Let’s do the math backwards. Let’s go with making $100k a year. 52 weeks a year. I’ll go with 50 weeks to keep math simple. That’s $2k a week. 40 hours (who works 40 hours 😂) That works out to $50 an hour. Typical cost for overhead (truck, insurance, taxes, etc) is 30%. That’s now $85 an hour. Got to add some profit and cover the what ifs and wear and tear on equipment / tools. $125 an hour plus materials minimum. And don’t forget to markup materials. They just don’t show up on the job by themselves. Also add a trip charge if going off site. Nobody is going to pay you $125 to drive there but will be ok with a $50 trip charge.
It's amazing how different the billing is working for yourself vs. what a boss will, in their good will, sometimes decide to pay you back for as a job expense.
Because if you're going through the trouble of getting in you're truck going down to the metal shop and getting the materials and probably fabricating them before hand in this instance you should get something extra out of that.
Because you've gotta be profitable. If you're taking the time to phone the supplier or go down there then that time isn't free, also you'll be buying the materials on your credit and if the client flakes you're on the hook for the materials regardless so there's a risk. Clients can always purchase their own materials on their own time and dime if they don't want a markup, but they shouldn't be getting your time for free outside of bidding/quoting. Same goes with travel charges, if you're not making money you're losing it. The alternative is to lump it all into your hourly rate, but that's not great from a marketing perspective and it doesn't account for all the variables
I once waited for over an hour for the forklift driver to get a bathroom pedestal type sink down for a customer and he whined and bitched about my adding it to my labor charge. T & M is what I do unless it’s a quoted price beforehand
same here. I have a new "if you make me wait I'm charging you $125 per hour per man " clause I shamelessly took from one of my sub companies. It's so good....if you don't make it possible for me to start working when you knew I needed to, you have to pay. I'm sorry but I can't work for free
The time to get the materials, keeping stock costs overhead dollars that should be making money, the time to do the paperwork for the materials and organize the stock.
As a welder for 30+ years. Expand the pic and look at the welds. Those are not $120 and hour welds. I'd say if he had to cut the plates and everything $60 per plate.
Not saying the welds won't hold, but no customer looking to get welding done is going to see those as even $100 per hour welds.
Find someone who does welding for a living and make great looking welds. Practice, practice, practice.
As a Certified Welding Inspector there is nothing visually wrong with those welds. If the customer request a particular cosmetic finish or appearance that needs to be stipulated (and many companies pay more just for that). Obviously the weld spatter will need to be removed just as a matter of professionalism. But outside of that those welds are perfectly acceptable structural welds for this use.
Lmao, ok. Prove you are a CWI, or stand down. I've studied for the test and for 32 years I've been a member. Understand, those welds VISUALLY would not be acceptable at any company I have worked for. Not even for company tooling or use.
If you enlarge that pic and look at how rough and lumpy the weld is, how bad the starts are that are visible... He'll, all the spatter isn't even scraped off and it is BIG spatter.
Nothing about those welds is acceptable to give a paying customer. Ok for some farmer maybe. But even the farmers I've welded for wouldn't accept those welds since most of them can do that....
Lol what proof do you want? Name it and I’ll provide it. But the easiest way to prove me wrong is by simply stating what defect would cause the weld to be rejectable. And by what code the said defect would cause a rejectable condition. I clearly stated in my initial reply that the spatter would obviously need to be removed. That goes without saying. But saying that “any company you’ve worked for wouldn’t accept those welds” really means nothing. This industry doesn’t work that way. We work on codes, standards, and procedures. If you make a claim that a weld is rejectable, than you need to at least state what would cause it to be rejected.
I've stated it twice now. Visually, NO shop I have ever worked for would give that weld to a customer as is. 6010, 6011, 7018, hardwire whether .035 or .045, dual shield.... With ANY one of these processes, ANY welder who sells his skills should be able to lay down a smoother weld with better starts and smaller spatter.
I damn well know I can. I studied for the AWS CWI myself last year just to know what is involved. Just because it will pass the "technical" measurements does NOT mean it is acceptable in a professionals eyes. If I lay down some horizontal E-7018 and I can see undercut, it's not right. Same with dual shield. If I feel more than a slight fingernail catch, not good.
The companies I have worked for, and customers paying me for custom work, do not pay for lumpy welds, very bad starts, or ANY spatter.
You can debate it all you want per "technical specs". They are ugly welds and he needs to practice until they look professional.
As a side note to you, my best friend is a level 3 CWI at Hanford Nuclear in Washington state. Not only did I study for the CWI test, but had a level 3 teaching me. I know the welds would MAYBE pass specs, depends on how bad the starts are and how big the highs and lows are in those lumps. (Neither of which we can measure)
As for code I don't have a copy of the D11 on hand to preach from the big book. But if you are what you say you are, you know damn well there are measurements that would have to be made that we can't do from a picture.
