Fair price for welding work?

[Wayne County Hose]

50 bucks if it all takes less than an hour and find out what kind of beer he drinks. Make sure it's on ice. Throw a couple burgers on the grill, you will have a friend for life. Next time he may come do it for nothing or when you offer him money, he will ask for beer. Eddie was correct about most welders.
If mig is good enough for the factory to weld your fremes, it's good enough here.

 

[greenmule]

Saying most welders are drunks is not a good thing to say is it?

Kinda like saying most people who have a tractor and no more than 5 acres of land are gay?

Anyways,I would not assume he had a mig,I would assume he had a stick.

In either case though it is the welder who makes the difference,nothing wrong with the strength of a mig weld,IF the person using it knows what he's doing,,that also goes with stick.

 

[EddieWalker]

Just another thought on payment. The time he gets there and starts the welding might look like the time he's started working, but in reality, he started working when he did anything to his vehicle to come over there. Whether it was to load some tools on his truck, or remove another job that he's been carrying around. His time started when he started doing stuff to prepair for your job. While this is built into a guys fees when he comes out to do a job, it's usually not thought about when a friend comes over to do you a favor. Just think of what it takes to bring your tractor over to mow a friends field. It might only be two hours of mowing, but if you spent an hour loading a strapping the tractor down, drove half an hour to get there, then drove half an hour to get home and another hour to unload and clean up your tractor, that's an extra 3 hours of work that you put into that 2 hour mowing.

Whiel $50 an hour is a fair price to pay, remember there is at least another hour of getting there and going home that is part of his day when helping you out. I would think $100 for his time would be a reasonable offer for what he's going to do.

Eddie

 

[LBrown59]

Just another thought on payment. The time he gets there and starts the welding might look like the time he's started working, but in reality, he started working when he did anything to his vehicle to come over there. Whether it was to load some tools on his truck, or remove another job that he's been carrying around. His time started when he started doing stuff to prepair for your job. While this is built into a guys fees when he comes out to do a job, it's usually not thought about when a friend comes over to do you a favor. Just think of what it takes to bring your tractor over to mow a friends field. It might only be two hours of mowing, but if you spent an hour loading a strapping the tractor down, drove half an hour to get there, then drove half an hour to get home and another hour to unload and clean up your tractor, that's an extra 3 hours of work that you put into that 2 hour mowing.

Whiel $50 an hour is a fair price to pay, remember there is at least another hour of getting there and going home that is part of his day when helping you out. I would think $100 for his time would be a reasonable offer for what he's going to do.Eddie

What if I owned the welder and the welder guy lived rite next door.?
What would that be worth?

 

[greenmule]

That depends on if you let a cell phone tower to be built without asking him what he thought about it. Could be very expensive.

 

[TRUST]

Asking for a "test weld" is meaningless if the 'inspector' doesn't know what he is looking at.

I said I would ask him some questions(which I did by the way). I did not say I was going to ask for a test weld, that was a post from someone else.



His mig welder is a 110v with argon. He can bring a stick welder If I choose, but prefers to use the mig. I will let him show up and look at the project first. He may change his mind after seeing it....who knows. I've done all the grinding and have all material cut and ready. The more I think about it, maybe he ought to do it for free. After all, I'm sure he will be thinking "wow, nice tractor, you interested in doing some work over at my place?"

 

[RickB]

What if I owned the welder and the welder guy lived rite next door.?
What would that be worth?

If you own the welder, it's time to get busy and learn how to use it.

Having the neighbor help you learn should cost you the same as having him do it.

 

[Gary Fowler]

A certified welder in my area will make $30 an hour single hand (without a machine) so if you plan to pay him, that is what I would offer. IF he uses his equipment then it is at least $50 per hour for the welding time and 30 for travel time. I think it is good that you are even asking for fair payment rates. Many "neighbors" want you to burn $200 worth of consumables, work your tail off for 2-3 hours for free while admitting that the welding shop would charge them $50-100 per hour for this job. Then when you do ask them for money just to pay for the materials used, they get mad and wont speak to you. At least that is my personal experience. It is much better to get the fee agreed up front so no one has any surprises.
By the way didnt you say you have your own welder and grinders? Why not do it yourself. That is why they made grinders, for beginner welders. A grinder will clean up any bad or ugly welds fairly easily and if you never use your equipment, you'll never learn. Sounds like it will all be flat welding and that is the easiest kind.

 

[greenmule]

Well I figured he had a generator welder.
He wants to do it with 110 plug in mig,unless this is real thin stuff[or he really knows his stuff with a mig],you might want to reconsider.
Maybe you already said what it was you wanted welded,?
Also the fact that he wants to bring the mig rather than the stick[plug in],doesn't sound good to me either,[unless it is sheet metal].

