Welding business opinions/advice

[huntnful]

Just don’t get hung up on being “certified” it literally means nothing. It’s not worth the paper it’s wrote on. Find somebody that welds and go to work for them and learn on the job. Get paid to learn it instead of paying somebody to teach you a bunch of stuff that doesn’t apply in the real world. I’ve seen it a hundred times. 99% of those classes are a joke. A real welder can teach you 10x what that class will teach you in a quarter of the time and you’ll be getting paid too.

This man nailed it 100%.

I've been a pipe welder for 12 years now. All X-ray API-1104 for a gas pipeline company. I did however go to school, which was a great starting point, but most schools are trash. Find a small local fab shop that hopefully wants some help, and you'll learn 10X the info in the same amount of time.

If I were to quit my job today, I'd do exactly what you're thinking about doing. Especially if there's a lot of agriculture repair, new business (hand rails), fencing, residential projects available. Certifications are over-rated, they just sound good. I'd venture to say you could make $100k full time are a local fab welder, and if you want to get into the pipelines, union or non union, $200k. But it wouldn't be worth the travel and headache for me to chase the pipelines at this point. I'd rather be home and happy in my shop building random stuff for nice local people. You could make more money having a shop and being mobile as well.

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

I need to do the hummingbird. I've done a flower or two. My son does the fire pokers

If you got old spark plugs they make great bodies for them.

Here's some more random ones. The penguins and reindeer could be fun to make with your kiddo.
I always get inspired when I see what other guys make.
I horde chainsaw chains, and all sorts of scrap since I started this LOL

Edit: sorry for the thread derail, but I guess when I first started my welding the "business" was art/sculptures.

 

[ZRob97]

When I EASd in '09 there was a program called helmets to hardhats- only used 12mos of gi bill, had agreements with apprentice programs all across the country, employment coordinator et el. May want to look into if it's still around. Likewise- if your going to get a rating... get rated first and use VRE for school and keep your gi bill bennies

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I’m at 100% but have never heard about VRE, I’ll be looking into it

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

I’m at 100% but have never heard about VRE, I’ll be looking into it

If you have the space it's worth getting a machine to weld with at home.
Then you can practice as much as you want. There is a crazy amount of resources online.

 

[ZRob97]

If you have the space it's worth getting a machine to weld with at home.
Then you can practice as much as you want. There is a crazy amount of resources online.

Waiting for the market to go down (hopefully soon) and then looking at finding a new place with room for a shop just for that. All the pieces you guys are posting look awesome.

 

[amassi]

I’m at 100% but have never heard about VRE, I’ll be looking into it

Veterans readiness and employment- chapter 31, once upon a time was vocational rehabilitation and employment
Pays out tuition, supplies and BAH but doesn't use gi bill time. Big emphasis on finding suitable employment that works without exacerbating anything your rated for. You get an employment counselor and they even help with self employment if that's the route you'd like to explore.

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[ZRob97]

Veterans readiness and employment- chapter 31, once upon a time was vocational rehabilitation and employment
Pays out tuition, supplies and BAH but doesn't use gi bill time. Big emphasis on finding suitable employment that works without exacerbating anything your rated for. You get an employment counselor and they even help with self employment if that's the route you'd like to explore.

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This could be a huge help, really appreciate it

 

[Azone]

I will add this, whatever your budget is to get the ball rolling I would double it.
Unless it’s one of your regular customers who you can somewhat trust always try to get cash up front for materials. Your steel supplier or gas/consumable supplier doesn’t care that you won’t get paid for 15, 30 or 50 days, they want their money. Having several grand tied up in one job can really suck until you get a sufficient cash flow rolling.
AS SOON AS A PROJECT IS COMPLETE YOU BILL IT!!!
When you do find great clients who pay their bills on time and don’t complain about everything under the sun, take care of them. I do work for a couple farmers that always go to the front of the line because they pay fast and that’s why they pay fast.
Have spare equipment for break downs, not if stuff will fail just when and where. Nothing like just getting your business going and watching a brand new LN-25X start smoking because the drive motor decides to take a dump on a job site.
My engine drive welder just got back from a warranty repair that should have been a couple weeks, it took six. Always have a backup plan figured out.
Network with people, get your name out there with other shops and welders. People are willing to send overflow work out to people who are fair and honest with them. One of my most important tools is my cell phone, you need to stay in contact with people as much as possible.
Be ready to work some insane hours at times, no one gives a shit if you make it or not, it’s all on you.
My normal work days right now are about 10 to the occasional 12 hour day. There was a couple months I pretty much had to go non stop to keep up. But it was very nice not to have to ask someone for time off to go deer hunting this year. It’s also nice not having someone from HR bitching at you as well. With some hard work and discipline you can accomplish a lot.
Lastly be honest with people, don’t take on work you can’t complete in a timely manner or are not setup for. Your reputation is everything and you don’t want to tarnish it by being slower than molasses or being known for half assed work.

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

Unless it’s one of your regular customers who you can somewhat trust always try to get cash up front for materials.

This so much. I recently had someone I thought I could trust commit to a horse trailer repair. I went ahead and got the steel for it.
The day we agreed on he said he brought the trailer then said he had something to do instead.
Had to store the steel sheet in my garage so it wouldn't rust for a while. Didn't hear from him.

