Welding Tips and Tricks

dudley wrote:

cj737 wrote:Yikes! you're paying nearly $200 for a cylinder of Argon? Sheesh, I pay less than $90 for a full sized bottle. I'd move if my business involved welding gas as a regular consumable. Lord Almighty...

Fortunately, this is not a significant cost for what we're building..
We are not primarily a welding shop but a manufacturing business.

I'll keep shopping around though. I have a feeling this has more to do with the cost of living in Northern California and not my vendors giving me poor pricing.

--> if you saw the average rent, wages and property prices it would be equally shocking I'm sure.

- dudley

I'm aware of the rates out there. A large reason I live all the way over here! I'd wager my mortgage is closer to your cell bill than your electric bill I have many friends from your area who come to visit. When they find out what I paid for my land and home, they fall over dead. I have had to become CPR certified and buy a defibrillator for the home lest I stack up the cadavors like cord wood.

cj737 wrote:I'm aware of the rates out there. A large reason I live all the way over here! I'd wager my mortgage is closer to your cell bill than your electric bill I have many friends from your area who come to visit. When they find out what I paid for my land and home, they fall over dead. I have had to become CPR certified and buy a defibrillator for the home lest I stack up the cadavors like cord wood.

About a year or so ago on another forum I no longer participate on, a group of us were discussing real estate values across the country. A person from CA posted up a recently closed lot sale, a lot literally 1/10th the square footage of my house, at $850k.. Now, some might say "But they make Soooooo much money there..." Uh, no, sorry, the wage gap is virtually non-existent all except in the most unusual of areas. Truth be told, it's the north-eastern states where the highest median incomes in the country are. I just don't get the love for those areas, but to each their own.

BugHunter wrote:

cj737 wrote:I'm aware of the rates out there. A large reason I live all the way over here! I'd wager my mortgage is closer to your cell bill than your electric bill I have many friends from your area who come to visit. When they find out what I paid for my land and home, they fall over dead. I have had to become CPR certified and buy a defibrillator for the home lest I stack up the cadavors like cord wood.

About a year or so ago on another forum I no longer participate on, a group of us were discussing real estate values across the country. A person from CA posted up a recently closed lot sale, a lot literally 1/10th the square footage of my house, at $850k.. Now, some might say "But they make Soooooo much money there..." Uh, no, sorry, the wage gap is virtually non-existent all except in the most unusual of areas. Truth be told, it's the north-eastern states where the highest median incomes in the country are. I just don't get the love for those areas, but to each their own.

I live literally in the heart of the Silicon Valley, I would caution anyone considering moving here to think long and hard before doing so. It's insanely expensive, there is a small group of workers making really high salaries working for the tech companies that continue to drive the cost of living up.

A studio can run around 1500-2000/month for rent, So even those "doing well" are just giving it to their landlords.

Those that bought houses here 10-20 years ago are benefiting from the boom, but anyone trying to make a start here has a really big hill to climb.

dudley wrote:I live literally in the heart of the Silicon Valley, I would caution anyone considering moving here to think long and hard before doing so. It's insanely expensive, there is a small group of workers making really high salaries working for the tech companies that continue to drive the cost of living up.

A studio can run around 1500-2000/month for rent, So even those "doing well" are just giving it to their landlords.

Those that bought houses here 10-20 years ago are benefiting from the boom, but anyone trying to make a start here has a really big hill to climb.

One of the guys I recall from that discussion was from Silicon Valley. He'd retired from a car detailing business he had there and from all outward appearances, did very well. But even doing real well, some of the stories just made me scratch my head. Not just CA, but HI, VA, FL and some others. Especially around the beltway in DC, omg... Routinely some of these people paid more interest in 2 years on their mortgage than I paid for my house. And I'm not in some little house in a depressed area. Quite the opposite.

I remember posting up links to a $1M+ home that was for sale around here. In some of those areas you couldn't buy the lot for $5M.

I think one of my favorites was the VA property tax on cars. Buy a new 911 and the property tax on it is $700/mo.