Lotta time, little $$

[Grizzly Guy]

**** I wish I had a puter 20 years ago and this site was available,I would have learned a lot from the expericenced people in this trade.Because it's just not all about welding but everything else pretaining to it.

[doobie]

I usually charge $70/hr and .75 cents/kilometre and a 5%consumable surcharge(wire,rods,discs,oxy,ect...) and a 25% mark up on steel or aluminum.When you get your truck fixed at the shop you pay for parts,bolts,labour,oil,computer scan ect.Nothing is free.If it is a job that you know you wont be able to charge all your hours,i usually tell them that i will do it but if i get a call out,that takes priority and usually offer them a flat rate plus materials.

[Jim-TX]

I also find this an interesting thread since I often find myself in a similar position trying to determine the charge for a job. I like the idea of what it would cost the second time. This seems like a more than fair way since the customer doesn't pay for "head scratching" time. BTW, I do a lot of that but know that it's something that might not be fair to the customer to charge for. Let me try to clarify that. If it's a job that is common, such as ramps, then I would try to bill what I feel like is a reasonable amount based on what I think the job would cost on average if others did it with the same quality work. My girlfriend and I are always discussing what the charges should be when I say something like "I spent too much time". She says to charge for it and I say "I can only charge so much for such and such". I do good work, but also realize that certain things are only worth a certain amount and it doesn't matter how much time is involved. I probably do a lot of jobs too cheap, but I try to be fair and sleep good at night.

[doobie]

I agree with jim-tx on the head scratching thing..lol.I do alot of that also but dont think it is fair to charge for it.

[MilwaukeeMike]

You guys are right, I had about 2 hours plasma work, 2 hours on lathe/mill, 3hours on the drill (because I miss calculated and had a clearance problem) 3 hours on a screw up trying to use in-stock pipe for main support but it had a welded seam on the inside but put it on bottom thinking it would still work alright....not. Went and bought the right stuff and walah!!! Before the customer left for Florida we went over many different ways of doing the ramp supports that would work the best and as much as I tried to stick to that plan, it seemed to me that I would not support well enough while going down the road. It consisted of the rectangular tube going vertical about 2' in front of the ramp sticking up 2' and then another horizontal connecting the 2. I felt this set up would not support the ramps very well, they would be to wobbly. It was a good design in that the vert tube would drop down to support the trailer as an out rigger while loading. I finally came up with the simpler design and my supprt tube also pins in the front location and the leg will hang vertical for support on the trailer while loading. I just had a lot of time "thinking" this up. Probably had 4 hours welding after the earlier screw ups. That gets me to 14 hours which before starting the project I estimated 10 hours (not to the cutomer) so I was off a bit cause of the problems. Lots of time thinking (although not all in one sitting) I'm sure some of you guys know what I mean!

I would split the miscalculation hours with the client( 3 hour drill/3 hour main support) so 11 hours instead of 14 (but also charge a fair price for materials that you had onhand) Also maybe put a service ad on craigslist (free) with a few pics of jobs you did.