Austin, I work in a stair/ rail shop, been doing it for 15 years now here in NM. From what I've seen so far on this build, you're doing an awesome job by yourself. No tips from me you seem to have it under control. As for me, I enjoy building by myself, it's just how I am. Keep the content coming. 👍 C'mon👍
Austin you can be your own worst enemy sometimes. You are a planner which is good. You always strive to learn which is also good. But you often try to over think a job and that just gives you a headache. A handrail follows the angle of the stairs so in my case often 35 degrees. You must have height regs for it over there. Simplest way to get the angles is put up your uprights top and bottom too long square cut. Get your handrail square cut but bit long. Clamp rail to side of top and bottom post at correct height and parallel to the stringer. Where they cross mark the mitre on posts and rail. Cut and fit. Simple quick and easy. Has worked for me for forty years.
Austin! You hit the nail on the head! Welding schools teach you that you’re worth huge money right out the door when yeah, maybe you “can” run a great looking bead under perfect shop/welding booth conditions, but you don’t actually know anything about the other 900 things that you have to do to be a weldor in the real world. I always say, “there ain’t much actual welding in the welding business”. Bottom line, reality slaps the snot out of you when you first start working as a weldor and it takes years of experience to be worth, much less get paid, what they told you in welding school.
Great job as always. In my younger years built a lot of stairs and handrails. Use to use angle iron for the uprights and pipe for the rails. Always thought it was easier than using pipe for the uprights as well. Wow same thoughts as well when I graduated high school in 1980 got a welding job making 5.00 dollars a hour. Most of the work I did than in my younger years was around tank farms, tanks and such. Than became a pipeline welder just like yourself.But thought to myself not making much but learned a lot. Again looks great keep up the good work.
You have taught me so much. I work alone also... I am generally patient but have been known to make tools challenge gravity for a few moments. Seeing you work alone and have these problems, I realize that these problems I experience are normal and now I slow down and think about your issues and remember that you always work through them and the project gets done. Even if you have to do something over... it still gets done and you are calm. You are an inspiration.
Austin you are right in your design (post and beam) not using shear having the welds support the weight . Yeah communication is key and you can not trust a third part to get it right 100% of the time. Good video Austin
I love it! The best welder on TH-cam right here in my opinion! One of the best in the US without a doubt. 👍 buddy thank you for the priceless information. Your awesome!
Thanks Austin I acaully just quoted a stairway job here in down town lafeyette lousiana. This helped me. Thanks for your hard work man... such a blessing. Lots of love from south lousiana
My dad was a welder for 60 plus years. A lot of what you say about fabricating sounds much like my dad. His view of welding school is yes it’s important. School gives you the basics of how to make and weld certain joints in a table in a classroom situation. A certification means you are capable of welding that joint in the ideal position and situation. But what can you really do? It takes time as you now know to gain experience to know how to do many different welds out in the field not always the ideal position or situation. A good welder over comes and does a clean strong weld no matter what. Each and every weld you make. Is your signature on that job forever. I used to admire my dads abilities to weld with either hand in any direction and the weld would look fantastic. Dad’s choice of rod for hand rails and pipe and root pass was 7010. Then cover pass for structural was 7018
Learning from mistakes is in time more valuable than being lucky Any fool can be lucky but the wise know what works and what doesn't then applies that knowledge towards future endeavors Much love from Tulia Texas out on the farm 🚜
I’ve found when trying to figure out tough angles in my amateur fab work it helps to keep a pen a ruler and a sheet of graph paper around. Then you can either draw, or cut and mock up what you’re doing. It’s cheaper to throw out a few sheets of paper than a few ft of steel.
Just made my first money off of a welding project building a hay trailer for one of our neighbors. Feels great to finally be seeing all of my schooling pay off even though I’m still in it right now.
Take it from me, keep the momentum going. Dont catch yourself saying "Well, i aint got nothing to do today so i will take it easy". If you say that, that one day will become 3 weeks of not advertising, coming up with ideas, or making stuff for yourself to make your jobs easier. And yes, it happened to me....more than what i like to admit
Nice work,sometimes if it's not straightforward I will tack my handrail uprights in place and use a chalkline to determine the angles Thanks for sharing
I charge $50 per hour for mobile calls and $30 per hour for shop time. I itemize and charge consumables and PPE in addition to my hourly rate because I supply all of my own equipment. I use my CAD degree to help with quotes and presentations to clients. It helps me establish complex geometry cuts and bends prior to any on-site assembly. I enjoy your attention to detail and drive to be honest with your efforts. Great video and the usage of jack stands so compensate for uneven ground is smart and shows your pipeline experience. Be we..
