Everything between your backyard and the Bay
Coastal Sarasota is hard on anything you build over the water - sun, salt, tides, marine borers, and the occasional hurricane all work against it around the clock. We repair, replace, and rebuild the structures that take that beating - docks, boat lifts, seawalls, pilings, and dock electrical - and we show up when we say we will. Everything below is handled by a licensed, insured marine contractor who works this water every week, pulls the permits, and builds it to last more than a season or two.
Dock Repair & Rebuilds
A dock fails from the waterline down, where you can’t see it. Decking greys and softens in the sun, fasteners rust out, and pilings get hollowed from the inside by marine borers (shipworms) that thrive in our warm salt water. We catch it at the repair stage when we can - swapping soft boards, re-securing framing, and replacing corroded hardware - and rebuild from the pilings up when a storm or years of neglect have taken the structure past saving.
We build in pressure-treated wood or low-maintenance composite, with marine-grade galvanized or stainless hardware chosen for the salt. Whether it’s a finger pier off a canal home or a long walkway out to deeper water off Casey Key, the goal is the same: a dock that’s safe to walk, solid under a loaded cooler, and built to current code.
Every inspection starts below the deck, because that is where the truth is. We probe the pilings for soft spots and borer damage, check the through-bolts and brackets that a builder may have cheaped out on, and look at how the dock is holding up to the specific exposure of your spot - a wide-open bayfront on Longboat Key takes a very different beating than a sheltered finger canal in Nokomis. Where the job needs a Sarasota County, FDEP, or Army Corps permit, we pull it and set turbidity barriers when seagrass or a manatee zone is involved, so your dock is done legally and inspected, not patched and hoped over.
Boat Lift Repair & Installation
A boat lift is the one piece of waterfront equipment that can ruin your day in seconds - a frayed cable or a seized motor doesn’t fail quietly when there’s a boat in the cradle. We service all the common lifts - cradle, four-post elevator, PWC and jet-ski, and kayak - regardless of brand: replacing cables before they let go, swapping worn bunks and pulleys, rebuilding or replacing motors and gearboxes, and fixing the switches and remotes that always quit at the worst time.
Installing a new lift is about getting two numbers right: your boat’s fully loaded weight and your water depth at low tide. We measure both, then spec a lift with real capacity to spare and the right corrosion package - aluminum or hot-dip galvanized - for how exposed your slip is.
The quiet killer on a Sarasota lift is salt and barnacle buildup on cables and moving parts, which is exactly why a lift that worked fine in spring can groan and stall by fall. A short annual service - flushing and inspecting cables, greasing the right points, checking bunk alignment and the motor - costs a fraction of a dropped boat or an emergency call in the middle of storm season, and it is the single best way to make an expensive piece of equipment last.
Seawall Repair & Stabilization
Your seawall is doing the hardest job on the property: holding back the Bay and keeping your yard from sliding into the water. When it starts to fail, the first sign is often inland - a low spot, a sinkhole, or pavers tilting near the wall - because soil is washing out through cracks and failed joints behind it. Left alone, that hollow undermines everything anchored to the shoreline, including your dock.
We repair cracked caps and panels, install tie-back (deadman) anchors to pull a leaning wall back into line, add rip-rap to break wave energy at the toe, and re-establish proper weep holes. Where a wall is truly done we’ll tell you plainly - but a lot of Sarasota seawalls can be stabilized for far less than an owner fears.
Timing matters more with seawalls than almost anything else on the water, because the failure feeds on itself: every high tide and every boat wake pulls more sand out through an open joint, so a hairline crack this year becomes a sunken patio the next. Storms like Ian and Milton made that painfully clear up and down the coast. Catching a wall early - sealing joints, anchoring it, and protecting the toe - is the difference between a modest repair and a full replacement, and it protects the dock and lift that are tied into the same shoreline.