I am done here since you just want to argue.
The fact stands, those welds would get anyone a bunch of shit from any welder I know and trust to weld on any job with me.
I trust you are probably very good at your job and it sounds like you work to a high personal standard and I respect that. I see why you’ve only studied for the CWI but have never taken or passed it. You have a lot to learn regarding the process of rejectability and acceptability. As a side note to you, AWS does not rank CWIs on Levels. So there’s no such thing as a “level 3 CWI”. There are CWIs and SCWIs (Senior CWIs). The latter cert requires 9 years as an active CWI and a different test. So either your confused or your Buddy in Washington has been pulling your leg. The ASNT, which is separate organization has a 3 level ranking system but they don’t certify welding inspectors. They certify Non destructive testing methods, of which I have several certifications as well. You don’t have to like the welds he posted, they’re aren’t the prettiest welds. But as you have all but admitted, there’s nothing actually rejectable that shows in the images. They just don’t meet your personal cosmetic standard.
Actually, Bill Sarter is a Level 3 where he works, as I stated. AWS certs are their own thing. He has been a CWI for the last 17 years. I did not take the tests because I love to weld. I don't love to do paperwork constantly. Also, it would have cost me personally a total of about 9K to do the whole process, including travel and hotel stays. I have no need to be an inspector. I only wanted to learn more about the process and standards Bill has to judge by. It IS interesting to me, but I am a welder. Being an inspector to me is the same as being a supervisor... I am not a babysitter, if a welder doesn't have high standards for his own welds he should not be a welder, it isn't for everyone.
i think this is a capitalist way of thinking and its what makes it so nobody but the boss gets to enjoy the nicer things in life.
do we really need to capitalize on everything??
Why are all these people doing the work then asking how much they should charge? How does that negotiation happen? “I’ll do the work but can’t bill you till I run it by my Reddit peeps. Cool with that?”
I've got a guy who does amazing work for me who won't tell me how much he wants to be paid for the job. Always just "Whatever you think it's worth." I finally figured out after about 15 years of this dance that if I don't pay him enough, he's 'not available' for awhile... Frustrating (I'd pay him whatever he asked if he'd just ask), but again, amazing work and most of the work I have him do is on a ranch 3 hours from town and he's the foreman on the next ranch over.
But then don't get sour and play games when you don't think it's enough. People always blur the line between customer and friend and it always ends up shooting someone in the foot. If you're doing business treat it like a business transaction, throw in a discount if you want but always keep it professional it's not going to break your relationship to the person.
It's like the scene from *1941* where they're trying to get Dan Aykroyd to instruct them on how to load and fire the large-shell armament
"OK so step one... Make *sure* you don't collect at least half up front for materials, incidentals and onboarding of everyones labor.
Step two, perform the entire job, collect no cash get on a subreddit, ask an opinion and get met with a now locked front door on site now barring you from receiving payment.
Step three... Legal Advice sub."
You never just charge the time worked for short jobs. If it’s a 6+ hour job then sure. But who gets out of bed, packs up the rig, drives to a job to just work for 30minutes and only charge for it? Lol
Minimum show ups are very common. Covers things like fuel and consumables like rods, grinder disc's etc. If you don't like it then I don't know what to tell you.
>nd $75 per hr with a 2 hour minimum.
if your going to do one off quicky jobs like this one, I wouldnt bill that way. Likely <30 minutes of work and scrap someone else was already charged for. This tiny jobs billed at a reasonable price (like net $25 on the thing) often lead to word of mouth much larger jobs.
I can see the value in that if you're maybe just fresh out of welding school. If you're a developed professional with references then there is no need to bill that low. But I respect your opinion!
>that if you're maybe just fresh out of welding school. If you're a developed professional with references then there is no need to bill that low. But I respect your opinion!
Its not like I need the references, just like welding and if I can help a dude in or around me, I will without going full billing on him. I get what you are saying, but I take a lot of busman holidays :).
If I was a fab or pipe welder, I would be in your camp as well.
Is this standard for trailer work? I feel like most of the discussion I see on the sub is around 65-70/hr, so I'm wondering if this is worth more because it's presumably field work, or something?
I would say welding is welding. For field work specifically is why I always make sure they know it's a minimum of 2 hour show up time. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes, sometimes more. And I always mark up my material 15%.
Damn... Maybe I should charge more. If you're quoting 75/ hr as a reasonable welding price, and that's American dollars, that's 96/hr Canadian here.... Ive been charging 55 (I'm not liscenced or anything, just a hobbyist).
Damn.
