May/June 2019 Marine Fabricator - 15

Katie Bradford, owner of Custom
Marine Canvas, recalls a job that in
hindsight she might have not taken.
Located in Noank, Conn., the company
designs and builds canvas products for
boats. It also does some residential work,
such as outdoor kitchen covers (one very
involved cover ran $10,000) and covers
for pool equipment, fountains, sculptures,
spas, planters and outdoor furniture.
Everything the company does is custom.
"It's difficult for me to say no-I want
to please everyone," Bradford says. "But
one I should have turned down was making propeller covers for nuclear submarines for the Navy. They were too large for
our shop; we rented an off-site facility.The
drawings we were given were terrible, full
of errors. It was just two covers and it took
my top producers five weeks. I'm lucky my
employees didn't quit over it."
Custom Marine ended up making
money on the project because she was
able to accurately estimate the cost of the
materials. And since she had no idea how
long the job would take, she estimated
the labor "really high," which drove the

profit, says Bradford, mentioning also
that the company didn't bid against any
other shops.
Risks and rewards
Pricing can be one of the trickiest areas
when it comes to custom work, says Liz
Diaz, owner of North Beach Marine
Canvas. Located in San Francisco,
Calif., the company serves the yachting
community with custom interiors, as well
as works on some residential projects.
"The pricing needs to be high enough
to allow for all the aspects that go into
making something that doesn't exist. It
must be charged at an exclusive level,"
says Diaz.
It also helps if there's a "spark" between
the company and the customer, and
that the customer likes the employees'
ideas and working with them, says Diaz.
However, this isn't a guarantee of smooth
sailing. Clients can suddenly change
their minds about a project, representing
another area of risk.
"This can alter the original chemistry,"
she explains. "Hours are spent before the

If the client
from the get-go
is trying to
get something
for nothing,
walk away.
They need to
realize this is
a one-of-a-kind
non-massproduced product.
Steven Wayne, Southern Stitch
Canvas & Upholstery LLC

The residential owners of this fountain
wanted to protect it from the elements
and approached Custom Marine
Canvas for a solution. The company
designed an easy-on/easy-off cover
using WeatherMAX® and heavy
vinyl chafe patches.
Photos: Custom Marine Canvas.
www.marinefabricatormag.com | 15



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May/June 2019 Marine Fabricator

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