Good video pricing jobs is hard depending on the project where it is ie ground conditions and metal needed Looking forward to seeing the finished project
Something I did when I was starting out doing basic fabrication. I made an awesome steel garden shed in the shop. Got on site ready to install and we couldn't get it through to the back of the property. All the side access gates and doors were too small for the the shed. I had to cut the shed in half which then screwed everything up. A lot of leasons learned that day. Thanks for some great advice. I've learnt a few things from this video.
From an old welder on the back side of 70. I can remember starting welding for 5.00 per hour. Had nothing but me and long hard hours. Watched every other welder I could, ask questions. As years went by, I started accumalating tools and machines. Wages was going up because I was learning my trade, and learning to become a master at carbon stainless, cast iron, aluminum, basically if it melted, I could weld it. Last year lost my son, he was my other right hand. Decided it was time to hang it up, nobady to leave it to anymore. In those years had accuired a shop with welders, machine tools, pipe tools, and trucks. The last one I sold last year was a ford F700. It was equiped with anything and everything, that a welder would need on a job, to get the job done. Needless to say when a call was made, the wages were big, because of the experience and the tools to get the job done. It just took a lifetime.
Ok,I seen you staggered the rails,I like to build everything and install it at one time,I was taught how to build stairs by someone who was one of the best,I guess I let them scare me until he gave me the basics where I could understand them,mostly spiral,still the same,good work,I miss it.
hey man i am honest ...i´ve been watching your videos for a long time and at first i didnt watched that much!!, ...but now i am loving every second, love the fact that your not only on pipe welding, love all the new projects and your advices i am not american, but i can relate..thanks for sharing and for your honesty...best off luck
Great job Austin. I enjoy watching you build something new every video. I use to do stairways also for some high priced homes. The stairs I done ,were made to carry glass block on the landing, and on each step going up. So when I finished doing the stairs. I would install glass block through the whole stairway. Then the electrician would come in and install lights behind the stairwell. The stairs looked awesome at night.. so this video brought back memories. Awesome job there Austin. Keep up the great work. 👍
You can never experience everything.. tip of the iceberg really.. that's a beautiful thing about life, no matter how much you do, you can't do it all.. so just do as much as you can, youre only going to shortchange yourself if you get stuck on one thing
Thanks for sharing with us Austin, you’re doing a great job and yes you’re making sense! Keep up the good work and videos, always enjoy watching your adventures. Fred . 🙏🏻🙏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍👍👋👋
I always start with a flat, level floor. Make everything perpendicular to the floor or bench so it will sit properly when I relocate it. Foot plates are tack welded and left till relocated so legs can be trimmed to level if new concrete is off. This saves putting shims under when installed. Looks much better and finish weld after final adjustments. In addition to hourly rates and project quotes, check with your customer if he has a budget to work with. The best customers are happy before you start!
I to work in a steel fab shop here in the Seattle area, easiest way to get you stair angle is you rise and run corilaltion, hence a 7in rise and 12 in run is 30 degrees.
I’ve done 54 Urban Air Adventure Parks across the country guardrail and handrail on stairs and wheelchair ramps all ADA compliance believe me I understand your frustration brother it gets easier the more you do it especially when the guardrail is square and the handrail is 1” pipe with miters in it lol loads of fun
know it's old post. Do a lot of these on site. The only difference I do is o the top stairs I cut an inlet and set the stingers on the platform that way weight sits slightly on top platform and never could fall even if you catastrophic weld failure or rust over time.
Great video, i am a beginner welder myself. I went to welding school in high school aswell back in 2012 it was offered to me when i was taking marine trades vocational course. And although i wasnt to into the boat thing, my teachers pushed me on for my welding cause i did really well with it. I got an internship to go learn mig, tig, and stick, and to try tig out alittle bit. And then later that year i went back to the place i got my internship at to taking the welding course again, which wasnt much different from my internship other than getting my osha certification if i remember correctly. But then i walked away from the trade for a while instead of going and finding a job for it. But recently last August i went to a job interview for a big company and told them i had prior experience which helped to get hired. But they are also one of those businesses to train you from the ground up from scratch even if you have no prior experience. And as someone who is still a beginner welder i learned that welding in welding school is not the same thing as welding on the job. You have to be able to get down and weld in certain areas, and flip your welding gun at different angles to accommodate what your trying to welding. The first thing i said when i got to the job site was "How am i suppose to weld this?" . Its a great trade but a lot to learn as you do more projects.
