i just got home from a job i did for a customer. a piece of his stump grinding equipment broke down and he had me come out and weld it up. unfortunately we didnt really agree on a price beforehand, which was my mistake. we made a handshake deal that he would "take care of my costs, whatever i wanted..."
it took me 2 hours to do the job. i also charged him 1 hour extra for driving because i had to drive to the store and buy parts for his stump grinder. the parts cost $15 by the way. keep in mind that before i left i called him and asked if he would authorize me leave the site and get the required parts. he knew where the parts place was, and he knew it would take about an hour round trip.
so when the job is done and i go to collect on the money, i asked for $25 an hour plus $15 for the parts. ($90 total) the guy would only give me $13 an hour plus parts. ($60).
i told him that a professional welder would charge $50 an hour, plus exrta for comming out to the machine to fix it, plus extra for the parts i had to go buy.
keep in mind that i was doing this welding, grinding, cutting etc, in the rain and lightning, and it was night time! that should have been worth somthing extra too.
im not a professional welder. i didnt want $50 an hour. but i did a damn good job and he even complemented me many times on how good my welding looks. i asked for $25 an hour which i thought was more than fair.
i only got $18 an hour out of him, plus the $15 in parts.
if i wanted to work for $18 an hour, i would have gotten a job at home depot running a forklift or somthing. from now on i think i am going to have to set a fixed price on the job and not work for a kiss and a promise.. and be more upfront about the costs before i start working.
I agree with your assessment. $25 would be very cheap. I've done stuff like this for less for my friends, but if doing if for hire, I would charge at least $30 or $40 even I only have a few years experience welding. If you are doing this for money, remember you aren't just charging for your time, but also to recoup the cost of buying all your welding equipment.
Zeke
Well being a "profetional welder" I am cwb structurally certifed, in most process, and I do a little onsite every now and again.
I would not have come out in a lightning storm that is rediculous.
We charge, $150 booking fee, just to get us onsite, and $70/hr service.
Keep in mind that we have a complete outfit, with everything we need, including tickets, and this is for structural service not just fixit work.
The big thing is not only taking in account for your time, but for your materials as well like rods, or wire, and gas, and gloves, helmet , welder, grinder, grinding disks, ect... Sure lots of people can weld, but not many have the equipment.
I think $25/hr is very reasonable for a well done job, infact the absolute cheapest shop I know of is $40/hr and he's on his way under. For $18/hr they better be suppling everything and all you do is show up and burn rod, and grind.
Hope this helps some.
this isnt my main source of income.
but i feel better knowing that atleast a couple people agree with me.
Feel good knowing that next time he has something break he is going to wish he had treated you better because the next person he tries to step on is going to charge him twice as much.
Yo !!!! you brought your own welder ........ out here in the SF ($$$) bay area welders working in an IA contrack prop shop get 27 $ hr and you just show up w gloves hood & jacket........ Shop is expected to provide every thing else........ my .03 $ :wink: