The boat was in real need of new cushions. The cushions appeared to be about 20 years old. Fortunately, there is a prison not far from our home (about 15 miles) which has an industrial trades shop. One of the trades is upholstery.
I contacted the manager of the upholstery shop through my uncle who works there and provided the manager a listing of all the cushions that needed to be done. The prison pays the prisoners minimum wage and purchases materials at wholesale. The prisoners actually have a reputation for doing good work so it seemed like a no brainer to have them do the cushions.
As it turned out, they did indeed do good work and it was very favorably priced. I figured that it was 1/3 the cost having it done by non-prison labor. Although I did get a call from the manager one day saying that the cushions would be delayed because the prison assigned to the task had encountered some "legal difficulties". Nevertheless, I planned far enough ahead that it was not an issue. I got the cushions back in about a month and half.
So, you should consider a prison the next time you need tradesmen work done.
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