Performance Boat Center is HIRING!! Tech and Service Writers
 

Come join the National and World Champion team at Performance Boat Center. PBC is currently expanding its Service Department. We are seeking qualified and preferably certified technicians as well as a service writer/assistant service manager. Pay will be determined by experience. $10-20 per hr. Jobs will be diverse as we work on high end performance boats, cruiser/yachts and center consoles. Experience with Mercury stern drives and Outboards is a must. Service writers/assistant managers will communicate with customers and employees, schedule work orders and billing, order parts, and ensure our customers are getting the best service possible. Jobs are full time basis, 401K plans and INS benefits included. email resumes to [email protected]

Can I get an employee discount on matching 42x and a 41GTR ?

Soo you work on High end boats that are most likely billed at $130 an hour by the Mercury book and you want to pay a Mercury Tech $20 an hour?

My dads Mexican cleaning Lady makes more than that.

No wonder your posting a help wanted Ad here.

Damn, I pay my unskilled labor $18/hr in Memphis, with the benefits you listed plus vacation. Good luck.

marina down the street from me.
90 an hour tech (wyotech).
140 an hour (mercury trained tech).

parts service and price of new boats are over the top. i don't know why, what's involved, or what it takes to be in that industry
all i know is the sign under the golden arches say "over 1 billion served" not 1 served for a billion.

I never understood why working on and especially building boats get paid so poorly. $20.00 a hour straight time is big money in the boat world yet a Flat Rate auto tech makes $27.50 plus. And on the building end especially painting they don’t pay ****! I’d much rather paint a Honda Civic fender than sand and paint and buff a 52 MTI yet guess what pays more.

I fixed it for you

These kinds of threads should make everyone reflect... probably one of the busiest performance boat dealers in the country. :bong:

:popcorn:

Your guys that did the work on my trailer in your old shop sure didn’t screw around either. Never seen leaf spring swap on a triple axle happen so quick... let alone with the boat on still:evilb:

Couple things attribute to it. On the building end, much of the labor of building mass produced boats is fairly unskilled general labor. It's doing the same thing over and over, and following basic instructions. Intrepid boats is about 5 minutes from where I'm sitting now and there are very few people in that facility making even 20 bucks an hour. And most of the people there have no speciality skills. They could be working at a boat factory, a furniture factory, or bagging groceries next week. They're just going through the motion of the task.
On the service side I'm not as sure about it. My shop does marine audio, lighting and electronics and some electrical rigging type work too. So we're not true service work but it's sort of close. My best guy was making about $20/hr straight time, and aside from going onto a commission or flat rate type scale there wasn't much room to pay him more. You can't really compare a flat rate auto tech because while they might list at $28/hr they often get flagged less hours than the job actually takes...and of course sometimes its the other way around too. But a lot of flat rate auto techs actual hourly rate is sub-20$.
A big part of it is there is basically no margin on boat parts. We make decent profit on audio and lighting, but other stuff we make squat. I'm sure bigger dealers get better programs but across the board I don't think anyone is making a ton of money on parts. Any customer can typically buy a Lowrance chart/fishfinder for less at ten online stores than I can buy it from the actual Lowrance distributor. If they're not able to make 40-50 percent on the parts they've got to make it up in the labor, which means paying the tech less.

I bought an o-ring from McMaster car for a 1.50...........Mercury wanted 17.00........ya no profit in parts

Does that profit go in the dealer's pocket or Mercury's pocket though?

I should tell my son to move to the lake, where his wife would rather be if they are paying flat rate mechanics $27+ per hour there. He was a flat rate Honda tech in central IL for over 15 years. Moved to a Ford service writer last year, but after all that time he was just under $20 per hr. Had 401k with some match, medical and vacation,, typical benefits.

So glad I walked away from an auto mechanic career at age 39 ,,,

I was referring to the boat world in general. But yes across the river in St. Louis your son would make much more money. By average writers make $75000+ a year with full medical and pension a body man makes $100000.00 and a refinish tech makes $100000+. But I only speak from my 25 years experience.

so let’s not even say your building a new boat let’s just say your paying $50000-$75000 to paint one. You want me to justify paying kids nothing to do it !the profit margin is stupid. Dave Scott’s old mystic was just repainted for $85000 by $10 a hour kids. mti pays $15-20 a hour to paint a boat and they wonder why the turnover is so bad. A bare hull is around $200000-$250000. So your telling me your paying $750000(minus power ) for unskilled labor to build your million plus boat. And we know $10 a hour guys laid it up. I get it if that’s the industry just doesn’t seem fair for the workers. They see all this money thrown around and don’t get paid ****.

So if boat builders were being paid $35 an hour would the product be better? Considering how many man hours go into a new build wouldn't the extra wages make an already expensive product really overpriced at that point?

