With millionaires a dime-a-dozen these days, boat builders around the world are backlogged with orders. Enter three Hampton Roads firms — Colonna’s Yachts, Orca Yachts and Chesapeake Yachts — to capture some of that pent-up demand.

By fall, Chesapeake Yachts plans to open its shipyard in Chesapeake on 54 acres on the corner of the George Washington Canal and the Intercoastal Waterway. Company President Jack F. Stephens, 43, anticipates revenues of around $50 million over the next three to four years, based on two orders already in hand.

Stephens is financing his "mega-yacht" facility with $10.75 million in industrial development bonds that were approved by the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority in March. The company, which began trading in 1992 as Aluminum Boats of Virginia, estimates that the project will create 400 new jobs over two years.

Stephens says Chesapeake will add 40 new jobs this fall — mostly welders and setters — as the company works around the clock to complete its first project, a 220-foot yacht for a Palm Beach client. A ship that size typically takes 42 months to complete from the ground up, Stephens says. He declines to put an exact dollar figure on the job, but he says a standard luxury yacht, starting at 180 feet, costs at least $18.5 million. The price can escalate to $27 million, depending on interior design and decoration.

Most of Stephens’ customers won’t be fretting over pricing, though. "This client we’ve been working with the last four months wants a 220-footer. After we get this one built, he’s told us within two or three years, he’s going to give this one to his son and then he wants us to build a 300-footer."

Stephens won’t name his first client, but he says the company’s first order is so significant that "everyone wants their name on it. Even engine manufacturers know what it will do for them."

Across the canal from Chesapeake Yachts is Orca Yachts, which recently received nearly $5 million in state government funding. Orca moved to Chesapeake in September from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after considering locations in Florida, Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina and North Carolina. Orca plans to hire 220 employees to build its stand-up fishing boats.

In Norfolk, Colonna’s Yachts has sprung from the 125-year-old Colonna’s Shipyard. The Colonna’s Yachts facility is going up on the eastern branch of the Elizabeth River, half a mile from the original family-owned shipyard.

Colonna’s specializes in overhauls and conversions of existing yachts. These services can range upwards of $3 million per yacht, according to Executive Vice President Doug Forrest, whose client list is heavy enough to sink a battleship.

Forrest says his clients, who frequently hail from the Northeast, like the proximity of Colonna’s yards, where they can watch their vessels being converted. They also appreciate the lower labor costs and the highly skilled work force in Virginia.

Building, repairing and refurbishing yachts is an exclusive and lucrative business. "People that want boats over 150 feet are strictly billionaires," says Stephens, who’s hoping more of them will be knocking on his door.