i grew up with a dad in the boilermakers union so ive never had to pay for anything to ever be cut or welded or anything.

everywhere ive called has said 300+ bucks.

downpipe, 5 bolt flange to a 95 degree angle to a 3 bolt flange, everythings aligned... it just needs to be welded.

that seens a bit steep for 3 welds on some stainless. anyone have suggestions?

 

$150/hour

sounds about right/ a real good deal.

they have to clean/grind/setup/tack your piece togtehr then pull it out, and finish it up.
sounds like a good deal.

you're not just going to make it out of stainless just so you can brag at th next parking lot saying something stupid/ridiculous like "fully custom tig welded"

oh god i know pleanty of people like that :S

 

That seem alot to weld those little thing. That should be for the whole downpipe (labor only)

Adriano

 

Honestly, people that call me with situations like this state "it's only 3 welds" then 50% of the time come in and it's 5 times the work they acted like it was. Not saying this is the case, just saying maybe they're seeing something that we're not here.

If it's literally 3 welds, then yes that's high. Personally, 3 welds of that nature in my shop would run 75-120 (75/hr), but that is also reasonable for my local market. That shouldn't be quoted at two hours. Even considering cleanup time or whatever...that's 1.5 at best.

I do complete downpipes out the door, labor to mock them up in car included for just at 300.00 in stainless. Like I said though, depends on your local market alot.

 

around here, people say "is only 3 welds" just run them real fast for free

then i get "don't be a dick", then again i don't work at a welding shop.

just a shop that happens to weld

 

or when someone tells you they want something tig welded because it looks so much cleaner only to find giant gaps then told to "just fill them in"

back to the question at hand... assuming everything is cleaned inside out, tubes are scribed for alignment and there is NO GAPS then $300 is a lot. instead of calling take your part to the welding shop you will get a more reasonable/accurate price.

 

I would almost rather make something myself completely than weld together something someone brought in. Like Rotary said, if it's clean with no gaps and properly marked that's fine, but otherwise it's a pain in the *** and will take a while. I had a customer once who brought in poorly marked sections of his downpipe/exhaust for an IS300 3 or 4 times before he finally decided to bring the damn thing in and get it welded properly on the car. With all the time added up he spent enough to have a proper exhaust built, not pieces of stuff he had all welded together.

 

I am a welder/fabricator/machinist by trade, and my God I wish I could charge $150/hr for labor! I feel bad charging the rate I do $75/hr (though I feel my work is worth everybit of that or more). I guess when I start to feel bad about it I start to think about all the hard work it took to buy the equiptment to be able to the jobs, then all of the long hours learning my trade, I don't feel so bad anymore. I did not work as hard as I did so that I can stop what I am doing to weld something for free or close to it. Though $300 does sound like a lot, it really depends as some have said on the quality of the fitment, and if the material used is weld ready. If it was truly ready to weld my price would be about $75-$100.

 

Depending on the weld, we usually charge about $25 per weld, that includes cleaning, prepping and anything else we might have to do. So if you have three welds, it would cost you about $75

 

Seriously. That is the biggest problem of all. I'm also curious about how some of you guys charge/handle it, when a close friend wants work done. I don't mind doing things for free to help people out, but it gets expensive really quick. Do you generally just charge for materials/gas and just the necessities?

Edit: And I'm talking close friends that I'm around all the time, not just people "I know".

 

I have one friend that is basically my partner at my shop, and I would do anything free for him, probably have him make the cuts and help me with prep and stuff but I wouldn't charge for supplies like gas etc. Anyone else I would charge something for, depending what it is. I'm not gonna charge a close friend to put hangers on his exhaust or fix a crack in a manifold, maybe some food or a six pack, but I'm not going to spend a saturday making an exhaust or a turbo manifold for free either. A lot of my friends that I would help love to watch the TIG welding so they are right there to hold stuff and help me out, which is nice too.

 

For the people "you know" you have to charge. It's hard sometimes but if you do a lot of little free work here and there it adds up. Same thing for people who will give you 5 bucks or something when they see you... I think we all know how that goes. For me that 5 or 10 here and there can really make a difference, that's some lunch or gas money that helps out a lot.