If you look at auto workers (keep it non-union for argument sake), if a guy makes $20 on the line assembling Hondas and there is a guy in England assembling Rolls Royces should he make $50 an hour because a Rolls Royce costs more than a Honda? Is the car better because the employee is paid more? If both jobs are identical, lets say they are both the guy that puts the 4 rims on the car, torques them down and moves on to the next car should they be paid any more than the tire guy at the local tire store?

Damn I pay my extra help $20 p/he to hand me tools and clean up when I'm done

I should build boats for a living...my landscape crew members make a lot more money then these folks building, painting, etc..boats... The entire boat industry is a complete rip off.

you are comparing apples to oranges .
big difference between technical and assembly work,,I have been a GM master tech for 31 years now and master tech ASE certified for about 33 years .
you can hire anybody to do assembly work and in a hour or 2 you can walk away from them and they will be able to perform their job,not the same on the technical side it take years and years of training and dedication to get good at it, and believe it or not after all these years I still have to go to school/training every year to keep up with the new technology,but I choose automotive as my career not just my job.but I have made a great living at.
nobody that is worth anything is going to work for $10.00 -$20.00 and take his job serious or care about the product he is delivering.

Nobody ever said fair, but really....how do you define fair? If the boats are being produced properly and in a timely-as-possible fashion by cheap labor why would a business pay more? Business isn't charity.
Also you have to remember in hobby market segments there is always up and down times. You have to make your money while the making is good. When those lean times hit and boats aren't selling those low wage guys can go off and mow lawns, dig holes, bag groceries, etc etc. The ones on top who are paying 100k a month for building leases, insurnace, etc are still on the hook for that.

I agree with all of your points 100%.......the point was the labor rate for boat building/auto building doesn't correspond with the quality or end price of the product. Paying more might be morally right but it takes something already expensive and prices it out of the market.

Repair techs certainly do have a higher skill level than assembly workers.

As a point of reference, C-List has this same post for workers and right below it was Marine Concepts advertising for $9 to sew boat covers. The area simply doesn't support high wage jobs in the marine industry.

Marine Concepts, a growing company located in Kaiser, MO, is searching for candidates who would enjoy sewing and want to become part of our team. We manufacture boat covers for the surrounding area and are adding dealers yearly. Currently we are seeking seamstress/sewers. Experience is helpful but we will train serious inquires. This position is not production line assembly. You will learn how to sew together an entire boat cover from start to finish. Attention to detail is necessary as well as the ability to MANUAVER up to 50 pounds.

This is fulltime work M-F with weekends off.

$9.00

Wow, in a few week this won't even be minimum wage here in Michigan.

What is the labor rate per hour from the OP shop / dealership ?. 150 per hour is my guess ? I understand its a big shop and high over head, But surely there is alot of deep money backing here. I would question mark the quality of work and the end results of a certified tech ONLY being paid 20 bucks per hour. No way in hell a good certified tech trained whom paid his dues in classes - online pre course requirements and the many current classes needed that passes all the testing for certifications is signing up for 20 bucks per hour or 20 bucks per billable hour . Anyways good luck hiring as I know one of the hardest things to do is hire someone extremely great at working on boats for the past 10 years. You have a better shot at winning the lottery. Just saying been there many of times

$9 a hour! Holly hell I made $9 a hour in highschool. That was 1981-82,,,,

I could give you an example of the quality of work but at the request of the victim I'll refrain. Needless to say they'll never see his boat again.

Damn dude, you're old as dirt..................................but still a couple years behind me.https://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/...ons/icon10.gif

$9/hr in HS in the early 80's? I was making $4/hr. which was more than minimum wage at the time and thought I was shatting in tall cotton.

1985 minimum wage in Florida was 3.35 an hour. It shot up to like $3.70 within a year or so. I switched jobs and got $5 an hour and I was living the dream!

By late 80's I was working at a wealthy country club as a golf bag attendant/cart guy. I was pulling down $400 a week in season working 3.5 days a week then detailing cars for the members for another 100-200 a week. Washing, armour all tires, clean glass, vacuum interior $15-20 but smart enough to know waxing was to be avoided (too much work, too little return!). The regulars were great as I just took the car every week while they were playing so I had a 4-5 hour window to get it done. Some guys never even had passengers (vac lines were still in the carpet from the week before!). Got to drive 911/928s, a 308/328 on occasion, and plenty of Vettes/Lincoln LSC coupes, etc.

$9,10, 20 an hour today for a serious job is a joke.......

Yes , I was working at a apartment complex painting, helping with the renovations etc. had started there 2 years before taking care of the yard and whatever work needed done.
Made it easy to dump money in my 70 SS Chevelle clone and have a winter beater. Then motorcycles.

I just want a ride in the race boat.......:D.........and have cash.......:champs:

Guys, its a simple range to get a conversation rolling. Pay is based on experience, everything is negotiable. If interested or know someone who might be?? Great send them my way, I'd love to talk with them.

This mechanic needs to call! :D