How to quote/charge

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I've met a guy that needs a lot of work done. He's is very wealthy. I'm not saying that to differentiate him from anyone else price wise. It's just that he's got a huge Ranch, needs a lot of welding done and has the money to pay for it.Another welder has already done most of the pipe rail work for him but apparently he wants to give me all the other stuff to do.Quoting and pricing is not 2nd nature to me yet. He provides all materials so this is all labor and consumables. The 1st project is a Wash Rack for Horses. It's basically a pipe job similar to a pipe fence work.  Image a 16' x 8' rectangle open at one end. Can anyone offer advise or provide any basics that can be used for quoting/pricing. Fencing is easy. You find out what everybody else charges.Last edited by TPnTX; 01-06-2006 at 08:28 AM.
Reply:alot of times the way welders around here charge is take the cost of the materiels and double it to build it  triple it to build it and install it.  sometimes just depending on the job you have to multiply as much as 5 times. of course this dont always work but its a starting point
Reply:call around in your area and keep a pricing journal.....it will help a lot....usually if its only a *few minute job*  I would charge $50.00  then for an hourly wage I would say $35 to 50.00 an hour -depending on if you have insurance or not ?dawg
Reply:Harv got me bidding rails and pipe jobs by the joint. See what 8-10 bucks a joint does for you on some of the stuff. I have been on the money several times like that. I am doing one now I don't want to talk about. It happens. Just don't price yourself too high. Talk to the others in the area to get a feel for the pricing and stay in the middle of the pack. Don't go lower than everyone else just to get work. You will make some enemies that way....never pizz off a weldor.
Reply:very good poiint there DDA...very good pointIF it Catches...Let it Burn
Reply:I rarely will bid a job on an hourly wage.  I will estimate how much time it will take me to get the job done then multiply by $75.  I also start at $150.  I will only give the client a flat rate.  I feel giving a customer a flat rate is a trust issue (he knows what he is paying and I know what I am working for) and they won't have to stand over me making sure I am working. Also, I do try to work efficiently and quickly hence, if I work hourly it is to my benefit to go slowly.         I have only done one hourly job in 7 years.  Last winter, I worked for a guy doing some restoration of ironwork from all over the world.  There was no other way to bid this one.  Worked for him 3 month.  I worked hourly while on his property and charged him a flat rate for work done off his property.  One of those rare sweet deals. I like the idea about charging by the joint to get an estimate.
Reply:Sometimes I'll work on jobs that are paid by the diameter inch welded which can work out good if they can keep the butts up to you.Most companies I work with when pricing a piping job have a set price per butt.They ask how many butts of such and such a size can I do a day and away they go.With the yard type work your looking at the pipe size would be around 1.5"?How many of these can you do in an average day?For example:You want to be paid $400 a day for a ten hour day= forty an hourYou think you can average two butts an hour of 1.5" pipe, that's twenty a day.So each 1.5" butts cost $20Look at the drawing's, or draw them yourself and show the owner what you have in mind to make sure that's what he wants.If there's 60 butts X $20 a butt = $1200Make sure that he understands that if he makes any changes it will cost more!Stephen
Reply:WintermuteI assume that the pricing includes everything from start to finishing.  Because surely pricing would be different for amount of dressing necessary.  Definitely, I would think, getting an understanding of how the client wants the weld to be finished in important in pricing.  I will have to try pricing by the joint.  Thanks for the info.