Welding Tips and Tricks

I know this may vary from locale to locale, but what / how to determine the appropriate amount to charge for welding jobs?

Tig aluminum?
Tig steel?
Stick?

I was watching one of Jody's DVDs and for round welds he said "3X the diameter to get length and then $1 per inch. But what if it's only 2 welds about 1 1/2 long each on aluminum? $3.00 I would think between prep time, gas, filler, clamps needed, etc. it should be more.

Thanks in advance for input.

BTW, before I bought my welder, I had to have some aluminum welded. Those 2 welds cost me $60

I never paid attention to the figures because it doesn't concern me, but I recall he also said $?.?? per tack + $?.?? / inch. And there's probably some minimum fee you need to impose or you'll be paying the mortgage with 1" welds because you incentivized them.

His comments were just a good rule of thumb for basic welding tasks, not prep work and building fixtures, etc.

For the type of jobs I think you're talking about (customer brings you parts that need to be welded together), I just figure out how many hours I think it will take me to do the job, and then apply that to my typical hourly rate, while also putting in a bit of slack to cover myself (i.e., if I think it will be a 5 hour job, I will charge for 6 hours). At that point, you can either communicate that "6 hour" price to the customer as one chunk, or break it down into cost-per-part for them depending on the circumstances.

It's very important to understand what the job entails in order to accurately determine how many hours it will take you. Do the parts fit together properly? What's the material? Thick or thin? Shapes? Easy access to the welds? How much prep? What's the fitment tolerances needed? Will you need to make any jigs? Will you need to do time consuming things like backpurging, preheating, postheating, passivating, etc? You'll get a feel for all of this with experience.

If a job like that seems particularly difficult (like when the parts fit together very poorly), I will offer to do the work only on a per-hour basis. Meaning I will bill them for the total hours it took me and I do not provide a quote ahead of time, but I will provide a rough estimate for reference. This is uncommon but a good way to protect yourself.

And as Buggy mentioned, I do have a minimum and it is usually $50. However, I do tend to make exceptions for some of the older folks that walk-in looking for a quick repair to a tool or something, and for pretty ladies.

Edit: Oh, and here is an advanced tip for you. Do a little research on both the parts you're welding, the customer, and the business sector it applies to. Then compare your estimated price to what you think those welds on the parts may be worth. This serves as a sanity check, and depending on the quantity, this can help you to adjust your price up or down if needed. For example, and all other things being equal, if I do 5 hours of welding on parts for auto racing, the price is going to be different than if I do 5 hours of welding on $20 bird feeder stands for the shop down the street. Make sense?

OK. That makes more sense. I like the "minimum" charge idea. Maybe that's why those 2 - 1 1/2 welds on aluminum cost $60. A $50 minimum set up and then $10 for welding, gas, consumables, etc.

Also, the "per hour" with a ball park estimate seems fair as well.

I almost always go by hour as well, with a minimum. Counting tacks and welds just don't seem like the best use of time for me.

As for fabricating, a friend of mine says he just takes his cost of material and times it by 3. Very simple and seems to work for him.

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JayWal wrote: As for fabricating, a friend of mine says he just takes his cost of material and times it by 3. Very simple and seems to work for him.

Would that be just for labor and then PLUS the material cost or would that be a total?

JayWal wrote: As for fabricating, a friend of mine says he just takes his cost of material and times it by 3. Very simple and seems to work for him.

Would that be just for labor and then PLUS the material cost or would that be a total?

JayWal wrote:
As for fabricating, a friend of mine says he just takes his cost of material and times it by 3. Very simple and seems to work for him.

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

So would that be just for labor, then plus the material (basically 4x material cost is total) or would that be a total for the job? (3x material cost is total)

I believe he said 3x is total

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Copy. THX