 

Depends, are these people you know bringing you business, helping you pay your own bills buy actually purchasing other things, or bringing there cars in for labor service ? We have the normal people that come in, and just talk and chit chat, then we have other normal people that come in, and talk, but they also bring us a lot of money, either from there own pockets or friends.

The way I see it, if you help me out, I'll help you out. That doesn't mean welding for free, but maybe at a discounted rate. Its all about keeping the customer happy, and coming back.

 

Well said, at times though if the job is small enough we'll just tell the customer to cover lunch.

In the long run everyones gotta eat

 

for a set of open chassis headers/one piece front end type cars we charge a flat rate for headers, but for in-chassis/sportsman cars we charge per hour.

actual cost depends on reputation. there are only a few shops around this area that do race car/hot rod/muscle car fabrication.

 

yeah i called speed factory, 100/hr and got quotes for 5 hours for a complete down pipe, dump tube etc.

i didnt even ask how much it would be if i supplied the tacked pipe that i had, everything looks better when its done by someone else.

i did however pull my pan today, cleaned it up, drilled a hole for my 10an bung for my oil return, cleaned that up, preped it, (break cleaner, dish washer, stainless brush) took it to this local hole in the wall welding shop thinking id be in and out in 30 minutes, the guy said hed have it clean it more etc etc hed have it for me tomorrow, he wasnt the nicest about it either. hes gonna weld it from the inside, and not touch the outside of the pan because it would be too difficult. while writing this, i just realized i didnt even get a price from the guy... think hed get pissed if i leak tested it infront of him?

next investment... TIG

 

ya you can't have oil in the pan. and a shot of brake cleaner on a dirty pan usally is'nt enough.

take a wire wheel to it, take the paint off the pan for a good 2-3" off the weld area front and back.

you have t have everything clean or you're just going to have a crap arc/crap weld
or you're going to be griding tungsten all day.


mig/flux core can do it dirty mill scale etc.

the tacked pipe might be the same/higher price. its like doing any other type of profession, if you were a lawyer and someguy came off the street, trying to defend his murder case, he would say i got most of what YOU need to say for me written down, just put your name on what i did.

pretty much what you're doing, noone ever wants to get someones unfinished work. just get the pipe fit-up that would make it cheaper.

no he probably would not be pissed if you tested it for leaks right there.

are you welding the -AN fitting to a cast aluminum pan?

 

jesus christ thats outrageous. some shops i think try to pull those prices on the average joe because he has no idea.

it should be 100$ no more.

 

Aside from my right hand man at the shop, I charge CLOSE friends 15/hr to account for machine wear and material. I also give discounts to guys that have a big network of friends and are out there bringing in business.

Example of one of those will happen today. Pulled the head on his LS to determine what caused a dropped cylinder. Guy decided to go B16. Pulling the LS head, then pulling the entire swap and replacing with a B16, plus chipping his ecu as needed...300.00 in labor. He brings me alot of people, so I return it to him.

 

I got charged 65$ to weld up all my SS charge pipes and the BOV flange....I even mocked them up myself....BTW, hose clamps work awesome for that, you can even cut a small hole in it so they can do a quick tack before they remove it, of course you still want to scribe it just in case......but then again, I bring all of my important welding stuff to him, and when my plow truck need a quick fix on the shifter top, I even knocked out his driveway while I was there. So it is a give and take relationship. Still though $300 does sound a bit steep, but for an over the phone quote they are always gonna go high. Try taking it to someone so they know what they are working with

 

That's true too... I hate quoting stuff like that over the internet or phone. Never want to quote really low and then get stuck with a big mess later on.

 

Often, you get what you pay for. Only once is four years has someone brought me a piece that was actually ready to weld, and this is out of 200+ people.

 

thats cause guys dont know how to fit **** properly.

they ****ing bring in pipes with 1/2" gaps

hey dave why is accent ripping off other companies designs and putting there name on it? u ever deal with those guys before?

 

Ack, don't get me started on Accent Stainless.. Between them and Westcoast Weld Tech, cover 65% of my repair work. Some of the **** I fix from either company is unbelievable, and they are charging for the best, when they aren't even second rate...

 

i loveeeee food i'll work for food hahaha