What happens between a signed contract and a delivered yacht.
Brief and concept
Guest and crew numbers, cruising programme, time aboard, priorities and constraints — written down before designers are engaged. Concept design and naval architecture then establish volume, layout, exterior and performance parameters.
Contract and approvals
The construction contract fixes specification, price, schedule, payment stages, refund guarantees, warranty and remedies. Class society and flag approval of drawings runs alongside it. Both should be complete before construction begins.
Structure and systems
Hull and superstructure are built and joined; machinery, tankage, piping, electrical and automation systems are installed. This is the phase where owner-side technical supervision earns its fee, because almost nothing here is accessible once the interior goes in.
Interior fit-out
Joinery, finishes, soft furnishings, audiovisual and galley equipment. Long lead times on materials and bespoke items make late changes here disproportionately expensive. Mock-up cabins and material samples are approved before production, not after.
- Brief and concept design
- Naval architecture and general arrangement
- Contract, class approval and refund guarantees
- Hull, superstructure and systems
- Interior fit-out
- Commissioning, trials, certification and delivery
Commissioning, trials and handover
Systems are commissioned, the yacht runs sea trials against contract performance criteria, class and flag issue certification, the snag list is worked through, and crew are familiarised. Delivery is documented by a protocol of delivery and acceptance, with warranty running from that point.
Supervision
An owner's representative — often with the future captain and chief engineer — attends the yard throughout, reviews drawings, witnesses tests and maintains the snag list. This is the single most effective protection an owner has.
Questions
- Who supervises the build for the owner?
- An owner's representative or project manager, usually with the incoming senior crew and the management company's technical team.
- When does warranty start?
- Conventionally on delivery and acceptance, on the terms set out in the construction contract.
This guide is general information about how the yacht market conventionally works. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and it does not describe the terms of any specific yacht. Rates, prices, availability and access are confirmed in writing before anything is committed.