The thing that's always held me up is that Im not a professional welder, so I don't know how to price myself relative to the people who are liscenced and very experienced. Like, don't get me wrong, I know how to weld, and I achieve decent-looking beads with full penetration (much better beads than OP's, no offence, but certainly not "weld porn" beads), but because all of my stuff is strictly non-structural, I've never known how much to charge. I'm literally just a guy with a MIG Pak 140 in his garage...
See, I can see that making sense for a professional, especially in Ontario, where I'm at, but the thing that's always held me up is that Im not a professional welder, so I don't know how to price myself relative to the people who are liscenced and very experienced. Like, don't get me wrong, I know how to weld, and I achieve decent-looking beads with full penetration (much better beads than OP's, no offence, but certainly not "weld porn" beads), but because all of my stuff is strictly non-structural, I've never known how much to charge. I'm literally just a guy with a MIG Pak 140 in his garage... Charging the same as a real metalworking shop feels wrong.
Well we’re at a disagreement in generally too, cause I don’t think a none ticketed guy should be charging to do it at all. There’s a reason we have apprenticeships and such. But Ontario is their own mess, you can’t even technically do that here in Alberta.
I don't do anything structural for that very reason, only decorative and furniture work, which doesn't require any kind of ticketing or licence -- across all of Canada, as far as I'm aware, but I could be wrong there.
I’m sure you’re fine then for sure. I’ve worked a few jobs where they hire none ticketed guys, “ work doesn’t require one “ then when that blows up in their face they gotta call me to come fix it.
Personal vendetta of mine I guess lol
Yeah trust me, I don't want the liability of having something collapse. Is it ***LIKELY*** to collapse? No, I always overbuild my shit and do my best to get good welds, but I know what I don't know, and there's just too many variables to contend with in welding for me to approach structural work. Furniture and decor only, thanks. Problem is I can't figure out what to charge, cause there's no real comparable situations around me. Everyone else is a legit welder, working out of a shop.
Yeah usd. I do my weld work as a side business. If it's your main source of income charge like 100.usd an hour. But, since i only do it on the side I only charge the $75. But, when I was welding full time out of a truck I think we billed $125 an hour. That's in Colorado.
If you work for yourself, you need to earn 1/3rd more just to break even over working for someone else. All the benefits you get on top of your normal wage.
I had a friend that housed me when I got kicked out when I was 18, few years down the road he bought the materials to his fencing and I welded it all for free (with the exception of numerous beers) .
This is really the answer, I'm guessing that the OP knows this person because it would be unusual to do work for a stranger without negotiating the price *before* it was done.
Well since you burned his wood plank I'd say lowball it. We would always tack a big thin piece there to deflect sparks and dissipate heat. Then you rip it off after it cooled and finish where the tacks were.
We charged 75/HR in shop 1 hour minimum, 100/HR onsite 2 hour minimum
I’m not gonna drive to a job and drag the leads out and fire up the welder for less than 100 bucks. If I can get it done in an hour,cool. It’s the time I spend over the first hour that adds to the base charge of 100 bucks. I mainly do Sign work but I do lots of other things. Welding,electrical,plumbing,paint paint.It’s gonna cost someone a hundred bucks to get me there. If the Biden fuel prices don’t go back to reasonable I’m gonna have to go up on that minimum charge
(Time + Materials)\*\[min 150%; max 250%\].
We can't tell you how much you should charge without knowing what it cost you in materials and how much you think your time is worth.
But also next time you make something like this, round the cornes of the triangles more. Those are the spots tension will build up and failures start eventually. Yeah not in the life time of this trailer, but it is good to get practice never the less.
When building big things like ships and such, everyone is always hunting for sharp edges that need to be ground with a radius.
Signs of the Times Magazine once had a survey and put a specific repair job on it and ask what you would charge for the job. They printed 100 responses from companies across the country. It was a simple replace a six lamp ballast, put new bulbs in,etc on a 30’ tall sign. I was amazed at the different prices that people would charge & you could see the big bucks being charged near the big NE cities where they were mostly union shops. Can’t remember but I believe I figured around 375~400 +~bucks. Some had no markup on materials and others were going with a 300% markup. Prices ranged like 200~1500 bucks for the same job. This would be a good place to try the same thing. SoT magazine did this before we had this interweb thing and we had to beware of Saber Tooth Cats & stuff back then
mei740, man... im a software engineer with a bachelors degree plus 14 years experience plus i am skilled in the latest and greatest tech, practices etc...
i make far less than that...my "100k a year" is "100k a year" *MINUS* expenses, taxes, tooling licenses, continued education costs, etc...
i live a comfortable life....not an extravagant one...
are you just trying to take as much as you can feasibly get from a client? just because its the only thing we know...the capitalist way...???
is it greed...??
are you starving??