I learned early on in multiple different ventures of life that if you have to tell somebody what you do or who you are chances are you’re not one if you have to tell them you’re a welder or team Roper you’re probably not one or not a good one.
I'm not a welder but I do run into spit pricing often. I'm a painter so it's pretty usual for me to do the prep on an hourly rate and the painting, which is more straight forward, on quote basis. If nobody is surprised it will work out. And the negotiation phase is when to have the conversation that part of the price might change. In my life this is like when I suspect that my prep of say an old staircase might reveal parts that need to be replaced. How can you be sure what to charge for that? If it gets replaced I'm not preparing that part to the same degree or perhaps at all since it might be new and the carpenter might fill and caulk it. If you are working for a PM this can be helpful to them since if they have labourers around they might want to bring down my price by getting them to do something like bulk sanding a walking surface or the exploratory sanding near the sill plate or any of a million things. That's a good deal for both of us since then I'm not switching tasks 10 times in a day at my hourly rate.
Just to give everyone out there an idea, I'm in rural Indiana. I have a welding business on the side of a 40hr a week job. I could do it full time and might in the future, but for now there's a lot of comfort in keeping a gravy, very well paid job with insurance and a 401k. My shop is fully equipped with a press brake, shrinker, stretcher, bead roller, English wheel, etc. I also have a truck that I'm capable of tig, stick, and mig welding from. I only advertise by word of mouth and my name and number on a few of my trucks. I started charging $60 an hour several years ago and am now up to $75hr in shop and $125hr mobile with clock starting from time I leave my shop. I have enough work without advertising that I occasionally have to turn work down. Now I do have almost 25 years experience welding everything from thick cast iron to thin aluminum, but this should give you beginners some input that when I was starting most in the business wouldn't share.
As soon as that rod was struck I thought 6011... but 6010 is a bit better for penetration especially if you are going to grind it after. Also it sure helps enforce how handy a gantry and hoist is trying to get weldments in place. I started out as a welder fitter, then millwright, finally two years of electrical tech... it's important to grow, I used slower economics times to build my education with saved money (all part of a plan)
Did I miss it being discussed? Even though you have everything on plane sitting on jack stands is the installation pad perfectly level? Meaning all 8 points of contact will not need any further adjustments. Enjoy the videos.
The only thing to remember, when fabricating rails is the hip height! 36", once 36" are set, apply the angle finder to step rail and apply degree to cut @ top of rail! '
The bad thing about that is people get used to doing it, and when they have to make a realistic estimate they get overwhelmed... I see that all the time in fab forums
Looking good Austin 👍. Yeah I know exactly what you're talking about with the dang angles. I use an angle finder and it still comes out wrong. The question from last week I got the terms wrong. How did you find the right angles of the channel risers? Is it just measure the to the top and make a plumb cut? See, dang angles, c'mon 👌.
This stairs building series is a great example of what stairs and rail shops have to do on a day to day. The only thing definitely is we go off of a blueprint that is not alway right. I honestly Believe mig welder need more Credit
Good hourly rate info. I always look at the job and say to myself would you pay that much for your services? Each job I come across are different in there own way. Some are quick and easy and some are drawn out projects that take months to complete.
Always enjoy your videos. Off subject have you been or are you going to FabTech, it will be in Chicago this year. I have never been but it looks like Disneyland for metal workers.
Hey Austin? Do you know what the difference betweem 7010-P1 and 7010-A1 welding rods are and how it affects the puddle when running downhill? Got a box of A1s and I'm having a hard time working with them because I'm used to the P1s.
I like charging by the Job if it takes longer like a break down or whatever then It’s my loss and my costumer isn’t mad and if I get it done quicker I gain also people tell me when you get to busy your schedule is full up your price your to cheep
Ok..VERY new at this so if its a stoopid question, or was answered and i missed it, please, cut a noob some slack. So..quickly n simply, why stick weld instead of mig on that cap piece or just in general?
