Fergus Pay Case Study: How Illawarra Shipwrights Get Paid Without Chasing on Complex Marine Repairs

“Fergus gives me visibility and control – and Fergus Pay gives customers an easy way to pay, which means I don’t have to chase.”

Illawarra Shipwright Company is a specialist marine repair and composites workshop based in Unanderra, NSW, servicing the Illawarra and South Coast region. Their work spans fibreglass and gelcoat repairs, structural restoration, custom fabrication, manufacturing, and insurance repairs—jobs where precision and trust matter.

This is not a typical “call-out” trade. Most work runs across multiple days or weeks, with curing times, parallel jobs in the yard, and customers collecting vessels once work is complete. That reality creates a familiar challenge for specialist workshops: how to get paid promptly without adding admin or awkward follow-ups.

Built on craft, experience, and trust

Illawarra Shipwright Company was founded in 2018 by Sam Kenady, a trained shipwright with international experience in high-performance boatbuilding. Sam graduated from the Landing School of Boatbuilding and Design in the United States with degrees in Marine Systems and Marine Composites, and went on to work on America’s Cup–level racing yachts before relocating to Australia.

In 2020, Fredrik Andréason joined the business, bringing more than 25 years in the boatbuilding industry and a background rooted in Sweden’s Lake Vänern—an area known for its long shipbuilding tradition. Fredrik holds a Certificate III in Marine Craft Construction and has worked with respected Australian yards including Seawind Catamarans and Palm Beach Yachts.

That depth of experience shows in the work—and in the trust customers place in the business.

The reality of specialist marine work

Unlike short, on-site jobs, marine repair and composites work has its own rhythm:

• jobs often span several days or a full week
• epoxy, resins, and gelcoat require specific curing windows
• teams move between jobs while materials set
• boats are frequently collected by trailer, sometimes after hours

As Sam puts it:

“Almost nothing we do takes one day. Most jobs run over a week or more.”

Historically, that meant invoices were often sent after completion, with payment arriving days—or sometimes weeks—later. Even when customers intended to pay promptly, the gap between finishing work and seeing money in the account created unnecessary admin.

“Anything over fifteen hundred dollars should automatically have a deposit.”

Illawarra Shipwrights’ experience isn’t unique to marine work. Any workshop-based trade handling multi-day jobs-whether fabrication, restoration, manufacturing, or insurance repairs-faces the same reality: high-quality work doesn’t automatically translate into fast payment. When jobs run across days or weeks, cash flow, margin visibility, and payment timing all start to blur. The business wanted clearer insight into job performance and margins before quotes went out, while also making it easier for customers to pay once the work was done—without adding admin or follow-ups.

“I can see they’ve paid, so I don’t have to chase them.”

Why Fergus and why Fergus Pay

Illawarra Shipwrights moved to Fergus for job management and reporting, particularly for clearer WIP and margin visibility. Once that foundation was in place, Fergus Pay became a natural extension of how they wanted payments to work.

Rather than changing how customers behave, Fergus Pay simply makes paying easier:

• invoices are sent digitally
• customers open the invoice and tap a secure pay link
• payment status is visible inside Fergus

From the customer’s point of view, it feels similar to an online checkout. From the business’s point of view, it reduces uncertainty and follow-up.

Sam describes it simply:

“It’s just an easier way to pay…. They just pay with their cards – it’s easy.”

What changed after enabling Fergus Pay

Since enabling Fergus Pay, a significant portion of customers now choose to pay directly from the invoice instead of relying on manual bank transfers.

Just as importantly:

• customers haven’t pushed back on paying online
• there have been no complaints about card fees being passed on
• payment status is clear, reducing time spent checking or chasing and guaranteed to hit the bank account

“Nobody’s ever complained about the payment side of it.”

For a small team doing specialist work, that reduction in mental load matters. Knowing whether an invoice has been paid—without logging into multiple systems or waiting for a transfer to land—keeps the focus on the workshop, not the paperwork.

When Xero alone isn’t enough for job-based work

Before moving to a dedicated job management system, Illawarra Shipwrights invoiced directly from Xero. On paper, it worked. In practice, it left too many gaps.

As Sam puts it:

“Before that, we were just invoicing straight out of Xero – and we didn’t know what was going on.”

The issue wasn’t accounting accuracy. It was visibility. Xero is excellent at recording transactions, but it doesn’t reflect how complex, multi-day trade work actually runs. There was no clear link between time spent, materials used, and whether a job was still on track before the invoice went out.

For work that spans days or weeks, invoicing straight from Xero meant:

• limited insight into true job margins before quoting
• difficulty tracking work-in-progress across multiple jobs
• less confidence that invoices reflected the full scope of work

By moving job tracking and quoting into Fergus – while keeping Xero as the accounting system of record, Illawarra Shipwrights gained clarity before invoicing, not after. That shift made it easier to quote with confidence, understand job performance, and then use Fergus Pay to close the loop on payment once the work was complete.

Certainty mixed with speed

In a business with a lot of moving parts, for Illawarra Shipwrights, the bigger win is certainty.

When a payment is made through Fergus Pay we:

• Know we will be paid
• Know when funds will arrive
• No longer guess when/if a customer has paid

For a business balancing multiple jobs in parallel, that clarity is worth more than shaving a few hours off settlement time.

Trust backed by customer experience

Illawarra Shipwrights’ Google reviews reflect why this approach works. Customers already trust the business to do high-quality work – and that trust carries through to payment.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“The workmanship is absolutely excellent. I have no hesitation in recommending these guys for any fibreglass boat works.” Boris Cvetkovski

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Sam was great to deal with, very knowledgeable and approachable… The craftsmanship was excellent.” Nick M

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“Communication was perfect… nothing was an issue. I would highly recommend these guys.” Mark Stolk

Clear communication, strong workmanship, and professional processes make paying feel straightforward—not transactional.

Looking ahead: deposits and job confirmation

With payments running more smoothly, Sam sees leveraging the deposits feature as the next opportunity to improve cash flow and scheduling.

Today, deposits are requested on larger jobs, but we will look to implement on smaller jobs as well. He is looking to leverage Fergus to:

• Use deposits based on job value
• Bookings only confirmed once deposits are paid
• Send final invoices settled before collection

For material-heavy work involving resins, cloth, and paint, that kind of automation would reduce risk and smooth cash flow even further.

Why this matters for other specialist trades

For specialist trades, the challenge isn’t demand-it’s alignment. When quoting, scheduling, job tracking, and payments don’t reflect how long or complex the work really is, friction creeps in. What Illawarra Shipwrights’ experience shows is that improving cash flow doesn’t require pushing customers harder, it requires systems that match the reality of the work. When visibility, confidence, and payment all line up, businesses can focus on craftsmanship instead of administration.

Fergus Pay helps align payment with how these jobs actually run, without forcing customers into unfamiliar behaviour.

Illawarra Shipwright Company didn’t change how they build or repair boats. They simply made getting paid feel as professional as the work itself.

👉 Learn more about Illawarra Shipwright Company

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