Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello fellow welders ! SO ive been welding for about 5 months and graduation is right around the corner . Im very excited to finish up and get out there to the real world and make some money !!! I currently work at a battery factor. I deliver the batteries to and from our customers as a truck driver . I meet many over the road drivers who come in to get loaded and roll out . Well just this past weekend a fellow truck driver came up and asked me about my welding skills .He wanted to know if i can fabricate a brand new bumper for his trailer. The one he had was old bent and rusted and needed to be replace . Out of excitement to get some practice outside of school i blurted out i charge $100 a hour and the job should take about 4 hours and he would have to pay for material . To my surprise he said yes thats fine !!!! I couldn't believe it . A hundred dollars a hour !!! I suppose a young buck can dream haha. Anyway he said he lives in San Antonio and could meet me anytime . I said ive give him a call soon . Only problem is i have no tools nothing to pay for material no way to transport anything and very little experience. So I did the right thing and called him back and told him I would not be able to do the work for him and he didnt seem to mind . He mentioned he hated to wait at a real fab. shop because he has no time to wait around he also does not want to spend a arm and a leg and that when ever i can just call him up and he will swing by . So that was that . Moving on to my questions about the whole ordeal .

Is something like this a little far out of my grasp for a soon to be graduate ??? I mean i have to start somewhere right ??? Im not trying to poke the guys eyes out and cheat him a good job .

What kind of tools do i need to really make this happen ?? I have a dodge ram 1500 paid for and was thinking of converting that to a Light welding truck something small you know ??? Just to get the job done . With my day job i make a decent check every two weeks and I know all these tools will be a form of investment that will soon pay themselves off .

So what are some things to avoid ??

Is this type of work something to be careful with do i need any type of insurance ??? When this does take off and i start making that extra money on the weekend like i hope too how do i pay uncle sam ?? I guess what im getting is at " Im asking the older welders who started out just like me . You know humble beginnings . Welding a little here and there how did you do it whats your story ???

I really want to show my children hard work really does pay off and if you can dream it you can achieve it !!!

thanks guys have a blessed weekend !!!!

I have a small repair shop and make pretty decent money doing repairs and weird stuff no one else wants to do. I file my taxes as a sole proprietor on a regular 1040 form but it's a cash business . My understanding of a trailer bumper is the thing that keeps cars from going under the trailer if they rear end the trailer right? Like 3 pieces of c-channel? You should be ok with welding up something like that. I NEVER take anything that would be considered critical as in, someone could get hurt or worse if my weld failed. STAY OUT FROM UNDER THE BUS. Hard to tell you what tools you need . I have a trailer for transporting steel from my supplier or if I need a small amount, they will cut it in half for me and I haul it in my pickup. Your truck bumper project screams mig welding so you need one of those. You need to cut metal so a cold saw and/or a plasma is nice and I have a porta-band for small stuff. You will need a tig machine for doing high-quality precision welding but I went for a long time with a couple of mig machines until i actually needed a tig. You will need various tools and clamps and a sturdy welding table is great. Others guys here will add more but my best advice is don't bite off more than you can chew and be very careful about the work you take in so you don't get sued. Let someone else bleed to death. Good luck and have fun!

Your hourly rate seems a bit on the high side. Here in Georgia about $75/hr is standard unless it's aluminum or stainless in which case it goes up to about $90/hr.
Why $90/hr for aluminum? I honestly can't answer that one since it's even easier to weld than steel. Thin walled stainless is much harder to master though and I think that rate is completely justified, especially when you consider that stainless rod costs about 3X as much as does some good ole ER70S2.
I can see the same higher rate being applied to chromoly as well. I wouldn't even know what the hell to charge for something like titanium but it would have to be considerably higher since that crap goes for about $90/pound and you definitely wanna purge all titanium welds.
Hard facing operations would have to be mich higher as well though I'm not sure how mich higher. A 40 pound roll of hard face mig wire goes for well over $400 around here.

looks like you just jumped the biggest hurdle by
telling the customer the truth. i have found in
40 plus years of business one important lesson
is to know what jobs NOT to take.
craig

Trailer work can be profitable. But I would recommend checking with the DOT about what repairs are allowed to be made on a trailer. Lots of times you can weld up a new bumper but it might need to be bolted on to the frame. They will also know all the rules about height and width that's allowed. 100$ an hour isn't that far out of line.but I don't include metal unless it's a small left over bit from my scrap. I do my side work for a set price based on how long I think it will take and I use 100$ an hour as my rate.

