Making $$

[JWELD]

Would like to see how others are making money with there home welding shops!!!

Thanks

[arcdawg]

im debating about starting up a YARD ART business, i just have to figure out if its going to pay off, it seems that there are plenty of people intrested, brian

[HAWK]

arcdawg,

Muffler shops and engine block machine shops are good sources of parts. I'll dig through some pictures and see if I can find some of my old yard art. If you can do aluminum, the whole world is open on yard art. Aluminum diamond plate, old pistons, and your imagination can create some great stuff. I'll hunt through the scrap pictures later this evening.

JWELD,

I do a lot of forklift and warehouse repair and fabrication. There is money in it because most people don't want to mess with it. It can be nasty work, but not always. I do conveyor lines, aluminum repair on print presses, dock plates, dock levelers. load back rests on fork lifts, brake pedal brackets, scan line trash chute fabrication, lightweight aluminum locking lids to keep vagrants out of dumpsters and trash compacters, etc. Take a warehouse walk through at a plant if possible. You will be amazed at what needs fixing by welding.

[hankj]

$$

JWELD,

I don't know where you are, or your situation, but I just began to experience the thrill of the puddle last August, and with mentoring from HAWK, pjs, H80N, SocaITA, and some whom I know I've omitted, my skills have progressed to the point where local folks are comming by and askin' the question "can you...".

So far, I can. Bucks? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, but I'm in a pretty rural location - it's only 30 miles to a welding shop, but word gets around up here. I have no idea what to charge folks, but I figure if I have to track down the material, it's that cost plus 15%, plus travel time, etc. All I do is MIG and some flame wrench things, but I'd guess there is some money to be made if one was serious.

Be well.

hankj

[H80N]

Found Object Art

on welded sculpture... I have a friend that started doing that stuff about 20 years ago as a creative release... he saw "critters" in the scrap that collected in the yard of his body shop... pretty soon stuff started to appear in front of the shop... dinosaurs made out of bumpers... and all manner of things... big and little.. people started to take notice... in time his son and daughter took over the shop... and he worked on his creations full time... they got noticed and bought.. displayed.. and talked about... then his stuff started to appear all around town.. in front of restaurants.. shopping centers etc...then nationally.... the next thing you know George M**** is a noted sculptor... an overnight success as it were... after many years of just doing it... his tools? plasma cutter, mig welder, torch, grinders, a skilled hand and eye.. and of course a very fertile imagination...
I believe he makes a pretty good living at it... but his "overnight success" took years.....
here is a link to his web page...

http://www.geom****.com/whimsical.html

there are no limit to avenues that one can persue.. to earn money and self satisfaction with welding equipment and the learned skills that make them an effective tool... the sky is the limit..
hope this helps

Heiti

[arcdawg]

H8 thats some great info there, my sister is always telling me to start up my own little recycled art business..... seems like either people love it or hate it, but living in the area that i life there are people here that have no prob with buying art...

i know a sculpture that has a **** OF A RESUME that charges 6 to10 grand for stuff that he probably spent 250$ on and maybe 40 to 60 hours, thats pretty good if you ask me !!!!!

maybe ill just go nuts and build up a storm, i got a sarap heap in the back yard(live on a old farm) give me some insentive to clean up .....$$$$$

screw real work brian

[arcdawg]

hankj, if i do any WELDING repairs i charge $25 an hour and if its one of just a minute jobs i usually charge 60$ (and i dont own a shop)

dont demote your skill and dont take advantage of your customers either....

brian

[ASKANDY]