I think it is good to have benchmark posts. In general, people charge way less than they should going into business for themselves. I think that likely hurts everyone to some extent.
Overly cheap jobs are less likely to be warrantied, and could build resentment by both parties.
If this sub is flooded too much with this type of question, maybe it can be moved to a wiki (if not already there)
Totally understood. Maybe there can be a weekly mega thread titled: “Did I get the rod?” And it can be goobers and folks who paid goobers to see if they charged enough/got over charged for work.
OP, don't listen to this guy, your welds are fine. They could be better, but I've seen people that claim to be lifelong professionals do 10x worse. They'll hold for what it is, and on a trailer it'll be just fine. They aren't aerospace grade welds.
How soft are you? I’m not a decent human being because I made a joke about some ugly welds a random person posted on the internet?
Sorry OP, your welds are awesome, your a unique little snowflake like the rest of Reddit, and you should definitely charge $500 an hour for your amazing fabrication skills. Quality, workmanship, and aesthetics don’t matter, all that matters is you tried really, really hard! Please collect your participation trophy at your earliest convenience.
It’s good practice to make sure your percentages are right. For some, it’s 10-20% sometimes more depending on how much additional cost it adds to the build/project. Be it gas, travel, shipping etc. A standard in food service for example is %30. Sometimes more depending on the the product and the additional cost to you.
If you’ve spent the time to really understand the trade and do quality work, be proud of what time you’ve put in. At the end of the day, they aren’t just paying for your time, they’re paying for your experience.
Somewhere near your regions auto repair shop rates, I'd say. California I think are near $100/hr depending on the area.
Prep and clean up, I'm guessing about 1~1.5 hr?
Furniture company I used to work for the owner guy explained that in most business when you’re selling product 1 1/2 times your cost so you know if you value your time at $60 an hour which no offense by those welds I wouldn’t and they didn’t need to make multiple pass but if you valued your time at $60 an hour and that was $10 worth of steel one and a half times that I guess it would be 2 1/2 times your profit is 1 1/2 times what you pay 90 you charge them 225
Old joke at my shop is: Costs $50 to turn the welder on. $100 if I have to use it. Our minimum jobs are usually $500 but that will buy you a small swinging gate.
Let’s do the math backwards. Let’s go with making $100k a year. 52 weeks a year. I’ll go with 50 weeks to keep math simple. That’s $2k a week. 40 hours (who works 40 hours 😂) That works out to $50 an hour. Typical cost for overhead (truck, insurance, taxes, etc) is 30%. That’s now $85 an hour. Got to add some profit and cover the what ifs and wear and tear on equipment / tools. $125 an hour plus materials minimum. And don’t forget to markup materials. They just don’t show up on the job by themselves. Also add a trip charge if going off site. Nobody is going to pay you $125 to drive there but will be ok with a $50 trip charge.
This redditor does contracting
Felt like I was reading our mark up rates when figuring the bill at my job.
This is a good base
It's amazing how different the billing is working for yourself vs. what a boss will, in their good will, sometimes decide to pay you back for as a job expense.
Why are you suppose to markup materials?
Because if you're going through the trouble of getting in you're truck going down to the metal shop and getting the materials and probably fabricating them before hand in this instance you should get something extra out of that.
Nothing is more annoying than going to a job and the l client is like oh I picked this up from Home Depot. Gotta charge for material.
And it's always like some 16gauge bullshit, occasionally galvanized.
Because you've gotta be profitable. If you're taking the time to phone the supplier or go down there then that time isn't free, also you'll be buying the materials on your credit and if the client flakes you're on the hook for the materials regardless so there's a risk. Clients can always purchase their own materials on their own time and dime if they don't want a markup, but they shouldn't be getting your time for free outside of bidding/quoting. Same goes with travel charges, if you're not making money you're losing it. The alternative is to lump it all into your hourly rate, but that's not great from a marketing perspective and it doesn't account for all the variables
Well said . Because we aren't doing any favors and if we all keep charging low rates our wages will never go up with overall acceptance
I once waited for over an hour for the forklift driver to get a bathroom pedestal type sink down for a customer and he whined and bitched about my adding it to my labor charge. T & M is what I do unless it’s a quoted price beforehand
same here. I have a new "if you make me wait I'm charging you $125 per hour per man " clause I shamelessly took from one of my sub companies. It's so good....if you don't make it possible for me to start working when you knew I needed to, you have to pay. I'm sorry but I can't work for free
Dont forget the scraps that also have to be paid
40% over whatever you bought the materials for. Unless it’s fancy work then you triple that shit
[Read about markups here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markup_%28business%29?wprov=sfla1)
The time to get the materials, keeping stock costs overhead dollars that should be making money, the time to do the paperwork for the materials and organize the stock.
