Independent welders, need some advice...

[AntiBling]

Well currently I am unemployed, I have been unemployed for a couple months now, willingly. I let my cousin have my job for the summer because I was lined up to start with the railroad but that fell through. I planned on going back to my job, but now they dont want me to work, they want their nephew to work there.

So I was in the tractor today thinking about this guy who just died recently, he used to do the welding for all the farmers. He was really good at welding and getting the job done if you could get him out there, he was pretty lazy and in fact for the past couple years he hasnt done any welding at all except for people he owed.

Basically now everyone is forced to drag their equipment 25+ miles to someone else to get welded, pretty big change from when they could get it done right out in the field.

I thought about getting some training for welding and starting a welding outfit here. Maybe have it all ready by next summer.

Now I got some questions for people who are already doing this or have done this.

How much do you figure out what to charge people. Is it by the hour or is it by the job. He would basically just charge by the job, but when the job was done, but then again he didnt pay taxes for the past 20+ years and he would only collect when he needed the money.

One thing with working on farm equipment, you may look at something, say well I can do this for this amount, then you get into tearing something apart and it hasnt been maintaned properly and it gets to be a even longer job.

Next thing, equipment. First things I know I would need to buy, welder, torch, compressor, then a lot of the misc tools such as BFHs, grinders, chop saw, etc. And I would probably buy a fairly new if not new 3/4 - 1 ton pickup and build a flat bed for everything. A decent vehicle that will last at least 5 years.

Anything else you can think of?

Any rough idea of a good amount of start up money to get?

Also his shop was or is going to be siezed by the IRS, I pretty much want to buy this wether I go through this venture or not. The shop is in really good condition other than the fact that he hasnt used it in over 3 or 4 years, hasnt been clean enough to get anything in there for over 5 years. I was in there talking to his son while they were in there, and the floor is covered in anywhere between 1 to 2 feet of garbage. But the cement is good, insulation and metal is all good in there. Fairly easy enough to get in with a skidsteer and clean it out like you were cleaning crap out of a barn.

But if I got the shop then too I would be able to keep working on equipment during the winter in there for people.

And then there are a bunch of little misc things he would make during winter like metal clips for hanging sucker rod for cattle ranchers.

So basically I think its a worthwhile venture because the market is there.

Looking for any advice anyones got.