Jweld,

Your labor will depend on your what your geo-location will allow or what other shops in your area are charging. I live in Charlotte and do everything from precision TIG for machine shops to walk ins. The majority of the work we do is building race cars. I have done some light MIG manufacturing (under 250Amp) for some small companies here (which I like because of the repeat work).
I do all the TIG work and the two other guys share the rest.
For TIG work I get $75/hr, MIG - $55/hr, onsite is $10 more and 1/2labor/hr travel time with 1hr min. These rates are flexible as sometimes I charge more or less depending on the complexity of the job and quantity.
These rates are more in line with the other shops in my area. As a home welding shop, you will be able to under charge your fellow welding shops because of your lower overhead. I heat and cool a large shop, and the extra insurance I'm forced to carry, requires me to charge more than a home business. You may want to look into a LLC business as you may eventually do work for other companies. They are cheap to set up and gives you some protection.
When I started work with my father 20yrs ago, he was charging $38/hr for TIG work in Wisconsin.
Being versitile in what you can offer will help too. You don't see too many ads in the paper or yellow pages that say "MIG WELDING only"
I have a bud that does some MIG only work out of his house and does it strictly by word of mouth. He gets about 3 jobs a month.

Do a little investigating in your area and make sure you cover materials and don't forget the extra electricity you are burnin'

Have fun.

Andy

[JTMcC]

There can be some real drawbacks to running a business in your home.

Keep in mind that your homeowner insurance carrier will hang you out too dry if they discover you are running a part time welding business in the house.

If you were to make a dent in the business volumn of legitimate area shops, they can and likely will sick several authorities on you like: your insurance company, the local zoning nazi's, the city business license guy, the state retail sales tax thugs, ect.
Also, if you make a little too much noise to suit the neighbors, they can do the same thing.

Even the phone company can come after you, they charge about twice as much for a business line than for a residential line, and give dire warning about cheating.

And, if you are working without liability insurance you have to accept a potentially huge risk there.

Not to be negative, or that any of these things would effect you, but just some things you might not have though of.

JTMcC.

[arcdawg]

GOTTA KEEP IT ON THE DOWN LOW !!!!!!

AND IT PAYS TO BE BIGGER THEN YOUR NEIGHBORS,

INTIMADATION IS A WONDERFUL THING

IM JUST KIDDING, BRIAN

[JTMcC]

Originally posted by arcdawg
GOTTA KEEP IT ON THE DOWN LOW !!!!!!

AND IT PAYS TO BE BIGGER THEN YOUR NEIGHBORS,

INTIMADATION IS A WONDERFUL THING

IM JUST KIDDING, BRIAN

An Origame business could probably be conducted for years in a clandestine manner from the home, a welding business might be a little harder to pull off

JTMcC.

[shoprat]

making money

the thing about an oragami business is you got to watch out you dont leave a paper trail...ha ha !!

[hankj]

Liability

JTMcC makes an excellent point - if you try to go legit out of your garage, you're no doubt in for a rude awakening, depending on where you live in this incredible land. In my case, in the land of fruits and nuts (that would be CA), there's no way I could get past the code requirements for operating a welding shop on these premises, unless I put up a code compliant outbuilding. Insurance?? No way!

So be CAREFULL, Y'all.

Be well.

hankj

[iso50]

Depends if you are doing the welding there, or your office is at home, but you go out to clients to do the welding work.

[JTMcC]

iso50-The original poster specificaly mentioned a "home welding shop", not a home office based mobile welding service.

shoprat-that is the only drawback that has kept me out of the origami business all these years

hankj- I forgot to mention the fire marshal (Bill?) and the required inspections.

Someone mentioned that you can work cheaper due to lower overhead, but that just draws more attention to yourself, imo, cause real businesses don't like to be undercut by non legit competitors.

I've been in the field welding business since 1992, we work anywhere in the country but just in the area where I live (very rural) we have seen an average of about 8 guys each year that throw a welding machine in the back of a truck and makes a go of it. None have lasted over a year yet. They inevitably undercharge because they don't have a good grip on the actual cost of doing business. I pretty much ignore them but there are others that will rat them out in a heartbeat for: no business license, no contractors license, no liability ins., no workman's comp, and all the other stuff mentioned earlier. If they are feeling especially mean, they can call the IRS and ask if old "joe welder" is reporting all that income he's making in his garage.

Like I said, none of this may be applicable to your situation, but it's something to keep in mind.

good luck,
JTMcC.