For one, I don’t have a portable mig set up and for two, I am just use to stick welding, that’s what I’ve got the most experience with so it works for me. If I were building this at my shop I would have definitely used my mig. Check out this video th-cam.com/video/9Qt3Pg6I7qk/w-d-xo.html 4:30-6:00 Not a stupid question at all. Great question!
Is there a trick to know (perfectly) the elevation spacing between steps, also, since you cut the point off for the flat supports, do you do this with math beforehand, so then your elevation spacing is perfect, ( height minus total step thickness divided by space between steps number?
I’m debating on becoming a welder I’m currently looking into a school which I will have to pay out of pocket which will take 9 months to complete but my questions to you is it worth it I know nothing just been watching your channel and got me interested in welding I was wondering if I get certified which kind of welding I should start in ? I hopefully could get into pipe welding down the line !
Hourly rates: There is no substitute for knowing your costs. Consumable costs vary a lot depending on the type of work that you are doing. I do a little bit of repair work with an old truck and paid for equipment so the cost for it per month is harder to calculate, but at the end of the year repairs on the truck still eat up $$$. On repair work I charge by the hour as there are too many unforeseen elements in every job. If something doesn't go well and I have made some mistakes I take some time off the bill. My preference is to take time off instead of dropping the rate. Or, back to the cost part of the equation, if a significant portion of the job requires disassembling and reassembling and I'm pulling wrenches I can afford to drop what I am charging because my welder isn't running and I'm not burning rods etc.
Local shops are trying to hire at less than $15 an hour. Are they on drugs or nah? I was thinking about welding but for $15 an hour or less.... that's not even worth getting out of bed for.
@@arosswelding awesome! Have any advice for someone trying to get into the plumbers and pipe fitters union? I’m almost 19 and I’ve been practicing welding
Austin, I work in a stair/ rail shop, been doing it for 15 years now here in NM. From what I've seen so far on this build, you're doing an awesome job by yourself. No tips from me you seem to have it under control.
As for me, I enjoy building by myself, it's just how I am. Keep the content coming. 👍 C'mon👍
Austin you can be your own worst enemy sometimes. You are a planner which is good. You always strive to learn which is also good. But you often try to over think a job and that just gives you a headache. A handrail follows the angle of the stairs so in my case often 35 degrees. You must have height regs for it over there. Simplest way to get the angles is put up your uprights top and bottom too long square cut. Get your handrail square cut but bit long. Clamp rail to side of top and bottom post at correct height and parallel to the stringer. Where they cross mark the mitre on posts and rail. Cut and fit. Simple quick and easy. Has worked for me for forty years.
Yes
What a smart way of doing that!
makes me very happy seeing a New Austin ross video, HI from Scotland
If your close to St. Andrews; play a round for me please😭
I worked in the oil fields for over 50 years and worked with a lot of welders. I enjoy your videos keep up the great work.
Austin! You hit the nail on the head! Welding schools teach you that you’re worth huge money right out the door when yeah, maybe you “can” run a great looking bead under perfect shop/welding booth conditions, but you don’t actually know anything about the other 900 things that you have to do to be a weldor in the real world. I always say, “there ain’t much actual welding in the welding business”. Bottom line, reality slaps the snot out of you when you first start working as a weldor and it takes years of experience to be worth, much less get paid, what they told you in welding school.
Great job as always. In my younger years built a lot of stairs and handrails. Use to use angle iron for the uprights and pipe for the rails. Always thought it was easier than using pipe for the uprights as well. Wow same thoughts as well when I graduated high school in 1980 got a welding job making 5.00 dollars a hour. Most of the work I did than in my younger years was around tank farms, tanks and such. Than became a pipeline welder just like yourself.But thought to myself not making much but learned a lot. Again looks great keep up the good work.
The best way to learn the art of handrails and stairs is to work in a handrail and stairs shop. Thank you for your videos.
You have taught me so much. I work alone also... I am generally patient but have been known to make tools challenge gravity for a few moments. Seeing you work alone and have these problems, I realize that these problems I experience are normal and now I slow down and think about your issues and remember that you always work through them and the project gets done. Even if you have to do something over... it still gets done and you are calm. You are an inspiration.
Tools challenging gravity, I know exactly what you're talking about! 😂😂 Have a good calm day buddy 👍
Austin you are right in your design (post and beam) not using shear having the welds support the weight . Yeah communication is key and you can not trust a third part to get it right 100% of the time. Good video Austin
2:00 - 2:25 that is an awesome camera angle that shows the actual hand movements to make weave the weld. Great perspective.