RamboBaby wrote:Your hourly rate seems a bit on the high side. Here in Georgia about $75/hr is standard unless it's aluminum or stainless in which case it goes up to about $90/hr.
Why $90/hr for aluminum? I honestly can't answer that one since it's even easier to weld than steel. Thin walled stainless is much harder to master though and I think that rate is completely justified, especially when you consider that stainless rod costs about 3X as much as does some good ole ER70S2.
I can see the same higher rate being applied to chromoly as well. I wouldn't even know what the hell to charge for something like titanium but it would have to be considerably higher since that crap goes for about $90/pound and you definitely wanna purge all titanium welds.
Hard facing operations would have to be mich higher as well though I'm not sure how mich higher. A 40 pound roll of hard face mig wire goes for well over $400 around here.

Who cares if it's on the high side? He's not in Georgia. If he can provide the value for the service, it's invaluable to the person paying the bill. Prices vary from city to city, let alone state to state.


Charge as much as people will pay, but make sure that you're providing a better value than the guy down the street that charges $20 more. If he provides $200/hr worth of work for $120/hr, and you provide the same quality of work and attention to detail for $100/hr, people will be lined up out the door.

Pricing is just an educated guess on the value of your time and skill set. When customers feel that you are under charging for the service you provide for them based on the quality of your work, you've reached a point of advancement that few people have achieved. It doesn't matter what you think you're time is worth if you can't prove it time and time again to the people that are paying you for your service.

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good morning fellow welders!!

been really busy but im here to say thank you for all your support and feed back. I want to say Im so glad i found this forum i feel its one of my most important tool in my tool box sort of speak .well I got some pictures of the work i found i can hopefully can start doing once i get my tools and welding machine . SO after giving it some thought Here what i plan on doing

1. Ill be staying connected with you guys and trying my best to learn from the experienced welders who dont mind sharing there knowledge with me .
2.i think ill stay away from going out and buying a $30,000 welding truck like i really want haha and ill be setting up shop at home first . get my workshop ready a place to store my material. I plan on re building my fence so i can back up straight into the back yard once i do get my tools and welding machine . so i don't leave it out on the street over night and in the rain . ill be be building a nice car port in my back yard because
3.ill be starting off with a nice little welding rig trailer , i figure its cheaper and if all else fails its not a huge investment like a welding rig on a truck !!! haha so i can sell it or if things do turn out for the best and i do upgrade to a nice 3500 dodge ram welding rig i can still use the trailer to transport material
4. Ill be keeping my day job to pay for all my tools and i figure if i start small i can keep my overhead small and work up a client base around my area things could line up better for the long run .
5.and last but not least just keep giving God the glory !!!

thanks good have happy thanksgiving

That's a solid plan. Pretty close to mine as I work towards retirement. Except I plan on focusing on a small repair/ prototype shop that's building based. I'd like a good mill and lathe. With some portability through a 350-500 amp diesel machine in a small truck.

That does sound like a solid, well thought-out plan, Mike.

All the best with it, hope that it all comes together for you.



Kym

My side work funds my tool investments. Start small but reinvest. If your 9-5 pays the bills then try to go out weekends and take on small jobs. Take the profit and put it in your tool fund. I started working in the car / light truck repair business out of high school and would hustle brake jobs on the weekends to fill my toolbox. Now I work in the site work construction business for my 9-5 but when I leave work I get in my service truck that i paid for doing side work and I go out and do side work. Recently I bought a ranger 250 and a sailor beall engine drive compressor used but in good shape. Now i can weld on site, run my plasma on site, air tools. Turn 1 into 2 , 2 into 5 ,5 into 10 and so on. Good luck and always be upfront and honest.

Jimmyjohn wrote:My side work funds my tool investments. Start small but reinvest. If your 9-5 pays the bills then try to go out weekends and take on small jobs. Take the profit and put it in your tool fund. I started working in the car / light truck repair business out of high school and would hustle brake jobs on the weekends to fill my toolbox. Now I work in the site work construction business for my 9-5 but when I leave work I get in my service truck that i paid for doing side work and I go out and do side work. Recently I bought a ranger 250 and a sailor beall engine drive compressor used but in good shape. Now i can weld on site, run my plasma on site, air tools. Turn 1 into 2 , 2 into 5 ,5 into 10 and so on. Good luck and always be upfront and honest.

You're a rare bird. My hats off to you. You're on your way to bigger and better things with your positive attitude.

+1, great attitude, energy and determination.

You'll go far.



Kym

hey thanks for the kind words. Im no expert but I don't mind working hard to learn something new. And to Mikelove- With smaller welding repairs I seem to keep busy with the dump truck guys, asphalt chutes and tailgate locks are always breaking, floors wear out and the list goes on. The landscape guys are good too. Those guys never want to down a truck during the week when its out making money. If your willing to show up weekends they'll think your the best.