Welding cost

[wdchyd]

When I used to do road service work I would charge a min 2 hr service call within a 20 mile radius....(welding included)....I used to charge the same price per hour for driving or welding (plus mileage for the utility truck)

I had to do it cuz many times people would call on the phone frantic needing someone today....sometimes it was an easy job or I'd show and work till 9 at night.....or sometimes they just wanted someone to troubleshoot (which could be mins or hours).....or sometimes they needed an oxy/acet torch

The 2 hr min used to weed out deadbeat accounts.....and by the time they'd call they already got sick of monkeying around

 

[yomax4]

A case of Beer goes a long way in my shop among friends.

 

[1grnlwn]

When you do something for a living people shouldn't expect a discount. I may have figured wrong but you got your bucket kit and custom welded for the same price as a welded bucket? So why would this surprise you? How could this guy be more efficient than a factory that makes buckets? One thing I have found doing custom work is it takes twice as long to do something if you just thumbnail an estimate. Which all of these people are doing. From my point of view, you made the mistake of buying a do-it -yourself kit and couldn't do it yourself. Maybe your tacking was poor and all pulled apart. Maybe the whole thing was crooked? I don't know. Here is a price structure that most small businesses will agree with.

Hourly rare $60
Hourly rate if you watch $100
Hourly rate if you help $150

Most small businesses fail due to not knowing there costs.

 

[Ken45101]

When you do something for a living people shouldn't expect a discount. I may have figured wrong but you got your bucket kit and custom welded for the same price as a welded bucket? So why would this surprise you? How could this guy be more efficient than a factory that makes buckets?

Most small businesses fail due to not knowing their costs.

^^^ what he said. I think he nailed it very, very well.

It's also possible that this guy was tired of "friends" wanting him to save them money and priced work like this so that he doesn't get taken advantage of again and again.

Why should you buy a kit to save yourself money and expect someone else to do the work that you didn't want to pay the manufacturer (who can do it quicker/cheaper) to do? You were really expecting him to go out of his way to save you a few dollars. Hmmm, that seems like you were taking advantage of his friendship. I can certainly see where he felt you were trying to skimp and leave him holding the bag. What kind of friend is the OP who buys a kit to save money and expects a "friend" to do the work?

I also think it is telling that the OP is drudging up this incident from ten years ago. Something like that would be far off my radar.

Ken

 

[MMagis]

When you do something for a living people shouldn't expect a discount. I may have figured wrong but you got your bucket kit and custom welded for the same price as a welded bucket? So why would this surprise you? How could this guy be more efficient than a factory that makes buckets? One thing I have found doing custom work is it takes twice as long to do something if you just thumbnail an estimate. Which all of these people are doing. From my point of view, you made the mistake of buying a do-it -yourself kit and couldn't do it yourself. Maybe your tacking was poor and all pulled apart. Maybe the whole thing was crooked? I don't know. Here is a price structure that most small businesses will agree with.

Hourly rare $60
Hourly rate if you watch $100
Hourly rate if you help $150

Most small businesses fail due to not knowing there costs.

^^^ what he said. I think he nailed it very, very well.

It's also possible that this guy was tired of "friends" wanting him to save them money and priced work like this so that he doesn't get taken advantage of again and again.

Why should you buy a kit to save yourself money and expect someone else to do the work that you didn't want to pay the manufacturer (who can do it quicker/cheaper) to do? You were really expecting him to go out of his way to save you a few dollars. Hmmm, that seems like you were taking advantage of his friendship. I can certainly see where he felt you were trying to skimp and leave him holding the bag. What kind of friend is the OP who buys a kit to save money and expects a "friend" to do the work?

I also think it is telling that the OP is drudging up this incident from ten years ago. Something like that would be far off my radar.

Ken

Both posts are spot on.

 

[Ken45101]

I think there is also a big difference between asking a friend to help when something breaks vs. asking someone to build something new for you so that you can save yourself money.

 

[deereman75]

I think there is also a big difference between asking a friend to help when something breaks vs. asking someone to build something new for you so that you can save yourself money.

I agree.

 

[ericher69]

I think there is also a big difference between asking a friend to help when something breaks vs. asking someone to build something new for you so that you can save yourself money.

Not really! Many of my coworkers (some friends) will call me to help with a roofing job on their home so that they can save money. I have no problem helping some of these friends out since they have not thought twice about helping me in the past lay flooring, framing or finish work so that I can speed up the process and save money!

Question is; OP one of the friends that reciprocates favors or a "friend" that shows up when needing something

Ps. Not an attack on OP only trying to get clarification on the situation and dynamics at hand

 

[jake98]

I don't see how it took more than an hour since it was all tacked up. What were they doing for the other four hours?

 

[MMagis]

I don't see how it took more than an hour since it was all tacked up. What were they doing for the other four hours?

You're making the assumption it was all tacked up properly and square. No one here knows the truth, but I highly doubt his friend charged him for 4 hours that he didn't do anything. Unless, as mentioned before, he was sending a message.