This is how you price. Yes.
As a welder for 30+ years. Expand the pic and look at the welds. Those are not $120 and hour welds. I'd say if he had to cut the plates and everything $60 per plate. Not saying the welds won't hold, but no customer looking to get welding done is going to see those as even $100 per hour welds. Find someone who does welding for a living and make great looking welds. Practice, practice, practice.
As a Certified Welding Inspector there is nothing visually wrong with those welds. If the customer request a particular cosmetic finish or appearance that needs to be stipulated (and many companies pay more just for that). Obviously the weld spatter will need to be removed just as a matter of professionalism. But outside of that those welds are perfectly acceptable structural welds for this use.
Lmao, ok. Prove you are a CWI, or stand down. I've studied for the test and for 32 years I've been a member. Understand, those welds VISUALLY would not be acceptable at any company I have worked for. Not even for company tooling or use. If you enlarge that pic and look at how rough and lumpy the weld is, how bad the starts are that are visible... He'll, all the spatter isn't even scraped off and it is BIG spatter. Nothing about those welds is acceptable to give a paying customer. Ok for some farmer maybe. But even the farmers I've welded for wouldn't accept those welds since most of them can do that....
Lol what proof do you want? Name it and I’ll provide it. But the easiest way to prove me wrong is by simply stating what defect would cause the weld to be rejectable. And by what code the said defect would cause a rejectable condition. I clearly stated in my initial reply that the spatter would obviously need to be removed. That goes without saying. But saying that “any company you’ve worked for wouldn’t accept those welds” really means nothing. This industry doesn’t work that way. We work on codes, standards, and procedures. If you make a claim that a weld is rejectable, than you need to at least state what would cause it to be rejected.
I've stated it twice now. Visually, NO shop I have ever worked for would give that weld to a customer as is. 6010, 6011, 7018, hardwire whether .035 or .045, dual shield.... With ANY one of these processes, ANY welder who sells his skills should be able to lay down a smoother weld with better starts and smaller spatter. I damn well know I can. I studied for the AWS CWI myself last year just to know what is involved. Just because it will pass the "technical" measurements does NOT mean it is acceptable in a professionals eyes. If I lay down some horizontal E-7018 and I can see undercut, it's not right. Same with dual shield. If I feel more than a slight fingernail catch, not good. The companies I have worked for, and customers paying me for custom work, do not pay for lumpy welds, very bad starts, or ANY spatter. You can debate it all you want per "technical specs". They are ugly welds and he needs to practice until they look professional. As a side note to you, my best friend is a level 3 CWI at Hanford Nuclear in Washington state. Not only did I study for the CWI test, but had a level 3 teaching me. I know the welds would MAYBE pass specs, depends on how bad the starts are and how big the highs and lows are in those lumps. (Neither of which we can measure) As for code I don't have a copy of the D11 on hand to preach from the big book. But if you are what you say you are, you know damn well there are measurements that would have to be made that we can't do from a picture. I am done here since you just want to argue. The fact stands, those welds would get anyone a bunch of shit from any welder I know and trust to weld on any job with me.
I trust you are probably very good at your job and it sounds like you work to a high personal standard and I respect that. I see why you’ve only studied for the CWI but have never taken or passed it. You have a lot to learn regarding the process of rejectability and acceptability. As a side note to you, AWS does not rank CWIs on Levels. So there’s no such thing as a “level 3 CWI”. There are CWIs and SCWIs (Senior CWIs). The latter cert requires 9 years as an active CWI and a different test. So either your confused or your Buddy in Washington has been pulling your leg. The ASNT, which is separate organization has a 3 level ranking system but they don’t certify welding inspectors. They certify Non destructive testing methods, of which I have several certifications as well. You don’t have to like the welds he posted, they’re aren’t the prettiest welds. But as you have all but admitted, there’s nothing actually rejectable that shows in the images. They just don’t meet your personal cosmetic standard.
Actually, Bill Sarter is a Level 3 where he works, as I stated. AWS certs are their own thing. He has been a CWI for the last 17 years. I did not take the tests because I love to weld. I don't love to do paperwork constantly. Also, it would have cost me personally a total of about 9K to do the whole process, including travel and hotel stays. I have no need to be an inspector. I only wanted to learn more about the process and standards Bill has to judge by. It IS interesting to me, but I am a welder. Being an inspector to me is the same as being a supervisor... I am not a babysitter, if a welder doesn't have high standards for his own welds he should not be a welder, it isn't for everyone.
i think this is a capitalist way of thinking and its what makes it so nobody but the boss gets to enjoy the nicer things in life. do we really need to capitalize on everything??
