**MONEY** How much?

[RegalHarley]

How much money can a welded make working from home?
How much is the average welder paid to work for a company. I am intrested to find out if my hobby can be profitable??
You are the people out in the field and you will tell me the truth! I'm thinking about taking welding class(school) and I think the person at the school just wants me to sign up for school. He does not really know about welding. Just signem up! Its about money to him. He's a JERK! I have been reading allot of threads and WOW it is mind blowing the amount of info I get from you guys. THANKS.
Let me know what to expect.


Regal Harley

Weldingweb is a huge help I read it seveal time a day since I found it!

[Ries]

Really it depends on where you live, and what kind of job you get.
Up here in the northwest, where I live, there are guys who make 10 bucks an hour mig welding in factories. They dont do a very good job, and their bosses dont care.
There are guys who make 25 bucks an hour, with lots of overtime, doing turnarounds on oil refineries. They have lots of pipe weld certs, they work like dogs, but they make money.
In the middle, there are civilized jobs in various shops that pay 10 to 20 bucks an hour. Depends on how good you are- we have a lot of boatyards that do aluminum mig and tig, and its gotta be perfect every time, but you can make 15 to 18 pretty easily.
More money = more skills, or union membership- I have seen ironworkers who make a fortune- but they are union, and have to stick weld 200 feet up, and work 6 days 12 hours a day sometimes.
Near me we have a community college that does a 2 year AA degree, doesnt cost that much, and those guys get hired when they are done, as they are usually certified in stick, tig, and mig.
Other parts of the country are completely different, but if you can afford school, it cant hurt. A decent tig welder, who can weld aluminum, or stainless, can always find a job.

[dob]

35 an hour here in canada for "b" pressure certification, but once again it depends what your certified to weld on and what base material. Rig welders get anywhere from $45 - $135 per hour depending on where your working. Pipelining is where the money is but you gotta be fast and good- no weld faults at all, if you want the good money.

[RegalHarley]

I 'm thinking of the community college for there welding instruction. I live in Florida(Palm Beach area) And I can't find any vocational schools. I'm going all out on the welder because I want to start my own biz. I need to learn how to weld aluminum and stainless steal. Any suggestions???

[Ries]

Community College classes are a good idea. To learn welding, you have to practice a lot. Taking a class means you will set aside a time every week, and just go and run beads, and that is good.

[ArcingT]

Go to salary.com to find out what jobs are paying in your area depending on experience. And by the way, if some one knows of a good "Job Estimator" for contract work and other things please feel free to email me or please post a msg. I would like to know what I should charge to do work whether I am making a BBQ pit for someone, or building stairs for a 50 unit apartment complex.

[JTMcC]

I know several very good "Job Estimaters".
None of them can be emailed as they are all human beings.
There is no magic estimating tool, estimating is done by people based on experience in the business.

JTMcC.

[RegalHarley]

The community collage near me offers a program that when you complete you will be a certified welder. They told me there are different types of certifications.

The class will take about 20 months to complete and that is 4 nights a week. Does this sound like the right amount of time to learn the right way?

I'm not 18 I'm older and This is something I want to learn. My life style allows me to afford time and I have a big garage and I also don't have to run off to work. I work at home.
Now so my problem is I want to learn NOW!!! I don't want to wait so I bought a small HF welder to play with. Its ok. But I will but a Miller after I learn from the college this way I will buy the right welder the first time.

Thank for all your help. This forum is the greatest learning tool I have seen.
I bought the miller student package with coupon for the free jacket. They have added a Miller store cataloge with hats and shirts that are price very low. Thanks to all of you I found it.
you guys are great!

[Ries]

20 months 4 nights a week sounds about right- make sure they will teach you oxy-fuel welding and cutting, stick, mig, and tig. Bonus points if they also have plasma cutters, and even better if they have a cnc plasma cutting machine- this is a good thing to learn, as many shops are getting these as they have gotten cheaper.
Be aware there are many different kinds of certification, and it is unlikely you will want or need all of them. You dont have to decide now, or even in the first year, but you should do some research about what kind of jobs are available in your area, and therefore what kind of certs would be the most use to you- for structual steel welding on skyscrapers, you are talking different certs than for pipe welding in refineries, and there is a lot of practice for each cert.