Jet ski winterization prices ?

[WFO Speedracer]

I want some thoughts here , to preface this I am in the dirt poor deep South Alabama so keep that in mind , I realize in other parts of the world people can and will pay a lot more .

I have been charging $110 to show up on site and winterize jet skis , two jet ski minimum , I can't do that for one lonely ski unless it is in the same neighborhood , my feelings are that my price is way low and I need to go up , when I Google how much the price for this service is it says $600 -800 which I find utterly ridiculous . As you know prices on everything have gone way high and my prices have not in years , I now feel it's time to do so.

So I am talking about a straight up Winterization on a two stroke or four stroke watercraft , no oil changes, nothing fancy , fuel stabilization, antifreeze, fog the engine, spray it with protective lubricant and disconnect the battery , jet pump oil change is included on Seadoos for an extra cost. Barring having to change the jet pump oil It is probably a 30 minute job in and out , there are of course shop supplies costs to put in the mix

I can tell you from yesterday that the shop supplies run cost me $45.00 , that is probably enough to do 4 or five skis , maybe more than that on the fuel stabilizer , I can get the price down considerably by buying in bulk such things as fogging oil and fuel stabilizer have then I would to have enough winterizations to make it worth my while.

So I know most peeps here winterize their own stuff or ride it all year , but of those of you that may have had that service done in the past or others here who actually perform this service , how much did you pay or more importantly how much do you think it should actually cost ?

 

[fx1mark]

I think you don't want to run off your regular customers. If it was me I would charge $150 and see how the customers respond. If everone accepts the increase then I would consider another increase next year. That's my 2 cents.

 

[Myself]

For the basic winterizations, just like you stated, fuel treatment (Lucas ethanol treats more fuel per dollar than Stabil), RV antifreeze, fog engine, unhook battery, and make sure drain plugs are out. On new customers I also do compression check.
2 stroke.......$60 +tax
4 stroke.......$70
4 stroke supercharged........$80
Any oil changes or tuneups are added charges.
Charge battery is an extra $5
I DON"T go to your location or marina for any amount of extra money, I don't want the hassle. Machine MUST be dropped off here.
These will likely all go up some next season.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I was doing them for around $75.00 for Yamahas and Kawis when they were dropping them off at the shop , I think I got around $110 on Seadoos with jet pump oil change , To me $150 per to show up on location and do them sounds reasonable , it's convivence store pricing if you want a cold drink it's $1.50 , if you want to go to the grocery store and put them in the fridge yourself it's less than half that.

FX1Mark , I am not that worried about running customers off , each year the guys who are going to winterize with me do so , but no matter how much I preach it all year long to every single customer year after year there are less and less winterizations to do , now honestly I have not gone after it with signs , flyers etc like I have in the past but still for some stupid reason people seem to think that four strokes don't need winterizing and regrettably that is where the market went.

 

[Myself]

Yes, I think $150 'on call' to get winterized is reasonable.

 

[faceplant2]

Sounds reasonable.

 

[Pro-pulsion]

Reasonable? You're practically a saint my friend =) Up here in Canadaland to do a I charge $250+ supplies for on site service only. I have nowhere to have skis dropped off at home so all my work is done on site. I refuse to do mechanical repairs though because the amount of back n forth trips for determining the issues, ordering parts, pick up parts and return to the customer a second time only to find the deeper I go the more wrong I find resulting in more trips and more parts orders plus pickup trips, all my earnings go straight into the fuel tank. My policy is the ski must be running, if I arrive and it's not there's an automatic $60 fuel charge for wasting my time when I could get a running ski completed in the time it took to drive 45+ minutes to an essentially catfish call to see if I could fix the ski and get it running... basically they expected me to give them a free service and yes it has happened. 4-stroke oil up here is $50 retail for semisynthetic and $100 minimum for full synthetic, filters are about $25, seadoos should have the orings replaced every oil change on the filter housing cap and bolt...I forget how much those are, fuel stabilizer is about $18 a bottle retail, spark plugs are anywhere from $15 each to $50 each retail depending on the ski and what the oem calls for, fogging oil is about $10 per can retail and battery disconnect. By the time I've spent the hour and a half doing it all plus my fuel and time going to their house or cottage I have to ask $250 for the time alone. The bill usually is around the $375-500 range up here. I don't get any discounts on parts, fluids or supplies so the customer has to pay what I pay and I can't throw on any added costs to it because they could just as easily buy the supplies themselves and then I would be shooting myself in the foot and losing customers for adding costs where I really can't and shouldn't be. If you're driving to their location and doing a winterizing for $150 you're giving them a nice break. I know what you mean when you say your not in a very rich side of the country, Canada has been that way for the last 9 years. One U.S. gallon of gas up here in the lower priced side is around $5.65 as of today before the prices dropped by a few cents. But the owners know their skis are luxury expenses that come with matching prices on this stuff. They're either going to understand that and accept it or they won't and learn the hard way when they get Jim Bob's buddy's uncle's nephew that saw a ski once about 8 years ago to go try and do this work for them at cut throat prices. In the end they're still going to pay full pop for a real experienced mechanic to repair the screw ups the nephew did and it'll really hurt their ego when they do. Some life lessons need to happen, the customers that stay true to you know you're the right way to go and that's why they stay with you, the ones that bail... they'll be back, head hung low and looking a lot smaller from the deflation admitting they should have just paid the extra $50 bux and had it done right the first time.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I usually don't do onsite repairs either , you can never have enough parts to finish the job. I will post pics from yesterday escapades in the what does your view look like today thread .

