Welding, on the road...

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Guys I keep hearing that there is good money to be made on the road.  I am fixing to try and head my business in another direction, and what I would like to know is how do you find out about these jobs and get in on them? I have a pretty good repair business, and over the years have done some work away from home for some contractors who needed a welder for a weekend job or so, but it's nothing regular about it.  However being my business is basically agriculturally dependent I have times that I wish I could get in on a job for a week or so when things are slow.  Is road work the kind of thing you have to do pretty much all the time to be in the loop or is there ways to find out about work going on and be able to get in on it?  Thanks for any info you can give me.  ~JacksonI'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:I ran my shop as a repair shop with road service capabilities. Same as the place I'm at now..... For me it was to make sure that my loyal customers didn't have to find some one else to do repairs to equipment on site somewhere. I don't know what your story is but there are pluses and minuses to having a mobile rig. The hardest lesson I can help with is that if you do offer a mobile service you will find that eventually you will be doing work Mr. Jon Doe consumer. It's ok if it's someone you know or have dealt with before but getting paid is sometimes the hardest part..... sometimes even from the ones you know. Don't be afraid to ask for money up front for things such as materials and what not. Better to chase payment on part of a job than an entire job. As far as getting work.... your work will speak for itself. Go around to all the local places that you think may be able to use your service and hand out cards. Word will travel._________________Chris
Reply:Go to construction sights with your welder.  Ask them if they need anything and hand em a card.  I use pens.  My # is on them.    DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Thanks for the replies guys,  I do offer a mobile service now with my shop, and I am constantly handing out cards.  Infact field repair work is how I got started.  I have two mobile rigs now.   I guess I was being a bit vague in my question, but being in my area my work is rather seasonal.  I see alot of the union guys around here that go construction job to job all over the country.  The will go work a shut down for a month and come home pockets loaded and take it easy for a week or two before they head back off again to another job.   I am pretty much just looking for possiblities as far as how to find out these shut downs, etc... that they keep finding out about.  Is that a benefit of being in the union so they let you know of continuous work that is going on?  Every once in a blue moon I'll run across an ad in the paper, but not often.  I have tried asking some of the union guys around here, but since I am not a member they don't want to tell me much cause they think I'm competition and I guess in a way I would be.  It would just be nice if especially during the winter when things dry up around here if there was an option as far as finding some extra work.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:look in the hotsheets. it's a trade journal that tells of all the greenfield operations and shutdowns currently working and being planned. it tells what crafts their hiring for. the sheets give the name and number of who is hiring for the job. contact them and see if you can come in as a sub-contractor. make sure your paperwork is in order and know what the job is worth. you will have to bid some jobs and if the man hours or consumable run over, it's on you. alot of the shutdowns and stuff around here are non-union. these guys work 7 tens or twelves, plus per diem. for  a few months at a time.the big contractor's here are TIC(the industrial company), Zachry, Teton and Thompson Industries. there are hundreds of smaller sub-contractors doing work for these guys, but they put up the insurance money and bond.also hammock, check with your DOT website. research into DOT certified bridge welders. Find out the cert. test needed and get your shop tested. i was browsing the scdot website and found there are only like 45 state certified bridge welders."Retreat hell, were just fighting in the other direction"Miller Trailblazer 302, Extreme 12 VS, Dimension 400, Spectrum 375, HF 251D-1, Milermatic 251 w/ spoolgun  Hypertherm 1000Lincoln sp 1702000 F-450 to haul it
Reply:Hammock, I can't answer your main question but it would be worth looking into whatever "Local" is near you. The fees paid and politics aren't squat compared to the work available. Nice thing about working out of a Local is you pick your jobs, by seniority of course. But, they do have the ability to keep you working during your downswings.As for your main question, I'd also like to find that out. I no longer have the desire to put in the hours the "road" guys do on a job. But, if there were small jobs, a week or two, that don't go through the "local". "Shutdown" type work would be perfect for me, but how do you find those jobs ? A dis-claimer here to keep me out of trouble...lol. I've been a Union man most of my life. I'm just getting lazy with age and like to spend most of my time at home with my family and my "hobby" shop. A few weeks here and there are all I am interested in now, the Local wants start to finish when they send a crew out.
Reply:http://www.jobhotsheets.com/Thanks Backup !!
Reply:Thanks for the info guys.  Don't get me wrong olddad,just because I am not a member of any of the unions doesn't mean I am at all against them.  As far as I am concerned we are all in it together.  My thing with a "Local" is that I would have to travel over an hour to find the nearest one.  I am in a VERY rural area.  That's one reason I have not looked into it more.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......