Austin that truck is slick. Super creative with the jib and the saw. Super versatile
I love it! The best welder on TH-cam right here in my opinion! One of the best in the US without a doubt. 👍 buddy thank you for the priceless information. Your awesome!
Thanks Austin I acaully just quoted a stairway job here in down town lafeyette lousiana. This helped me.
Thanks for your hard work man... such a blessing.
Lots of love from south lousiana
My dad was a welder for 60 plus years. A lot of what you say about fabricating sounds much like my dad. His view of welding school is yes it’s important. School gives you the basics of how to make and weld certain joints in a table in a classroom situation. A certification means you are capable of welding that joint in the ideal position and situation. But what can you really do? It takes time as you now know to gain experience to know how to do many different welds out in the field not always the ideal position or situation. A good welder over comes and does a clean strong weld no matter what. Each and every weld you make. Is your signature on that job forever. I used to admire my dads abilities to weld with either hand in any direction and the weld would look fantastic. Dad’s choice of rod for hand rails and pipe and root pass was 7010. Then cover pass for structural was 7018
Learning from mistakes is in time more valuable than being lucky
Any fool can be lucky but the wise know what works and what doesn't then applies that knowledge towards future endeavors
Much love from Tulia Texas out on the farm 🚜
I’ve found when trying to figure out tough angles in my amateur fab work it helps to keep a pen a ruler and a sheet of graph paper around. Then you can either draw, or cut and mock up what you’re doing. It’s cheaper to throw out a few sheets of paper than a few ft of steel.
Just made my first money off of a welding project building a hay trailer for one of our neighbors. Feels great to finally be seeing all of my schooling pay off even though I’m still in it right now.
Take it from me, keep the momentum going. Dont catch yourself saying "Well, i aint got nothing to do today so i will take it easy". If you say that, that one day will become 3 weeks of not advertising, coming up with ideas, or making stuff for yourself to make your jobs easier. And yes, it happened to me....more than what i like to admit
Nice work,sometimes if it's not straightforward I will tack my handrail uprights in place and use a chalkline
to determine the angles
Thanks for sharing
I charge $50 per hour for mobile calls and $30 per hour for shop time. I itemize and charge consumables and PPE in addition to my hourly rate because I supply all of my own equipment. I use my CAD degree to help with quotes and presentations to clients. It helps me establish complex geometry cuts and bends prior to any on-site assembly. I enjoy your attention to detail and drive to be honest with your efforts. Great video and the usage of jack stands so compensate for uneven ground is smart and shows your pipeline experience. Be we..
Good video pricing jobs is hard depending on the project where it is ie ground conditions and metal needed
Looking forward to seeing the finished project
love the channel buddy been following your channel for a couple years now !!! work hard or don’t work at all
Something I did when I was starting out doing basic fabrication. I made an awesome steel garden shed in the shop. Got on site ready to install and we couldn't get it through to the back of the property. All the side access gates and doors were too small for the the shed. I had to cut the shed in half which then screwed everything up. A lot of leasons learned that day. Thanks for some great advice. I've learnt a few things from this video.
From an old welder on the back side of 70. I can remember starting welding for 5.00 per hour. Had nothing but me and long hard hours. Watched every other welder I could, ask questions. As years went by, I started accumalating tools and machines. Wages was going up because I was learning my trade, and learning to become a master at carbon stainless, cast iron, aluminum, basically if it melted, I could weld it. Last year lost my son, he was my other right hand. Decided it was time to hang it up, nobady to leave it to anymore. In those years had accuired a shop with welders, machine tools, pipe tools, and trucks. The last one I sold last year was a ford F700. It was equiped with anything and everything, that a welder would need on a job, to get the job done. Needless to say when a call was made, the wages were big, because of the experience and the tools to get the job done. It just took a lifetime.
It is a little sad to finally know our trade and realize we are at the end of the journey. Sorry about your son. God bless.
