Price to charge for welding?

[speedy88]

Hey guys, I've been asked by a friend to do some welding which I'd like to do for a reasonable price, giving myself a small profit (say 10 or 20 quid) on top.

But I'm struggling to quote him a price as I've only ever done welding for myself or free of charge.

So a simple way of quoting him I think would be to charge by the cm/inch where I can actually measure a few sections and get an idea of how much I'm going to weld.

I only want to factor in the cost of welding, forget about electric or grinders etc, that's already paid for

What do you guys charge? Cheers!

[hamps]

About £5 an inch mate

[speedy88]

Ok, that sounds right. Does that include your profit margin?

[Mantasport]

I charge £20 an hour

Never been a fan of the charging by the inch way of pricing. I just can't see it working that well for large welding jobs.
Say you're doing a full sill, thats about 4foot long welded top and bottom, plus a bit at front and rear verticals so call it 105 inches.

So at £5 an inch thats £525 for a sill welding on

Should say i'm not having a go at anyone or their way of pricing, it obviously works for a lot of people.
Maybe its just that most of my welding jobs require many many feet of welding

[Copey]

why not see what your material costs would be and tell him to just sling to £20-30 on top of that

[countvauxalot]

Jan 26, 2012 9:20:07 GMT Mantasport said:

I charge £20 an hour

Never been a fan of the charging by the inch way of pricing. I just can't see it working that well for large welding jobs.
Say you're doing a full sill, thats about 4foot long welded top and bottom, plus a bit at front and rear verticals so call it 105 inches.

So at £5 an inch thats £525 for a sill welding on

Should say i'm not having a go at anyone or their way of pricing, it obviously works for a lot of people.
Maybe its just that most of my welding jobs require many many feet of welding

I agree here i usually charge £20 an hour plus materials

[nomad]

Interesting thread as I was thinking about asking the same question

Thanks for the ideas, my thoughts before I read this ...
not a fan of pricing by the inch as it works out too expensive (ask my missus )
Was expecting to quote for the complete job (few small'ish patches)
Hadn't thought about per hour but it makes sense.

Saw a very similar discussion on the MIG welding forum (mix of pro welders and hobby types) for pricing a fire grate. Worth reading.
www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=30906&page=2
Lots of good advice, and some gems
"Do you want to quote 'Mates rates' or 'fair price' ?"
"Never quote even numbers - add £5 - you can then look good by giving a £5 discount and he buys you a pint"
"I'm introducing an it's-not-worth-getting-out-of-bed-for fee of something like 50 quid."

Is good to see this discussed. I know how much it cost me to buy my mig set (and the problems since finding somewhere to keep all the gear), it also goes some way towards explaining the crazy-high prices I was quoted when I asked local garages to put a couple of patches on my daily runabout
Welding now costs me time but very little £££, before I invested in my own gear everything was hassle & looked very expensive (I now know why )

Keep the thoughts coming, it's all good info

[speedy88]

OK great guys, I know what to charge him now

[forde]

keep it simple, if it is your friend and you only want him to bung you £20 for your time, then just charge him for the cost of welding wire/consumables + £20

or if you drink just ask him to pay you for the consumables and throw you a case of beer or something! you'd be paying for it yourself anyway and it seems more friendly than asking for money!

[ben711200]

Jan 27, 2012 3:27:14 GMT forde said:

keep it simple, if it is your friend and you only want him to bung you £20 for your time, then just charge him for the cost of welding wire/consumables + £20

or if you drink just ask him to pay you for the consumables and throw you a case of beer or something! you'd be paying for it yourself anyway and it seems more friendly than asking for money!

However.. Giving an actual asking price makes things much clearer. I've often said 'just throw me a few beers for it' and it's surpringly common to not receive anything... Putting a price on it makes it more a case of a fair price for services provided. Beer can be too friendly

[Bob the Fish]

Friend, from zero to £10 an hour depending what/how much to do and all that. Someone else like a friend of a friend etc, £15ph.

Charge something if you need to buy steel, paint, sealant etc, esp if you're going to spend time fetching stuff.

I don't do swapses job-for-a-job any more. And most of us need £s for our projects and are happy to see a mate get some, while saving on 'shop' rates, so it's all good really.

[thetattoostudio]

Ohhh £5 an inch, i like that,,,, i need a 1 inch plate welded up under the rear submount on an 1100, £20 for 3 days work sounds pretty cheap to me

[UtterPiffle]

Hrm, well there is food for thought. I have never charged actual money before. Never even crossed my mind.
I have always welded stuff for beer. Beer was the approved and accepted currency of my little town when I lived in the UK.

[usedabused]

I always used to charge £30 for the first hour then over that its £1 per inch.
It worked well for me when I worked for an MOT station in the early nineties when half the cars up for test needed a patch or two.

[stealthstylz]

It depends where the bit of welding is. I usually charge £20 a patch if it's fairly accessible. If I have to start removing interior trim/mechanical items to get to the part needing welding I charge more.

Matt

[speedy88]

The guy is someone from work, I get on with him alright but he approached me as his "normal guy" quoted over £100. Apparently it's a section of chassis on the rear of an Orion. I'm pushed for time so I'll be charging him normal rates I think.

If it was one of my mates I'd have done it for a case of beer

[nomad]

Jan 27, 2012 13:19:32 GMT UtterPiffle said:

I have always welded stuff for beer. Beer was the approved and accepted currency of my little town when I lived in the UK.

Sounds similar to my past ;D
Rates went from a 4-pack of your choice up to getting taken for a wild nite out and not buying a drink all night

[vaughant]

Jan 27, 2012 23:21:41 GMT speedy88 said:

The guy is someone from work, I get on with him alright but he approached me as his "normal guy" quoted over £100. Apparently it's a section of chassis on the rear of an Orion. I'm pushed for time so I'll be charging him normal rates I think.

If it was one of my mates I'd have done it for a case of beer

I`d say thats a bit of a curse word job TBH,if its the side of the rail easy enough but more likely than not it`ll be the section creeping up towards the top of the rail which in some cases is suspension off and plenty of interior trim removal.

As a price guide to welding i`d say its nigh on impossible as you well know a small patch often turns into a full sill etc. time you hack it out.

ok your costs are generally covered regarding leccy etc but I'm inclined to offer a day rate of say £100 so doing thats 1/2 a days work hence £50,at least you get something worthwhile out of it then.

[nelliem]

I charge by the hour/day with a £30 minimum,rates vary dependant on who it is and how much time/how little cash i have! If someone wants to strip and prep 1st then it's cheaper but i won't just sling a patch on as it will bite you later when they come back after 6 months/a year and say it's rotted again. Done properly or not done.

[gouldygtr]

the welders at work charge £500 a day lol! but thats coded welding

I reckon if you cut out and welded a set of sills for a mate i would pay the materials plus £50 in your pocket,