Piling Repair, Wraps & Dock Electrical
Two smaller jobs that protect everything else. Piling repair and wraps - sleeving compromised pilings or wrapping sound ones in a protective barrier - stop borers and rot before they spread to the whole dock. Dock electrical keeps your lift running and your dock usable after dark: GFCI-protected lift wiring, dock and piling lights, and outlets installed to code for the wet, salty environment they live in.
Neither one is glamorous, and both are exactly the kind of thing that gets skipped until it turns into a big-ticket repair. A piling wrap installed while the wood is still sound can add years to a dock for a small fraction of what new pilings cost, and proper GFCI protection on a dock is a genuine safety issue, not just a code line - electricity and salt water are a dangerous mix around a lift and a swim ladder. We handle both cleanly and to current Sarasota County code.
Keep it that way with the Waterfront Service Club
Already fixed up, or starting fresh? Our yearly membership keeps your dock, lift, and seawall in shape - scheduled inspections, a photo report each visit, member discounts, and priority when a storm’s coming. It’s the cheapest way to never strand your boat.
See Service Club plansWhat coastal Sarasota does to a dock - and how we stay ahead of it
Salt air and salt water never stop. Every fastener, cable, and bracket on your waterfront is in a slow corrosion race. The fix isn’t magic - it’s using the right metal for the exposure (stainless and hot-dip galvanized in the harshest spots), and replacing the cheap hardware a builder used to save a few dollars before it stains and snaps.
Marine borers eat wood from the inside. Shipworms and other borers tunnel into untreated or exposed pilings below the waterline, so a piling can look fine at the deck and be hollow at the mudline. We probe pilings during inspection and sleeve or wrap them before a dock starts to lean.
Tides and low water set the rules. Much of our coast is shallow at low tide, which drives how high a dock sits, how a lift has to be configured, and where a boat can safely float. We design repairs around your actual water, not a generic spec.
Storm season is the stress test. Ian and Milton showed what surge and wind do to under-built docks and tired seawalls. Building back to current code - proper piling depth, bracing, and anchored seawalls - is what makes the difference between a repair you do once and one you do every hurricane.
That’s the case for a yearly look. A short maintenance visit - cables, hardware, pilings, and wall - catches the cheap problem before it becomes the expensive one.
Just ask - that’s what the free inspection is for
If you’re not sure whether it’s a repair or a rebuild, send a couple of photos or have us come look. We’ll give you a straight answer and a written quote, with no pressure to do more than the water actually requires.
Where we work
Common questions about dock, lift & seawall work
Do you pull the permits for dock and seawall work?
Yes. We handle Sarasota County, FDEP, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits, including the seagrass and manatee-zone requirements that come with building on coastal Sarasota water. You don't chase paperwork - we do.
How long does a dock or boat lift repair take?
Small repairs - a few soft boards, a piling, a lift cable or motor - are usually a day or two once we're on site. A full storm rebuild or a seawall is a multi-week project, and tides, permits, and turbidity barriers can move the schedule. We give you a realistic timeline with the written quote.
Wood or composite decking - which is better for a Sarasota dock?
Both work here. Pressure-treated wood costs less up front and is easy to repair; composite (Trex-style) costs more but shrugs off salt, sun, and splinters and needs almost no upkeep. On a dock that takes daily Gulf sun and salt spray, composite often wins over its lifetime - we'll walk you through the trade-off for your spot.
Do you service my brand of boat lift?
Almost certainly. We repair and replace cables, bunks, motors, gearboxes, switches, and remotes on cradle lifts, four-post elevator lifts, and PWC and jet-ski lifts - galvanized or aluminum. If we can get a crew or a barge to it, we can usually fix it.
Can you document storm damage for an insurance claim?
Yes. After a storm we photograph and write up the damage to your dock, lift, or seawall in the detail insurers want, so your claim moves faster. We've worked through the aftermath of storms like Ian and Milton.
Are you licensed and insured, and is the work warrantied?
All three. We're a licensed, insured marine contractor, there's no long-term contract, and our workmanship is warrantied. Ask for the specifics when we quote your project.