Ok,I seen you staggered the rails,I like to build everything and install it at one time,I was taught how to build stairs by someone who was one of the best,I guess I let them scare me until he gave me the basics where I could understand them,mostly spiral,still the same,good work,I miss it.
hey man i am honest ...i´ve been watching your videos for a long time and at first i didnt watched that much!!, ...but now i am loving every second, love the fact that your not only on pipe welding, love all the new projects and your advices i am not american, but i can relate..thanks for sharing and for your honesty...best off luck
Great job Austin. I enjoy watching you build something new every video. I use to do stairways also for some high priced homes. The stairs I done ,were made to carry glass block on the landing, and on each step going up. So when I finished doing the stairs. I would install glass block through the whole stairway. Then the electrician would come in and install lights behind the stairwell. The stairs looked awesome at night.. so this video brought back memories. Awesome job there Austin. Keep up the great work. 👍
You can never experience everything.. tip of the iceberg really.. that's a beautiful thing about life, no matter how much you do, you can't do it all.. so just do as much as you can, youre only going to shortchange yourself if you get stuck on one thing
Thanks for sharing with us Austin, you’re doing a great job and yes you’re making sense! Keep up the good work and videos, always enjoy watching your adventures. Fred . 🙏🏻🙏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍👍👋👋
Your a good craftsman. At the end of day mistakes happens it's part of doing a job. Unless your going by a drawing field fab mistakes happen
I always start with a flat, level floor. Make everything perpendicular to the floor or bench so it will sit properly when I relocate it. Foot plates are tack welded and left till relocated so legs can be trimmed to level if new concrete is off. This saves putting shims under when installed. Looks much better and finish weld after final adjustments. In addition to hourly rates and project quotes, check with your customer if he has a budget to work with. The best customers are happy before you start!
I to work in a steel fab shop here in the Seattle area, easiest way to get you stair angle is you rise and run corilaltion, hence a 7in rise and 12 in run is 30 degrees.
I worked at United Iron works in the 80's.
Love the videos man, Ben welding for a couple years now and you’re a great channel to learn from
You are on your way to success... you are a wise young man🍺
Good job Austin. I can tell you really love what you are doing
Right on i starded making $7 welding 15 years ago just out of high school now its from $30-200 and hour
I’ve done 54 Urban Air Adventure Parks across the country guardrail and handrail on stairs and wheelchair ramps all ADA compliance believe me I understand your frustration brother it gets easier the more you do it especially when the guardrail is square and the handrail is 1” pipe with miters in it lol loads of fun
know it's old post. Do a lot of these on site. The only difference I do is o the top stairs I cut an inlet and set the stingers on the platform that way weight sits slightly on top platform and never could fall even if you catastrophic weld failure or rust over time.
Great video, i am a beginner welder myself. I went to welding school in high school aswell back in 2012 it was offered to me when i was taking marine trades vocational course. And although i wasnt to into the boat thing, my teachers pushed me on for my welding cause i did really well with it. I got an internship to go learn mig, tig, and stick, and to try tig out alittle bit. And then later that year i went back to the place i got my internship at to taking the welding course again, which wasnt much different from my internship other than getting my osha certification if i remember correctly. But then i walked away from the trade for a while instead of going and finding a job for it. But recently last August i went to a job interview for a big company and told them i had prior experience which helped to get hired. But they are also one of those businesses to train you from the ground up from scratch even if you have no prior experience. And as someone who is still a beginner welder i learned that welding in welding school is not the same thing as welding on the job. You have to be able to get down and weld in certain areas, and flip your welding gun at different angles to accommodate what your trying to welding. The first thing i said when i got to the job site was "How am i suppose to weld this?" . Its a great trade but a lot to learn as you do more projects.
Great attitude !!!!!, You'll go far my man ✌️
I learned early on in multiple different ventures of life that if you have to tell somebody what you do or who you are chances are you’re not one if you have to tell them you’re a welder or team Roper you’re probably not one or not a good one.
I'm not a welder but I do run into spit pricing often. I'm a painter so it's pretty usual for me to do the prep on an hourly rate and the painting, which is more straight forward, on quote basis. If nobody is surprised it will work out. And the negotiation phase is when to have the conversation that part of the price might change.
In my life this is like when I suspect that my prep of say an old staircase might reveal parts that need to be replaced. How can you be sure what to charge for that? If it gets replaced I'm not preparing that part to the same degree or perhaps at all since it might be new and the carpenter might fill and caulk it.
If you are working for a PM this can be helpful to them since if they have labourers around they might want to bring down my price by getting them to do something like bulk sanding a walking surface or the exploratory sanding near the sill plate or any of a million things. That's a good deal for both of us since then I'm not switching tasks 10 times in a day at my hourly rate.
