Case Study – Project Management
The Challenge
In Christmas 2007 Phil and Kristina Challands decided it was finally practical to convert their cruising dreams into reality. Having found a Lagoon Catamaran 410 S2 on the South Coast of England they then set about the matter of getting “Songline” ready for their 3 year voyage back to their home in Brisbane, Australia.
But what about the risks involved? A lack of local knowledge in the inevitable upgrade of any boat purchase was almost a show stopper. Expensive mistakes could easily erode the value they had gained buying overseas...who were the better engineers, riggers, marine electricians; what is a reasonable price to pay in an unfamiliar location; what is the best way to source equipment.
The Solution
During discussions, the broker, Ancasta introduced them to Chris Warwick of Universal Yachting a local 'project manager' who could assist them with the upgrades they wanted on the yacht.
The Result
“Whilst our new boat was less than two years old it had rarely left the marina. We put together our wish list which was pages long. Chris listened to all our ideas, discussed the type of sailing and cruising we envisaged, made innumerable suggestions, discouraged our more fanciful ideas and then went away to put together a works programme and preliminary costings.
April in the UK is not the best month there to plan a marine upgrade. Marine tradesmen and marine engineers of all types are booked out far in advance. We cannot pretend that there were not delays, but everybody seemed keen to "fit us in." because of the professional way in which Chris had arranged our program, and because he knew 'which buttons to press when." |
"Our intensive research into Generators, Water Makers, Inverters, Navigation Equipment, Sat Phones, Safety Equipment, EPIRB, Bimini Extensions, Washing Machines, BBQ’s and so on, included advice and pricing both locally and overseas. Every time Chris came up with the better advice and the best prices. His prices meant that we have been able to pay his management fee, have professionals install the equipment on the boat and come out far ahead of anything we found ourselves. His advice certainly meant we now have an incomparably better set up boat than we had initially envisaged.
During our shakedown cruise the boat and the equipment performed wonderfully. Yes, there have been the inevitable problems but Chris is always available by phone, organising replacement bits and servicemen to fix whatever we might have broken so we'll be ready to head off to the Mediterranean sooner than expected. In the months and years ahead, we expect we'll be ringing Chris from the other side of wherever looking for that broken bit or the name of the best local widget installer.” |
