We came to Australia for two reasons. One to haul Arabella out and do some maintenance and two to explore Australia as a potential new home. The plan was to use a professional company to managed the work scope whilst we explored the country. So its fair to sat we were really looking. Eyes wide open. For lack of a better word we were judging Australia.

Lets start by setting expectations. We had heard so much about the amazing The Boat Works. And in fairness with all the amazing hype you set the bar pretty high. If one thing is certain, boat yards are not the easiest places in the world to go to. Often you experience is underwhelming so i guess we were very excited to come to The Boat Works. It is also one of the very few yards in the Southern Hemisphere that are wide enough to lift Arabella out the water. Upon arrival you clearly see why there is all the hype. It is immaculate and clean. The place is huge but feels more like a shopping mall than a boat yard. The best description I can come up with is that it is the luxury 5 star resorts in the world of boat yards. It is hard to imagine any other facility as good as this in the world.

But no matter how pretty and organised a place can be you are only going remember your time based on the experience you had with the people working on your boat. Sadly this is best described as AWFUL.

The company is called SigTech and was actually recommended by someone I trust in Australia. They have subsequently apologised and vowed never to recommend in the future. Sadly, however the company themselves have never actually apologised for anything. Not even after our family was stranded on the Great Barrier Reef with no power and no mobile reception. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Rather let me try tell you how this all happened.

We were short on time, as you know from previous posts and I needed some work done on the boat. Typically we try put a very detailed list together each year and get the works done. Normally I would be the one project managing but this year to save time, I asked this company (we interviewed 3 companies and selected this one) to help us. Long before our arrival (6 weeks) we had provided a detailed work scope and project worksheet. Nothing was left to chance. All the documentation was provided by me to ensure the works could happen smoothly without me being around.

Project management is not complicated. It is essentially communication and planning. Planning what needs to be ordered when and what order the works will take place. And most importantly communicating regularly with the relevant parties. Well it is safe to say that I never received a single correspondence without prompting and at times begging the company to update the progress sheet. I knew things were going wrong early and try to put pressure but the more I pushed the more they went silent. And finally the owner of the company just disappeared and went on holiday with his kids. He never even bothered to tell us and we never ever heard from him ever again. Not a single word still today. Gone. I don’t want to bore you with the details but to say I was disappointed would be a gross understatement. I was appalled, shocked and even embarrassed for some of the working team. This was the most unprofessional bunch of idiots I have ever worked with and without proper commissioning of the boat we were left stranded at sea with no power and no idea what was wrong. This didn’t just happen once but actually twice because of simple basic mistakes you almost have to go out of your way to make. I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually did do it on purpose but I obviously I can’t say that. That would almost be manslaughter if something had to happen. Anyway, lessons are learnt but if you ever come across this company please be very careful or best just run away!