand and digital platform under Juara Holding Group. Construction, new-build project management, supervision, handover and vessel-sale contracts are issued by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara. Technical and commercial vessel management is contracted separately through PT Komodo Vessel Management, and brokerage, central agency and charter marketing through PT Komodo Bahari Nusantara. Separate contracts, separate fees, separate ledgers, one integrated maritime ecosystem.
