Marinas
Slips, fuel, and storage are three businesses, not one.
A marina earns from dockage, fuel, haul-outs, and dry storage — each recognized and taxed differently. We build books that see the marina as it actually runs, so you know which line really floats the place.
Why marina books break standard accounting
Dockage is rent. Fuel is retail. Haul-out is labor.
A marina stacks real estate, retail, and service on one waterfront — and each one hits the books differently.
Transient vs. annual dockage
Annual slip contracts are lease-like, recognized over the term; transient and seasonal dockage is short-term hospitality revenue. Mixing them hides which docks actually earn.
Fuel-dock margin & tax
Fuel is high-volume, thin-margin retail with its own excise and sales-tax rules. Booked as plain revenue without isolating margin, it makes the marina look far more profitable than it is.
Dry & rack storage
Winter haul-out, dry stack, and on-the-hard storage are separate revenue lines with their own seasonality and labor. They carry the off-season — if you can see them.
Sales tax by service
Dockage, fuel, repairs, parts, and storage are each taxed differently by state. One blended rate across the board is an audit waiting to surface.
Where the real margin hides
Four lines, four margins. Most marinas track one.
A marina isn't a slip rental — it's real estate, retail, fuel, and service on one parcel. Each line is recognized and taxed its own way.
The seasonal truth
Your busiest season is on the water. Your costs aren't.
Dockage peaks for a few months; docks, dredging, insurance, and crew cost money all twelve. We model the curve — and the storage revenue that carries the winter — so you know how far the season's cash has to stretch.
The marina tax playbook
The deductions a single-line P&L hides.
A waterfront isn't taxed like an office building. Handled right, the difference is real cash — handled wrong, it's an audit flag.
Cost segregation on docks
Floating docks, pilings, electrical, and dredging often depreciate far faster than 39-year real property — front-loading deductions.
Dock & seawall class life
Much of a marina's basis is 15-year land improvement, not building. Putting infrastructure in the right class is a major lever.
Fuel-tax handling
Motor-fuel excise, marine and off-road exemptions, and sales tax on fuel each follow their own rules — and refunds.
Taxed by the service
Dockage, repairs, parts, and storage are each taxed differently by state; we map every line to its rate.
Compliance & credits
Spill prevention, pump-out, and clean-marina programs carry costs — and sometimes credits worth claiming.
Entity & RE professional status
Owner-operators may offset losses against other income with the right structure and material participation.
What we actually run for you
Every service mapped to a marina problem.
The problem
Books wired to your marina software
We reconcile dockage, fuel, storage, and store sales straight from Molo, Dockwa, or Speedy Dock — so every line is right each month, not at tax time.
The problem
Forecasting around season & dredging
Model the off-season trough and whether the next dock expansion or dredge actually pencils before you commit the cash.
The problem
Fuel, sales & environmental tax
Multi-rate filing across dockage, fuel, parts, and storage — reconciled and remitted, nothing left to back taxes.
The problem
Cost segregation & depreciation
Put docks, electrical, and dredging in their right class and model the deduction before you elect it.
Buying or selling a marina?
Numbers that survive due diligence.
Whether you're underwriting a purchase or getting a marina sale-ready, we build financials lenders and buyers actually trust.
The numbers we put in front of you
Run the marina on operator metrics, not just a P&L.
Reporting built for waterfront operations — the KPIs that tell you whether to raise dockage, add storage, or rework the fuel spread.
Figures shown are illustrative.
Keep exploring
Go deeper — or just talk to us.
Talk to someone who's read a marina P&L before.
A 30-minute call. Bring last year's numbers and your marina software — we'll show you what your books should be telling you, then map out where we can help, on a free intro call.
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