anybody do any guard rail work?

[snackers]

not to beat a dead horse, but...

I ran this past three very experienced guys, including two estimators over the last few days, here's what I got. In our area (Philadelphia PA) that job would have been bid around $340,000.00, or aprox. $80.00 per foot installed. Mabye you can get cheaper materials, but at your price you could be making more working over time at a low paying job. Not trying to be an a** but it seem to me, your going to lose big time on this job. Am I wrong?

[welder_one]

well, my steel showed up yesterday evening. got started at 4:30 am gang cutting peices on the band saw. stacked them in the fixture and welded my butt off. i completed 20 sections to make 200 feet today and delivered the trailer to the sandblaster/painter for them to do their thing. i will finish cutting parts tomorrow and maybe i will get to start setting pieces this week. snackers, maybe i need to move up there, because i would have been laughed at, hysterically, for a bid that high. the next lowest bid came in at 60,000. i beat him by only 2 grand. as i said before, it wont be a bad piece for something "on the side"... the only thing experience has to fear is the strength and bullheadedness of youth.

[dabar39]

When I first saw the 340,000 number I bout spit my iced tea on the keyboard. After thinking about it for a few minutes that number may not be all that exaggerated, of course that is if you live in a major city in the north. If you take into consideration that a house we can purchase here in the south for 85 thousand is gonna run about 300 or better up there, and if you factor in the pay scale difference between here and there (about 2 - 3 x's higher up north) and the cost of living differences, I can see how it would be so much up in Pa..

welder_one, sounds like you got a pretty good jump on it, with that kind of production you should knock it out in no time. Dave

[welder_one]

maybe this will be the last kick for my old engine drive. i am using 5p+ 1/8 rods to build it. so i dont have any grinding or joint prep as you would with a wire machine. it is a '88 model the legend 200 le. my trailblazer 275 should be in in a week or 2, hopefully soon. the legend is still strong, but i have used it hard for soooooo long. about 6,000 hours on it so far.

[snackers]

Best of luck...

Welder-one, Sounds like you have a good jump on it, best of luck on the job and be sure to keep us updated on your progress. I was really shocked at the price differences in materials and labor between our areas. I'll get some pics of railing we are doing in the shop this week for an office building we just put up.

[welder_one]

no welding done today, got most of my pieces cut for the entire project. i only broke 2 blades doing it(alot less than i expected). the torrential floods last night and today had sooooo much water in the floor of my shop that i didnt want to weld. so, i just cut and cut and cut and cut and cut...you get the point. dabar, i only wish i could make a girls day the way you did today. good job

[Jolly Roger]

Call National Custom Craft at 1-662-963-7373 and ask them to send you their catalog. They have pool railing in both steel and aluminum, all powder coated, as well as gates and all the hardware needed. Both residential and commercial grades. Could save you some work, and increase the profit. All of their products are good stuff. So good they quit publishing their warranty because it was never used. Tell them Ken with Jolly Roger Services referred you. I get my door frames and some window bars from them and they are top notch, and I am one picky $%^. I have a rep around here for being expensive (some say too high) but all of my customers say my work is worth every nickel. I do a lot of heavy equipment repair on stuff that gets a lot of abuse, as well as lots of cast iron repairs, warranty my welds, and have had to honor the warranty one time in 10 years (repair of someone else's work), and told them before I left that I was afraid it would crack out (cast iron to steel). That problem has since been solved (corecast 8600 fcaw wire, it's good stuff).