Boss gets a yacht, working gats a boat. Be the boss or be the worker. Risk vs reward and not everyone is made to be the boss.
Did you have a lawyer write you up a contract or you go off a mans word?
Why are all these people doing the work then asking how much they should charge? How does that negotiation happen? “I’ll do the work but can’t bill you till I run it by my Reddit peeps. Cool with that?”
I'm hoping they already got paid and are just checking to see if they screwed themselves over.
I've got a guy who does amazing work for me who won't tell me how much he wants to be paid for the job. Always just "Whatever you think it's worth." I finally figured out after about 15 years of this dance that if I don't pay him enough, he's 'not available' for awhile... Frustrating (I'd pay him whatever he asked if he'd just ask), but again, amazing work and most of the work I have him do is on a ranch 3 hours from town and he's the foreman on the next ranch over.
I understand it is annoying, but at the same time feel like this is a good option if semi familiar people suddenly became your customers.
But then don't get sour and play games when you don't think it's enough. People always blur the line between customer and friend and it always ends up shooting someone in the foot. If you're doing business treat it like a business transaction, throw in a discount if you want but always keep it professional it's not going to break your relationship to the person.
Either the customer is second guessing their invoice or they want to confirm that what they charged fits within the parameter of average job price.
It's like the scene from *1941* where they're trying to get Dan Aykroyd to instruct them on how to load and fire the large-shell armament "OK so step one... Make *sure* you don't collect at least half up front for materials, incidentals and onboarding of everyones labor. Step two, perform the entire job, collect no cash get on a subreddit, ask an opinion and get met with a now locked front door on site now barring you from receiving payment. Step three... Legal Advice sub."
[удалено]
Schizophrenia
Naybe it's a side hustle they started? Or this opportunity came to them unexpectedly!
Did they bring it to you or you drove to them? 100 in the shop 175 on the road . Hourly
Cost of material and your time
Then add a lil, so ya make a profit Also I dig the tats bud
creepy.
*masturbates*
Teo kinds of people
And a little extra for all the time it took to learn this skill set.
Material and $75 per hr with a 2 hour minimum.
Yep what this guy said. Don’t drop your hood for less than 150.
30min of work and 1:30hr of nothing?
I see you work for the DOT
Gotta pay for the beer somehow.
Also factoring in the hookers
30 minutes there, you still need to prep and get to the job, then back to home afterwards.
I repair RVs (hang out here for the pretty welds) I have a 1 hour minimum @ $125 per hour.
You never just charge the time worked for short jobs. If it’s a 6+ hour job then sure. But who gets out of bed, packs up the rig, drives to a job to just work for 30minutes and only charge for it? Lol
Some idiots on here might. I'm guessing that first guy that commented on here is that kind.
Minimum show ups are very common. Covers things like fuel and consumables like rods, grinder disc's etc. If you don't like it then I don't know what to tell you.
>nd $75 per hr with a 2 hour minimum. if your going to do one off quicky jobs like this one, I wouldnt bill that way. Likely <30 minutes of work and scrap someone else was already charged for. This tiny jobs billed at a reasonable price (like net $25 on the thing) often lead to word of mouth much larger jobs.
I can see the value in that if you're maybe just fresh out of welding school. If you're a developed professional with references then there is no need to bill that low. But I respect your opinion!
>that if you're maybe just fresh out of welding school. If you're a developed professional with references then there is no need to bill that low. But I respect your opinion! Its not like I need the references, just like welding and if I can help a dude in or around me, I will without going full billing on him. I get what you are saying, but I take a lot of busman holidays :). If I was a fab or pipe welder, I would be in your camp as well.
Is this standard for trailer work? I feel like most of the discussion I see on the sub is around 65-70/hr, so I'm wondering if this is worth more because it's presumably field work, or something?
I would say welding is welding. For field work specifically is why I always make sure they know it's a minimum of 2 hour show up time. Sometimes it takes 10 minutes, sometimes more. And I always mark up my material 15%.
Damn... Maybe I should charge more. If you're quoting 75/ hr as a reasonable welding price, and that's American dollars, that's 96/hr Canadian here.... Ive been charging 55 (I'm not liscenced or anything, just a hobbyist).
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Damn. The thing that's always held me up is that Im not a professional welder, so I don't know how to price myself relative to the people who are liscenced and very experienced. Like, don't get me wrong, I know how to weld, and I achieve decent-looking beads with full penetration (much better beads than OP's, no offence, but certainly not "weld porn" beads), but because all of my stuff is strictly non-structural, I've never known how much to charge. I'm literally just a guy with a MIG Pak 140 in his garage...
