How much to charge for welding job

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Hi, I graduated from Tulsa welding school a few months ago and have worked out of tradesman international for a few months but I have no experience in prices charged for side jobs. I got a call from a guy that my brother knows in south florida who is doing maintenance on a new apartment complex and he said he needed a welder to help put together hand rails. He needs around 300 of the vertical bars put in that run between the two horizontal bars and I tried to a little of the math in my head and figured I would need to put in around a 1 inch tack on each side of the top and bottom of the pole, so around 1200 inches total, but I have absolutely no idea how much I should charge for the job. He said he would call back in a couple days when he's sure about the amount of railing he needed welded to talk about a price.. So any suggestions anyone might have would be greatly appreciated.
Reply:One of my TIG books, which is actually a textbook, has an excellent chapter on how to figure your rate. The info would apply to any welding process.GTAW HandbookBy William H. MinnickISBN 1-56637-206-2Rex
Reply:You probably want to charge by the hour.. most experienced shops and field welders charge around 45 to 65 an hour. However you will want to be modest about how much you charge and break it down into time and materials you will need. ALWAYS include money for consumables, such as tips, rod, fuel, brushes.... but be aware of possible time problems and give your self time to complete the job in a timely manner with Good Quality. Field work is very different from any shop work and takes more time.  Good Luck!
Reply:Charge as much as you can get.Disclaimer; "I am just an a$$hole welder, don't take it personally ."
Reply:Remember not to just start welding in the pickets one end to the other. You'll have quite a curve....and some 'splaining to doooo. Good luck with the job!!200amp Air Liquide MIG, Hypertherm Plasma, Harris torches, Optrel helmet, Makita angle grinders, Pre-China Delta chop saw and belt sander, Miller leathers, shop made jigs etc, North- welders backpack.
Reply:Lots of variables to consider?  Will you be working on a table or will the rails be in air?  will you have to clean your welds?  What process will use to weld?  Solid steel balusters or tubing?  If tubing, then how much experience do you have welding thin metal?--not difficult just takes some practice.  If all you have to do is weld and you don't have to relocate all over the complex, then you could to the job in 2 days.    If you have to clean metal, then add more time. If you have to clean messy welds or burn-thrus the add more time.  If you don't jig properly or decide some balusters are not "too" long and use a hammer, then add more time for rework.  So you are only going to weld on 1 inch on 2 sides top and bottom = 1200 inch  or all 4 side top and bottom.  Is it steel or Al?  I see you are in Florida.Good luckLast edited by tapwelder; 05-26-2010 at 01:14 AM.
Reply:Thanks for all the reply's every extra bit of info I can get helps out alot.tapwelder- I'll be welding on a table using carbon steel, and I won't have to clean any of the welds as long as everything looks good since I'm using mig and it will all be painted over once its put together.
Reply:I work as a plumber. I've found when I bill out that listing every bit of material, much less consumables, is just an invitation for a "discussion" about the invoice. The simpler you can make your invoice the less time you will spend explaining and justifying it. In my case, I try to use one line item labeled "Materials" with a price to cover what I've used including my markup. If there is one or two large pieces (like say a toilet or water heater) I _may_  put in a separate line with the price of this item; this is sometime important if we talked over the price of the particular item before the job. Covering parts/material is a catch 22:  It's not logical but it's way easier to bill 500% markup on $100 worth of 10" flu pipe on the outside of a building where the customer can see this huge hunk of metal running up the side of the building in front of gawd and everybody than to bill 50% markup on $1000 worth of shower valves in the wall where the customer can't see them. This may not apply so much when working for a business customer who is supposed to know the actual value of things, but I bet you still find more "misunderstanding" about the cost of stuff the doesn't loom large in front of them.Keep it simple. Sometime you'll have a "discussion" but at least keep the talking limited to one or two items, not 10.FWIW.  Rufus