first little job

[ross1993]

So ive been welding couple of weeks now , quite comfortable with fillet welds in flat and horizontal position.someone at work has asked me to make 12 brackets for him.

essentially its a fabricated channel made from 5mm plate , all plate is being supplied , welds will be about 100mm long .
hes asked me to come up with a price but im clueless.

added some pictures of the supposed bracket and a picture of my fillet weld ,

so what do i charge him ?

do my welds look good enough to actually take on the job ?

 

[cianh91]

If charge 80 euro here so 65 70 pound

 

[cumbriasteve]

Price to charge has many variants, is the steel cut to size or is he supplying lengths for you to cut?

Is it cash in hand? is it a good mate? is it a one off or is there the possibility of any future work off him?

What are the brackets for? if it's anything load bearing and fail in the future you can bet your money he will want to share the blame.

You should never get known for doing cheap work, much better to be known for quality at a fair price.

I can remember my first paying job, I was so chuffed and wanted the job so badly I gave a price that I hoped would not scare him off, I got the job and made a little money, then found out he had sold on the work for about 4x what I charged...and he did sod all and I was blazing mad until I realised something very simple...he was a better business man than me.

So... on a hobby basis in my spare time, I would probably charge a cash in hand £60 if they were cut to size, £100 if I had to cut, deburr and weld.

A little less for neighbours, free for good friends and more if I was running a business.

 

[ukracer]

so what do i charge him ?

do my welds look good enough to actually take on the job ?

I have no idea what to charge that has ALWAYS been my problem.

2nd that weld looks aesthetically pleasing . I have seen people welding for years not get that good. Whether its a strong weld I dont have a clue.

 

[ross1993]

Price to charge has many variants, is the steel cut to size or is he supplying lengths for you to cut?

Is it cash in hand? is it a good mate? is it a one off or is there the possibility of any future work off him?

What are the brackets for? if it's anything load bearing and fail in the future you can bet your money he will want to share the blame.

You should never get known for doing cheap work, much better to be known for quality at a fair price.

I can remember my first paying job, I was so chuffed and wanted the job so badly I gave a price that I hoped would not scare him off, I got the job and made a little money, then found out he had sold on the work for about 4x what I charged...and he did sod all and I was blazing mad until I realised something very simple...he was a better business man than me.


So... on a hobby basis in my spare time, I would probably charge a cash in hand £60 if they were cut to size, £100 if I had to cut, deburr and weld.

A little less for neighbours, free for good friends and more if I was running a business.

• so far material will be cut to length
• yes it is cash in hand
• not really a good mate but a decent bloke at work that helps me out with drawings things , he used to be a fabricator so hes helped out a bit with my welding too.
• probably will be future work , hes already mentioned shelves for his garage
• backets are for supporting scaffolding beams , but hes dictated weld size and plate size. hes not the kind of bloke to turn it back on me

that's the exact position i was in , i was thinking like 30 quid untill i get a decent reputation, after all im not a fabricator/welder
ive ran out of 3.2mm rods as well so i kinda need the money just for the rods

feel cheeky asking for 60

 

[chunkolini]

Feeling cheeky asking for sixty quid?
In English that is a fiver each, sounds much better.
With this kind of work I usually make a couple more than I am asked for and can chuck the ones that I dont like.
Pricing for work is always a hassle, worst of all with people you know.
If you feel confident ask him what he thinks it is worth. If he is a nice guy he will offer a reasonable price and might even surprise you.
In my line of work pricing is almost impossible but after a good few years I seem able to compute a figure without knowing where it comes from and be about right.

 

[ajlelectronics]

One of the rules of pricing is that you should lose 10% of your jobs due to price. Any more and the price is uncompetetive, any fewer and you are underselling yourself.

 

[ross1993]

when you say it like that it sounds so much better
i asked him for a quick sketch and ill knock one up see if hes happy with it first.
how many hours work do you think that is ?
i was thinking 1.5-2 ?

 

[AdrianH]

Would there not be another fillet in there on the inside of the open joint?

Not trying to be narky just genuine question is to whys and why nots.

Adrian

 

[ross1993]

yeah there would , i just quickly knocked up the sketch print screened it then closed it down , was waiting for someone to point it out haha
plan was to get it formed at work , but havent spoke to the bloke on the press yet though, so i just shown it as an open corner

 

[AdrianH]

I was wondering if 5 mm U channel with one piece welded on would have done it, but down to sizes and what is available I guess.

I keep looking out for courses in fab and welding but difficult to do with daytime job.

 

[ross1993]

in my opinion it would have been easier to form an angle and weld the angle to the flat plate.welding a plate onto the channel would mean you would have to weld the flat plate onto the radius of the channel.I looked for nightime course in welding , struggling to find one.Luckily for me i work in a fabrication/engineering company and for part of my apprenticeship i had to work as a fabricator for 6 months

 

[The flasher]

Hi ross. i would say around the 70 quid mark. Even thats a cheap price. like chunkolini said when u break it down thats around a fiver each. so it sounds better. The last side job i did i made a list of every single item that i had used from my own stock, bits of metal, pens, fixings, adhesives, various grinding discs , fuel in the van to fetch materials etc. i was suprised how much it all came to. the customer doesnt always see these costs but i factor them in. Thats my 2 pence worth.

 

[ross1993]

Bit of an update on what's required , parts only 50mm wide now , probably will end up cutting some plates now

 

[ross1993]

Jobs changed again, formed Angle now , had s go of a practice piece today, what do you's think

 

[chunkolini]

Might be a daft idea, but why not bend the top right angle? You could do that in a vice with minimal violence and a simple bending fork.

 

[cumbriasteve]

^^^^ Agree with chunkolini

They look a bit lightweight for supporting scaffolding beams but I don't know the full story so guess he knows what he is doing.

If there is any doubt then a 45 degree bracing underneath would add a lot of strength.

 

[ross1993]

Might be a daft idea, but why not bend the top right angle? You could do that in a vice with minimal violence and a simple bending fork.

originally forming the plate was the idea , then the lads that work on the press were off , so i made a test piece like this, however the real thing will consist of a formed angle and a flat plate, thus eliminating 2 of the welds .

forgive me for my ignorance but what is a bending fork

 

[ross1993]

^^^^ Agree with chunkolini

They look a bit lightweight for supporting scaffolding beams but I don't know the full story so guess he knows what he is doing.

If there is any doubt then a 45 degree bracing underneath would add a lot of strength.

think a brace probably would be useful if there were 3-4 supports , but ive got to make 12 so hopefullys that enough . im taking it into work tomorrow , see what he thinks. personally id stick a small gusset in

 

[ross1993]

do people think its still acceptable to ask for 60 quid or do you think i should drop it to 50 now that theres only 2 welds per piece ?