How you price out a welding job? - Everlast Welders

That's a hard question!!!! You live and learn on pricing! I have minimum charges for mobile welding $75.00 for the first hour / to show up (within my town). That's what it's worth for me to drive, gas in my truck and generator, grinding disc, cut off wheels, gloves, welding rods, etc. This is me using my stick and mig welder. Tig welding cost are higher gas is more expensive I have two small argon bottles. You need to figure out what your bottom line is. I did a small job for a guy early on for $50.00. I welded 2 1/4 inch plates 6 inches long some tubing for a fence. After I figured up my time (drive, loading, unloading, cleanup, cost) it was not worth my time even though it was a small job.

I posted a job in the projects section where I welded a coupler on a mobile home. The job was not hard, but it took 8-9lbs of welding rods to weld the frame. I quoted $150.00 which was way too low, I was thinking along the lines of a coupler on a trailer hitch, and to a big A frame. The guy paid me $200.00 for my time anyway. The job is worth about $250.00-225.00 which is 200 for me and 25-50 to cover my cost (welding rods and gas). I put in my pocket $150.00 after I put gas in my generator and truck, and replaced my welding rods used. You can charge more for mobile welding, but there is more cost so be aware.

For a basic mig welding job I have a minimum job $40.00 if you bring it to me. That's a simple job 30 minutes not much skill required.

Tig welding you better figure out your expenses because you can loose your butt on argon and rods. I would not fire up my tig welder for under $75.00 minimum.

After a while it gets a little easier because you learn how long it takes for you weld something. Sometimes you can close on how much you would pay for a job. For me a 3 hour job is my sweet spot. It's not too big and not too small, and I charge around $150.00 plus materials.

I always mark up steel 20-35% especially if I go and get it. I'd rather a customer supply their own metal. I would rather not have that much money tied up.

I call other welding shops and auto repair shops and tell what i need and see what they are going to charge . thing is depending were you are located makes a difference on prices . like in big city's welding is less because of competition then in small towns welding is usually more . I charge a flat 60.00 to fire up my welding stuff then 60.00 per hour that dose not include materials . if fabrication work i do a 200 dollar difference in estimate . like the other day did a hitch and told my customer 200.00 to 400.00 since couldn't give estimate depends on how much materials used and fabrication time involved ended up 380.00 after done welding est can be hard better to bid high and lower price if material use is less and time . never can give a exact est when welding , unless its a welding job your going to repete and it can change since materiel prices change day to day . did a est on skids and some under jeep protection plates about a month a go price was 460 dollar customer comes back like 3 weeks later and wanted it done told him its more since my price on metal went up ended up to be 540.00 instead he still had it done since i was still the cheapest to do it .

I would also say you need to know when to walk away! I worked on a riveted jon boat a year ago. The customer supplied the aluminum to plug some holes. The aluminum on the boat was not fit to tig weld (one reason why it was riveted!). Two bottles of gas later, countless rods, and what looked like a simple $75.00 job cost me $85.00 in gas alone. I no longer weld on riveted john boats! If I ever work on one $150.00 would be my minimum! Sometimes you need to walk away! If it's a turd when you start, it may be a welded turd when you finish sometimes! A job may be more of a liability instead of a money maker.

Good info guys!

I was reading on Weldingtipsntricks and he gave some info as well which helped.
I live in a small town, or small towns in the surrounding area. Alot of Farm land and a Lot of 4x4's and ATV's.
There is a state park with riding trail for dirtbikes, 4 wheelers, 4x4's and A Lot of people come to ride down here from up to 100 miles away, maybe more. I am planning on offering mobile repair(or inshop since I'm 5 minutes away) because I know from experience that you break stuff up there.

I did my first job the other day and it took maybe 3 minutes to do. I charged $25 and the guy was very happy to pay that and have it fixed. I was thinking a minimum charge of $25 plus a dollar an inch of weld but you guys make me think that might be low. Maybe I should do more of a flat rate of $50 inshop and no per inch charge.!?!?
Yeah, this isn't as easy as it sounds.

I had a call the other day to weld new floor pans in a Mustang. The guy was 60 miles away and wanted me to come there and I finally told him I was going to pass unless he wanted to bring it to me.