How It Works: 7 Steps From Brief to Handover

Sulawesi Boat Builder Build Desk · reviewed 19 August 2026 · contracts issued by PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara

Commissioning a boat from Sulawesi runs in 7 steps: brief and budget, yard shortlist and vetting, contract and escrow, supervised build, survey checkpoints, launch and sea trial, then delivery and handover. Each step produces a document you can hold in your hand. Here is the whole programme on one page.

By Sulawesi Boat Builder Desk · PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara · Updated 19 August 2026

Answer first: the 7 steps, on one screen

1 — Brief & budget band. 2 — Yard shortlist & vetting visit. 3 — Contract, milestones & escrow. 4 — Build supervision with progress reports. 5 — Survey & class checkpoints. 6 — Launch & sea trial. 7 — Delivery voyage & handover. The desk coordinates every step; the shipwrights build; independent surveyors verify; you decide at each gate. Nothing proceeds to the next step without the previous step’s output document in your inbox.

Step table

Step	Who acts	Output document	Typical duration
1. Brief & budget band	Owner + desk	Written brief and USD budget frame	1–2 weeks
2. Yard shortlist & vetting	Desk, with owner visit optional	Shortlist dossier with hull records and capacity checks	2–4 weeks
3. Contract, milestones & escrow	Owner, desk, yard, counsel	Bilingual build contract with specification annex and payment schedule	2–6 weeks
4. Build supervision	Yard builds; desk supervises	Photographic progress reports on a fixed cadence	12–30+ months, by size and spec
5. Survey & class checkpoints	Independent surveyor; BKI where classed	Milestone inspection certificates gating each payment	Embedded in step 4
6. Launch & sea trial	Yard + desk + surveyor + owner	Sea-trial protocol and defect (punch) list	2–6 weeks including rectification
7. Delivery & handover	Delivery captain + desk	Handover protocol, document file, delivery log	1–3 weeks voyage + formalities

Steps 1–3 are where owners save or lose the most money: a precise specification annex and a surveyor-gated payment schedule prevent nearly every dispute that plagues informal builds. The commercial details of step 3 — budget bands, escrow patterns, delay clauses — are covered in depth in the cost and contract guide; the cluster-by-cluster logic behind step 2 lives on the island register.

What you receive at each milestone (reports, photos, survey notes)

Supervision is only real if it is documented. On a fixed cadence — typically fortnightly during structural phases — you receive photographic progress reports referenced to the build programme: keel and backbone, framing, planking, deck, systems, fit-out. At each contractual milestone you additionally receive the independent surveyor’s inspection certificate (the payment trigger), moisture and materials verification notes, and any variation requests priced in writing before the work is done. At sea trial you receive the trial protocol with recorded engine, steering, electrical and safety-system results plus the punch list; at handover, the complete vessel file — contract, certificates, timber legality documents, equipment manuals, warranties, stability documentation and the delivery log. That file is not bureaucracy: it is the boat’s insurability and its future resale value in paper form.

Roles: desk, yard, surveyor, naval architect, delivery captain

Five roles, deliberately separated. The desk (this organisation, contracting through PT Komodo Galangan Nusantara) coordinates the programme, holds the schedule, and is your single point of contact in English or Indonesian. The yard and its lead shipwright own the construction craft. The independent surveyor verifies structure and gates payments — independence is the point; the surveyor reports to you, not to the yard or the desk (see the survey programme). The naval architect produces drawings, stability work and class submissions where required. The delivery captain takes the vessel from launch berth to operating grounds along the routes on the delivery page. Owners may bring their own architect, designer or surveyor into any of these seats — the programme absorbs them without friction.

Where do programmes actually go wrong? Three failure modes account for most grief in informal builds, and each is designed out here. Verbal specification changes — solved by the written variations procedure, priced before work proceeds. Payments running ahead of physical progress — solved by surveyor-gated milestones. And the fit-out stall, where a finished hull waits months for systems trades — solved by booking hub specialists onto the schedule during the planking phase, not after launch. None of this is exotic; it is simply project management applied to a craft industry that deserves it.

Start step 1 on WhatsApp

Send four things: target length, use case, budget band in USD, and target season. The desk replies with the step-1 brief template and an honest first read on feasibility. There is no charge until you commission work; every engagement thereafter is quoted in USD in writing.

Frequently asked questions

Start step 1: WhatsApp +62 811-3823-875 · sales@komodoluxury.com — brief template and feasibility read, no charge.

Before you write, the owner FAQ answers the most common questions; when you are ready, contact the desk with your brief.