Specification
Get a specification schedule
Dimensions, construction method, timber species, engine and generator makes and models, tankage and included systems.
Ask what ‘similar’ means
Reading a shipyard contract
Pay for progress, not for months
A quotation is a scope document with a number attached. What decides your final cost is scope, exclusions, and payments released against physical progress.
- 4 Parts of a quotation
- 10 Photographable gates
- 10%+ Final tranche held
- USD Contract currency
4 parts
In a comparable quotation
Scope before price
The number is the least informative part
Your final cost depends on which items sit inside the scope, which are excluded, and whether payments are released against verifiable physical progress rather than dates in a calendar.
A one-page price letter has no specification, scope, payment schedule or programme. Comparing two only shows which yard is more optimistic.
- Milestones are facts Keel laid, frames complete, deck laid, engines installed — not months.
- Exclusions kill budgets Electronics, tender, sails, delivery, classification and owner-supplied items.
- Demand a specification Without a written schedule, the price is for an undefined vessel.
Payment milestones
Gates you can photograph
Each stage is a fact, not an opinion, evidenced with dated photographs and a short inspection note.
- Contract signature
- Initial payment
- Paid against a signed contract with full specification schedule.
- Keel
- Keel laid
- Dated photographs and a short inspection note.
- Frames
- Erected, faired
- Fairness visible along the whole length of the hull.
- Hull and deck
- Planked, decked
- Hull planking complete, deck beams and deck laid.
- Superstructure
- Closed
- Superstructure closed before systems installation proceeds.
- Machinery and tanks
- Fitted, tested
- Engines and generators installed and aligned; tanks pressure-tested.
- Systems
- Commissioned
- Systems commissioned ahead of sea trials.
- Final tranche
- 10% or more
- Released only after sea trials and closing an agreed snag list.
The page sets no fixed split beyond the final tranche. What matters is that every release is tied to evidence rather than elapsed time.
Quotation checklist
Six items before you sign
Check each part of the quotation, then price what it leaves out.
Red flags
Where low quotations get expensive
Low quotations are usually not dishonest; they are narrow. These are the gaps to close.
After delivery
Retention, warranty and the first year
Timber vessels move and settle in their first season, and systems reveal weak points under real load. A build contract should say what happens after delivery, before anyone needs it.
- Defined warranty A stated scope, a named contact and a process for returning the vessel.
- Retention by event Release against a defined event, with ‘closing the list’ agreed by both sides.
- Consumables stated Wear items are usually excluded and should be written down as such.
Yard Selection & Contracts guide
Keep reading this guide
Choose a yard and sign a contract that protects you.
FAQ
Quotation and payment questions
A common shape is an initial payment at contract signature, tranches released at verifiable physical stages, and a meaningful final tranche held until sea trials are complete and the snag list is closed. What matters is that each release is tied to evidence.
Contracts for international owners are commonly denominated in USD, which removes currency ambiguity. If part of the scope is quoted locally, state the exchange basis and who carries currency movement — on a two-year programme that risk is not trivial.
Fixed price is safer when the specification is genuinely complete, because the yard carries the estimating risk. With an evolving design it produces a long variation list. Cost-plus can work with a trusted yard, strong supervision, open books and disciplined approvals.
Name it in the contract. Many owners keep the surveyor relationship on their own side so inspection reports arrive unfiltered, while the yard remains responsible for meeting the standard. Write it down before the keel is laid.
Build desk
Comparing two or more quotations?
A line-by-line scope comparison usually changes the ranking. Send vessel length, operating area and delivery window for a written response.
+62 811-3941-4563 · bd@juaraholding.com