I winterized two skis for $125.00 each, it took me about 30 minutes and the guys mother brought me out two pieces of lemon cake when I was done, some of the nicest people on the plant and I am the only one who has touched these two skis since new. The guy showed up , paid me and left , I called him when I was done.

Customers get one chance to screw up with me , after that I am done, life is way to short for that BS.

Most of my customers are like family and they treat me like family , a lot of them let me use their boat ramps to water test on during the year .

 

[Pro-pulsion]

And that's why you're giving them an amazing price. For anyone else I would be thinking at least $180 plus supplies and as always, a stipulation of the ski must run reliably every time you try to start it or it's an automatic $60 fuel charge for wasting your time.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I will only give a price like that if there are two or more skis to do , for one ski I have to go up on that price to make it worth my while , there is no way around it.

I wish I still had the deal with the place on 280 outside Alex City , I used to make $1000 a day there without even breaking a sweat , she sold the place and all that went down the drain. I would show up and winterize about ten skis in one place and done , that not counting oil changes and other work I did there .

At any rate I am probably going to $150 next season , winterizing is almost done for this year.

 

[fx1mark]

This is on the Lay lake facebook group. I assume he comes to you.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

This is on the Lay lake facebook group. I assume he comes to you.

No Lay lake is up by Clanton , between Montgomery and Birmingham off of I -65, my general work area is from Greenville to Alexander city mostly serving Lake Martin , Lake Jordan , the Coosa and Alabama rivers.

Full disclosure when all the theft went on at the shop in on Redland Rd in Elmore county , I pretty much folded the tents up and went home , about $12,000 of skis and parts went missing and with me not being independently wealthy it took me a few years to get all the kinks ironed back out.

I have literally just been coasting ever since , all my business was word of mouth anyway , I stay busy from years of doing business in the same location, I still use it for drop offs and pickups but it is nothing like I used to be , this year I am about to jump back in but I will be doing much less on the repair end of things .

No more complete engine rebuilds , no more crazy a$$ four stroke electrical diagnostic , I will focus be focusing my efforts on general service and repair , oil changes, Winterizations, wear rings and starter replacements , carb rebuilds , electrical diagnostic on two stroke units only , top end rebuilds on two strokes only , upholstery repairs and I will continue to bring old non runners back to life , my main focus is going to be buying and selling used watercraft and I will pick and choose what I want to work on.

I have an excellent location centrally located between Lake Martin and Lake Jordan as well as the Coosa river , about ten minutes will get you to any of them from my place .

I have a pretty good background in woodworking, I have a complete cabinet shop at my place down here , my intent is to turn part of my shop into a showroom for some of the custom pieces I will start making and selling to my lake customers , I have done this on and off over the years and done quite well with it.

Woodworking seems to have taken a turn over the last few years and a lot of the stuff that I see selling such as river tables and custom wood - turned vases and bowls are using epoxy resin and pigments which is right up my alley , I intend to explore some of those options , some of those river tables are well over $2000 each , I also make things such as tables of driftwood which I have sold over the years .

 

[fx1mark]

I meant, I assume he comes to the customer for that price. It turns out he does. (I live near lay lake myself)

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Ok now I understand , thanks , one point of note , there is a lot more money on Lake Martin than on Lay lake or Lake Jordan especially on the Alex City end of the lake .

So far I have settled on $125.00 for this year and have been met by zero resistance, I may consider upping it to $140.00 or $150.00 next year , I will be back at the Lkae next year so if they want a discount they are welcome to bring it to me and drop it off .

I can remember winterizing them for as little as $75.00 years ago but everything has gone up and I need to do so as well to compensate.

 

[fx1mark]

Ok now I understand , thanks , one point of note , there is a lot more money on Lake Martin than on Lay lake or Lake Jordan especially on the Alex City end of the lake .

So far I have settled on $125.00 for this year and have been met by zero resistance, I may consider upping it to $140.00 or $150.00 next year , I will be back at the Lkae next year so if they want a discount they are welcome to bring it to me and drop it off .

I can remember winterizing them for as little as $75.00 years ago but everything has gone up and I need to do so as well to compensate.

Looks like he is getting a lot of customers by posting on the lay lake facebook group. Free advertising.

 

[rodry]

I′dsay175-$250 for two skis is more realistic, factoring in your supplies and time. You're providing a service, and gas prices alone are killing everyone. Don't be afraid to raise your prices.

 

[Jhucke]

Doesn't sound unreasonable at all. Look at boats for example. I know someone that took their fishing boat into a service center and it was over $700 which basically was just an oil change, gear case oil change, filter, and fuel stabilizer.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I really need to call a couple of dealerships and find out what they are charging for Winterizations , I have a feeling it is sky high.

 

[Myself]

My local dealer charges $225 for a basic 2 stroke winterization.......I've seen the bill!

 

[WFO Speedracer]

These dealer around here won't even work on two strokes.