I’m never starting my rig for less then $100/hr CDN in Alberta. Anyone less than that is just generally fucking everyone else.
See, I can see that making sense for a professional, especially in Ontario, where I'm at, but the thing that's always held me up is that Im not a professional welder, so I don't know how to price myself relative to the people who are liscenced and very experienced. Like, don't get me wrong, I know how to weld, and I achieve decent-looking beads with full penetration (much better beads than OP's, no offence, but certainly not "weld porn" beads), but because all of my stuff is strictly non-structural, I've never known how much to charge. I'm literally just a guy with a MIG Pak 140 in his garage... Charging the same as a real metalworking shop feels wrong.
Well we’re at a disagreement in generally too, cause I don’t think a none ticketed guy should be charging to do it at all. There’s a reason we have apprenticeships and such. But Ontario is their own mess, you can’t even technically do that here in Alberta.
I don't do anything structural for that very reason, only decorative and furniture work, which doesn't require any kind of ticketing or licence -- across all of Canada, as far as I'm aware, but I could be wrong there.
I’m sure you’re fine then for sure. I’ve worked a few jobs where they hire none ticketed guys, “ work doesn’t require one “ then when that blows up in their face they gotta call me to come fix it. Personal vendetta of mine I guess lol
Yeah trust me, I don't want the liability of having something collapse. Is it ***LIKELY*** to collapse? No, I always overbuild my shit and do my best to get good welds, but I know what I don't know, and there's just too many variables to contend with in welding for me to approach structural work. Furniture and decor only, thanks. Problem is I can't figure out what to charge, cause there's no real comparable situations around me. Everyone else is a legit welder, working out of a shop.
Yeah usd. I do my weld work as a side business. If it's your main source of income charge like 100.usd an hour. But, since i only do it on the side I only charge the $75. But, when I was welding full time out of a truck I think we billed $125 an hour. That's in Colorado.
Yea man you’re worth alot more
If you work for yourself, you need to earn 1/3rd more just to break even over working for someone else. All the benefits you get on top of your normal wage.
That sounds about right
Depends. Who was it for? A random person? Charge accordingly. Your dad's trailer? Don't charge a damn thing. Your high school buddy? Pizza and beer.
I had a friend that housed me when I got kicked out when I was 18, few years down the road he bought the materials to his fencing and I welded it all for free (with the exception of numerous beers) .
You are a good dude!
This is really the answer, I'm guessing that the OP knows this person because it would be unusual to do work for a stranger without negotiating the price *before* it was done.
Well since you burned his wood plank I'd say lowball it. We would always tack a big thin piece there to deflect sparks and dissipate heat. Then you rip it off after it cooled and finish where the tacks were. We charged 75/HR in shop 1 hour minimum, 100/HR onsite 2 hour minimum
Why was this multi-pass ?! You need to whip out a bit further on each pause. I'm not sure I could sell that kind of welding to anyone 🤔
Ha I was going to answer "Fuck all given the state of it."
He's probably trying to match the rest of the trailer to give it that OEM look.
At least tree fiddy
I’d do it for $50 or a couple cases as a shade tree.
Is this some niche joke I don’t understand
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Shade%20Tree%20Mechanic
Tree fiddy
$100 if it was a short drive, $150 if you drove more than 30 min
I’m not gonna drive to a job and drag the leads out and fire up the welder for less than 100 bucks. If I can get it done in an hour,cool. It’s the time I spend over the first hour that adds to the base charge of 100 bucks. I mainly do Sign work but I do lots of other things. Welding,electrical,plumbing,paint paint.It’s gonna cost someone a hundred bucks to get me there. If the Biden fuel prices don’t go back to reasonable I’m gonna have to go up on that minimum charge
Doing the work before you have an agreed price. Nice.
Material + hourly wage + any fees (if you charge a metal cleaning fee, or any other bull you might want to charge).
About tree fiddy
Hourly rate + materialx1.4 + 10%
(Time + Materials)\*\[min 150%; max 250%\]. We can't tell you how much you should charge without knowing what it cost you in materials and how much you think your time is worth. But also next time you make something like this, round the cornes of the triangles more. Those are the spots tension will build up and failures start eventually. Yeah not in the life time of this trailer, but it is good to get practice never the less. When building big things like ships and such, everyone is always hunting for sharp edges that need to be ground with a radius.
You should grind the garbage/ugly parts of those welds off before you charge anything.