As always outstanding advice, I try to follow your approach of teaching with my boys however, I often fall short. Thanks again.
Just to give everyone out there an idea, I'm in rural Indiana. I have a welding business on the side of a 40hr a week job. I could do it full time and might in the future, but for now there's a lot of comfort in keeping a gravy, very well paid job with insurance and a 401k. My shop is fully equipped with a press brake, shrinker, stretcher, bead roller, English wheel, etc. I also have a truck that I'm capable of tig, stick, and mig welding from. I only advertise by word of mouth and my name and number on a few of my trucks. I started charging $60 an hour several years ago and am now up to $75hr in shop and $125hr mobile with clock starting from time I leave my shop. I have enough work without advertising that I occasionally have to turn work down. Now I do have almost 25 years experience welding everything from thick cast iron to thin aluminum, but this should give you beginners some input that when I was starting most in the business wouldn't share.
where might I find/look for some outside welding work? What Companies? What Products?
You are a true professional. Keep up the great work!
indeed sir. that makes sense. 😁 those are some beautiful stairs in my opinion.
Good stuff man! Agree on all points. 👍
Hey "A" man, good thinking on prefab parts before you get to the assembly. Hood down lights on.
As soon as that rod was struck I thought 6011... but 6010 is a bit better for penetration especially if you are going to grind it after.
Also it sure helps enforce how handy a gantry and hoist is trying to get weldments in place.
I started out as a welder fitter, then millwright, finally two years of electrical tech... it's important to grow, I used slower economics times to build my education with saved money (all part of a plan)
Cut squares of roofing felt to put between the concrete and steel. It will keep the moisture out.
Did I miss it being discussed? Even though you have everything on plane sitting on jack stands is the installation pad perfectly level? Meaning all 8 points of contact will not need any further adjustments. Enjoy the videos.
The only thing to remember, when fabricating rails is the hip height! 36", once 36" are set, apply the angle finder to step rail and apply degree to cut @ top of rail!
'
I'm hearing you!!!
Sometimes working on your own sucks big time . 😶😣
How to charge: When in doubt, materials plus materials times two is a pretty good benchmark.
The bad thing about that is people get used to doing it, and when they have to make a realistic estimate they get overwhelmed... I see that all the time in fab forums
Labor
Materials + Fuel Cost to picking it up
Tool Usage and Rods
Total Amount: To please the cheap customers
@@Ruben901
Fab forums?
I'm an actual living, breathing, welding fabricator.
@@WhatDadIsUpTo
Fab Forums? You probably meant to respond to Tomas.
@@Ruben901 Oh ya. Welding is easy. This computer stuff, not so much.😂
Looking good Austin 👍. Yeah I know exactly what you're talking about with the dang angles. I use an angle finder and it still comes out wrong. The question from last week I got the terms wrong. How did you find the right angles of the channel risers? Is it just measure the to the top and make a plumb cut? See, dang angles, c'mon 👌.
I will have to explain this in a video…
This stairs building series is a great example of what stairs and rail shops have to do on a day to day. The only thing definitely is we go off of a blueprint that is not alway right. I honestly Believe mig welder need more Credit
always a tricky subject.
Yes it is. I believe it takes just as much experience talkin with customers and makin deals as it does doin the actual hands on work.
Why didn’t you just add threaded feet to get your elevations being you had different slab slope
I'm working on a table myself and I love the ability to adjust my height to whatever I need, so I put a lot of all thread in it.
why not build it square in your shop, with adjusting bolts in the base plates. adjust it in the field, and grout under the plates?
Would use 1/8 E 70 14 for all welds on stairs .
If I could work with you for a few years then it would make sense
👌🏻 Learn something new everyday
Good hourly rate info. I always look at the job and say to myself would you pay that much for your services? Each job I come across are different in there own way. Some are quick and easy and some are drawn out projects that take months to complete.
Keep the good work up 👍☘️🇮🇪
love the advice it has helped me a lot!
Can you make the legs, with two pieces and slide them to proper fit, is that too much.
Always enjoy your videos. Off subject have you been or are you going to FabTech, it will be in Chicago this year. I have never been but it looks like Disneyland for metal workers.
I have never been either and do not know if I’m going this year or not.
I am a carpenter by trade and always wanted to learn welding. How do you decide what size rods to use for what application?