Messaged him when I got back to town a few weeks later. Asked if he wanted the work done still.
He said yeah then once again said he'd bring the trailer.
Told him I'd have it done in a couple days so he'd have it before hunting season. And I was even giving him a huge deal on labor.
Then again he flaked.
I used the steel for something else.

I will 100% be asking for down payment for material from here on out, even from people I trust.

I did some work for a brewery a few years ago.
Didn't know what I was doing business wise. Should've got stuff in writing. When I was done, and I told them how much they owed me the guy told me no. Wrote me a check for 300 bucks for 2k worth of work.
Hard lesson learned. Get it in writing.

 

[Azone]

This so much. I recently had someone I thought I could trust commit to a horse trailer repair. I went ahead and got the steel for it.
The day we agreed on he said he brought the trailer then said he had something to do instead.
Had to store the steel sheet in my garage so it wouldn't rust for a while. Didn't hear from him.

Messaged him when I got back to town a few weeks later. Asked if he wanted the work done still.
He said yeah then once again said he'd bring the trailer.
Told him I'd have it done in a couple days so he'd have it before hunting season. And I was even giving him a huge deal on labor.
Then again he flaked.
I used the steel for something else.

I will 100% be asking for down payment for material from here on out, even from people I trust.

I did some work for a brewery a few years ago.
Didn't know what I was doing business wise. Should've got stuff in writing. When I was done, and I told them how much they owed me the guy told me no. Wrote me a check for 300 bucks for 2k worth of work.
Hard lesson learned. Get it in writing.

Signed written proposals are a must and definitely help keep the waters from being muddied to an extent. That was one of the many lessons I’ve learned so far. Any complaint about cost before hand is a red flag to me and you should definitely proceed with caution. Nothing like the famous “well my cousin said you should do it like this and it should only cost this much” that’s when I just smile and start shaking my head and cue my most sarcastic laugh and walk away.

 

[hic7877]

Another thing to consider if you're going the education route is welding inspector. It's a hard test but a good gig if you get thru it. I went thru 3/4 of a 10 month welding school, took a test at a good job and was offered the job and quit school and went to work and never looked back. At one of the shops I worked in an inspector came and over saw several guys take a test and certified those who passed. That seemed like the gig to have.

 

[roadrunner]

I will add; if you're wanting to do farm repairs or build a pipe fence where the worse thing to happen is the repair breaks and no one can get injured, just learn to run a decent bead.

If you're wanting to do repairs where someone could get injured upon failure, you're going to need liability insurance and they'll likely want you to be certified. If the work you do requires NDE per code, most of the time that covers you. As mentioned, you won't do that kind of work anyway without a qualifying test by the contractor/employer.

If you live in a code state, the certification can matter. If you don't, then don't waste your time with it.

 

[b0nes]

Wrench, do you work in the steel fabrication industry in the cda area?

 

[rirkoi]

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Your work is so unique and impressive. It's a competitative job. You easily start your business.

 

[schmalzy]

I will add this, whatever your budget is to get the ball rolling I would double it.
Unless it’s one of your regular customers who you can somewhat trust always try to get cash up front for materials. Your steel supplier or gas/consumable supplier doesn’t care that you won’t get paid for 15, 30 or 50 days, they want their money. Having several grand tied up in one job can really suck until you get a sufficient cash flow rolling.
AS SOON AS A PROJECT IS COMPLETE YOU BILL IT!!!
When you do find great clients who pay their bills on time and don’t complain about everything under the sun, take care of them. I do work for a couple farmers that always go to the front of the line because they pay fast and that’s why they pay fast.
Have spare equipment for break downs, not if stuff will fail just when and where. Nothing like just getting your business going and watching a brand new LN-25X start smoking because the drive motor decides to take a dump on a job site.
My engine drive welder just got back from a warranty repair that should have been a couple weeks, it took six. Always have a backup plan figured out.
Network with people, get your name out there with other shops and welders. People are willing to send overflow work out to people who are fair and honest with them. One of my most important tools is my cell phone, you need to stay in contact with people as much as possible.
Be ready to work some insane hours at times, no one gives a shit if you make it or not, it’s all on you.
My normal work days right now are about 10 to the occasional 12 hour day. There was a couple months I pretty much had to go non stop to keep up. But it was very nice not to have to ask someone for time off to go deer hunting this year. It’s also nice not having someone from HR bitching at you as well. With some hard work and discipline you can accomplish a lot.
Lastly be honest with people, don’t take on work you can’t complete in a timely manner or are not setup for. Your reputation is everything and you don’t want to tarnish it by being slower than molasses or being known for half assed work.

This is a great post and I think applicable to any tradesman that wants to go on their own.


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[Wrench]

Wrench, do you work in the steel fabrication industry in the cda area?

Sorry I missed this. I am west of Spokane. I was an Ironworker in the CDA area during the late 90's. Decided to do some shop work after tramping and worked for USNR till that work busted. Moved back to field work doing natural gas pipelines.....then hit the north slope and ended working hydroelectric.

Seen a few things on the way.

 

[Shreddedtines]

All of the shops that I have worked for didnt certify us or require it. Once we passed their test we were good to work under there certification. Kinda sucks for someone wanting to go out on their own with no certs!