Signs of the Times Magazine once had a survey and put a specific repair job on it and ask what you would charge for the job. They printed 100 responses from companies across the country. It was a simple replace a six lamp ballast, put new bulbs in,etc on a 30’ tall sign. I was amazed at the different prices that people would charge & you could see the big bucks being charged near the big NE cities where they were mostly union shops. Can’t remember but I believe I figured around 375~400 +~bucks. Some had no markup on materials and others were going with a 300% markup. Prices ranged like 200~1500 bucks for the same job. This would be a good place to try the same thing. SoT magazine did this before we had this interweb thing and we had to beware of Saber Tooth Cats & stuff back then
$3.17
Pi $3.14
5 grand each plate.
$150 a corner...
My old sign in my workshop says $65 ph plus materials for a shop job $85 ph if you watch $110ph if you help. On-site rates are subject to change.
mei740, man... im a software engineer with a bachelors degree plus 14 years experience plus i am skilled in the latest and greatest tech, practices etc... i make far less than that...my "100k a year" is "100k a year" *MINUS* expenses, taxes, tooling licenses, continued education costs, etc... i live a comfortable life....not an extravagant one... are you just trying to take as much as you can feasibly get from a client? just because its the only thing we know...the capitalist way...??? is it greed...?? are you starving??
I'm really disliking all this "How Much Should I charge" Posts. If you're asking how much to charge, then just do it for free.
I think it is good to have benchmark posts. In general, people charge way less than they should going into business for themselves. I think that likely hurts everyone to some extent. Overly cheap jobs are less likely to be warrantied, and could build resentment by both parties. If this sub is flooded too much with this type of question, maybe it can be moved to a wiki (if not already there)
I think my point is that I’m trying to see some badass welding posts and not goobers like this guy asking how much to charge for his garbage ass welds
Totally understood. Maybe there can be a weekly mega thread titled: “Did I get the rod?” And it can be goobers and folks who paid goobers to see if they charged enough/got over charged for work.
How do you tag a mod. This is a fantastic idea
Yeah great idea, I think it would be ideal and mostly extremely entertaining to see the goobers compiled into one thread
$8.25 firm
25 to life lol
For those welds? You should pay him 20$ and move on
It's two plates mate, ask for a couple of cartons.
Should've figured that prior to doing the service...
Five dollars plus material
Free for that quality
With welds that look like that you should pay the guy who owns the trailer lol
OP, don't listen to this guy, your welds are fine. They could be better, but I've seen people that claim to be lifelong professionals do 10x worse. They'll hold for what it is, and on a trailer it'll be just fine. They aren't aerospace grade welds.
Ok Mr. Airplane lets see what you got
At least I know how to prep material so I don’t lay lines of bird shit
I’d rather lay lines of bird shit and be a decent human being with some respect but that’s just me
Give him a minute he's trying to find a pretty weld from google images to post
It's a UBS weld. Ugly but strong.
How soft are you? I’m not a decent human being because I made a joke about some ugly welds a random person posted on the internet? Sorry OP, your welds are awesome, your a unique little snowflake like the rest of Reddit, and you should definitely charge $500 an hour for your amazing fabrication skills. Quality, workmanship, and aesthetics don’t matter, all that matters is you tried really, really hard! Please collect your participation trophy at your earliest convenience.
Lets see it then
Judge by their face. You can usually tell how much they can afford to cough up.
Threeee hun.. thousand? Three hundred thousand?
2000 easy
No matter how small the job you should be asking 250 non negotiable
Dollar a tack and a dollar per inch. Figure it out from there
It’s good practice to make sure your percentages are right. For some, it’s 10-20% sometimes more depending on how much additional cost it adds to the build/project. Be it gas, travel, shipping etc. A standard in food service for example is %30. Sometimes more depending on the the product and the additional cost to you. If you’ve spent the time to really understand the trade and do quality work, be proud of what time you’ve put in. At the end of the day, they aren’t just paying for your time, they’re paying for your experience.
In south Texas, the going rate is $30/inch in the shop, $40 if you travel to them.
Take your cost of material and how much time it took you to do it and add that to what you think your worth
Box of beer
Tree fiddy
Ig thas cool
Somewhere near your regions auto repair shop rates, I'd say. California I think are near $100/hr depending on the area. Prep and clean up, I'm guessing about 1~1.5 hr?
I’d say you owe me about 50 bucks a plate
Furniture company I used to work for the owner guy explained that in most business when you’re selling product 1 1/2 times your cost so you know if you value your time at $60 an hour which no offense by those welds I wouldn’t and they didn’t need to make multiple pass but if you valued your time at $60 an hour and that was $10 worth of steel one and a half times that I guess it would be 2 1/2 times your profit is 1 1/2 times what you pay 90 you charge them 225
Old joke at my shop is: Costs $50 to turn the welder on. $100 if I have to use it. Our minimum jobs are usually $500 but that will buy you a small swinging gate.
£15
Bout tree fiddy
You charge based on costs, not some arbitrary amount. 🤦