Hey Austin? Do you know what the difference betweem 7010-P1 and 7010-A1 welding rods are and how it affects the puddle when running downhill? Got a box of A1s and I'm having a hard time working with them because I'm used to the P1s.
Hey can we have a talk about the welding field. I’m new and full of question
Great job man .... Thanks for share ...
Nice job, I like your (stick boom) crain, is the power cable a 12vdc bumper winch ? Thanks
The only thing I can see is your handrail going up is at a different elevation than your first rise,curious to see how you do that,
Stairs connect to the "landing"😉✌
What happened to the pipeline gig?
What wheel are you using in that chop-saw? Please.
I missed your videos man
im startin on my own finally. im lookin at buyin a hobart champion 145, i can pay on it a lil every payday and have it bfor summer is over.
You can do it!
I like charging by the Job if it takes longer like a break down or whatever then It’s my loss and my costumer isn’t mad and if I get it done quicker I gain also people tell me when you get to busy your schedule is full up your price your to cheep
Ok..VERY new at this so if its a stoopid question, or was answered and i missed it, please, cut a noob some slack. So..quickly n simply, why stick weld instead of mig on that cap piece or just in general?
For one, I don’t have a portable mig set up and for two, I am just use to stick welding, that’s what I’ve got the most experience with so it works for me. If I were building this at my shop I would have definitely used my mig.
Check out this video
th-cam.com/video/9Qt3Pg6I7qk/w-d-xo.html
4:30-6:00
Not a stupid question at all. Great question!
Awesome video !!!
Is there a trick to know (perfectly) the elevation spacing between steps, also, since you cut the point off for the flat supports, do you do this with math beforehand, so then your elevation spacing is perfect, ( height minus total step thickness divided by space between steps number?
Im worth 18/HR now....the rig hasnt been making much money 😣
Your worth much more than that in Yashuas kingdom.
Right now I would have to pay them for the practice 😅
Why not mig weld in this project ?
Why not mig?
I’m debating on becoming a welder I’m currently looking into a school which I will have to pay out of pocket which will take 9 months to complete but my questions to you is it worth it I know nothing just been watching your channel and got me interested in welding I was wondering if I get certified which kind of welding I should start in ? I hopefully could get into pipe welding down the line !
Would like to know what blade you're running on your chop saw and how many teeth have keep the videos coming
I charge for my experience.
Experience, Quality, time efficiency, Quote.
To the regular city homeowner "Ugh, its too hot outside. Who can i contact to weld this for peanuts?"
What is your favorite projects
What number lens do you use?
Hourly rates: There is no substitute for knowing your costs. Consumable costs vary a lot depending on the type of work that you are doing. I do a little bit of repair work with an old truck and paid for equipment so the cost for it per month is harder to calculate, but at the end of the year repairs on the truck still eat up $$$.
On repair work I charge by the hour as there are too many unforeseen elements in every job. If something doesn't go well and I have made some mistakes I take some time off the bill.
My preference is to take time off instead of dropping the rate.
Or, back to the cost part of the equation, if a significant portion of the job requires disassembling and reassembling and I'm pulling wrenches I can afford to drop what I am charging because my welder isn't running and I'm not burning rods etc.
What welding shirt are you wearing in the voice-over Austin? And do I hear a "If that makes sense" hood decal coming soon? 😆😆
Or a "My advice today...."
That’s a Martin brothers welding shirt. We have them here on my website
www.arosswelding.com/shop/summershirt
@@arosswelding looks pretty slick with those brass buttons, might have to get a couple
Do you do alot of oxyacetylene welding?
No
It's a love hate relationship with your videos, I love the content but I hate my skill with a stick welder lol I'm working on it though
I understand completely. I still cuss my weldin rods to this day 😂
There’s no such thing as too much hood time. 👌😎
@@arosswelding keep up the good work
Local shops are trying to hire at less than $15 an hour. Are they on drugs or nah? I was thinking about welding but for $15 an hour or less.... that's not even worth getting out of bed for.
Hey man are you from OK?
Yes
@@arosswelding awesome! Have any advice for someone trying to get into the plumbers and pipe fitters union? I’m almost 19 and I’ve been practicing welding
👌🏽Perfecto 👌🏽
Super 👍👍
Whoo weee, 5_32 on that small stuff. Smoke ER in there bud lol. You do like goin fast don't ya
your owsome bro..
You are awesome! Thank you for watching!