 

[BrierPatch]

I have a 110v mig (linclon 3200HD from Home Depot) with a small exchangable bottle of gas. I have about $600 in it. I am wondering what kind of setup your guy is bringing, $500, $2000.....$200?

Anyway, you said he welds on the side for income and hobby. My first thought is you could trade some tractor time for the welding if you had a way to get your tractor there. My other thought is, why don't you ask him what a fair price would be since he does this more than you do. This is the first time (I assume) you have asked or had someone come over and weld for you, but hopefully this is not his first time doing it. Then with the info you have gotten on here you guys can come up with what's reasonable or fair. Then you don't have to worry about insulting him or over paying. It's not like you guys are secretely negotiating the price to try and get the best deal. Ask him for a rough or very rough idea of about what it would cost(adjustable once he gets to see the job). He is obviously willing to come over and do it and he doesn't even know how much he is going to make out of the deal. I say get the rough number from him, let him do it and then see if his work is satisfactory and then you can either go higher or lower than you expected depending on his work.

Heck for $50/hr to weld and $30/hr for travel, maybe I'll come down and do it. I have a welder ! You don't want to see my welds. I own a grinder and many grinding wheels.

 

[TRUST]

I knew where the fella worked, but did not know what exactly he did. He works at Ford in the body shop. He welds the stuff that the automation misses or messes up. So I guess in reality he does do welding for a living. I know what he makes an hour there, I just left there about a year and a half ago.

I talked to him today and told him he just needs to come over and look at what I have before he decides what method to use. He is not the best over the phone so that explains part of this ongoing process. I know he welded up a boat trailer recently for a neighbor using the mig. He did say that if it ever breaks he will fix it free. I should know something tomorrow.

 

[TRUST]

By the way didnt you say you have your own welder and grinders? Why not do it yourself. That is why they made grinders, for beginner welders. A grinder will clean up any bad or ugly welds fairly easily and if you never use your equipment, you'll never learn. Sounds like it will all be flat welding and that is the easiest kind.

I have the grinder and various wheels and the materials that will be needed. I don't have a welding machine.....yet

I have already done all the grinding that will be needed prior to welding. I will do all of the grinding after the welding also. All this guy needs to do is show up, burn rod and leave.

 

[greenmule]

Body shop=sheet metal,110 volt mig,what are you wanting to get welded?

If it ain't sheet metal,you guys might have a good time,hope it ain' t anything that could hurt somebody if it breaks.

 

[TRUST]

Body shop=sheet metal,110 volt mig,what are you wanting to get welded?

If it ain't sheet metal,you guys might have a good time,hope it ain' t anything that could hurt somebody if it breaks.

Welding 1/4" angle to the top edge of my bucket which is 1/8". Also putting 5/16" tow hooks to the 1/4" angle. The angle will support a grapple.http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/135422-looking-bucket-reinforcement-advice-grapple.html Scroll down a few posts, you will find pics. The angle is NOT in any of the pics.

 

[weldingshop]

... I really prefer a black car. besides the other two german mobiles only have like 25k and 40k miles on them.

 

[greenmule]

Trust,I wouldn't want that done with a 110 volt mig,

 

[TRUST]

Trust,I wouldn't want that done with a 110 volt mig,

To late for that.

He came over today to take a look. He seemed very confident the mig would be fine. He offered to bring the stick. I told him to use what he felt most comfortable with for this application. He went home got his 110v Lincoln 3500HD w/gas and industrial wire. In all, counting travel time, he had 3 hrs in it. We talked and messed around for 30 minutes of that. I gave him a $100 and he said "that's more than adequate". So, he seemed happy and I was happy with the work. I can't imagine that this is not going to be sufficient for the application. Besides he said if anything goes wrong he will fix it for free.....and I believe he would.


Notice the pic inside the bucket. You can see where the welds start and stop along the back side as it penetrated the 1/8" steel. It did not blow through, but you could see the pattern and it lost the paint. I'm putting the pics in my other thread concerning the reinforcement, rather than double post them.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/kubota-owning-operating/135422-looking-bucket-reinforcement-advice-grapple-3.html

 

[dex3361]

Did you preheat the grab hooks befor welding them on the angle? Did he weld the grab hooks with a mig also?

 

[TRUST]

Did you preheat the grab hooks before welding them on the angle? Did he weld the grab hooks with a mig also?

No and yes.

 

[smfcpacfp]

Looks like pretty nice work