Price of Welding

[Shitlaptop]

Well ive now had three quotes for welding a sill under my sliding door...little patch up under front step and a patch around bottom rear wheel arch,all on the near side.

How do these prices sound to you experienced welding types...

Garage "A"...Yeah don't look to bad...cor nice chassis rails (guy gets a semi hard on)...sill is f*** inside....needs replacing....yeah should be about £500 hmm well less than £700...after his mate pokes about,well it SHOULD come in under a grand.

Garage "B" Yeah need new sill..days work...£400.

Garage "C" Ahh yeah looks like typical transit...not that big of a deal mate,do the whole side in a day £300 ok with you.

Needless to say shook hands with C and he now will end up with the other side to weld (less than £200) and all the other various little bits need doing,like service etc.

I appreciate when you cut back the rust (or just smash great fooking big holes with a hammer...thanks Matthew) it can soon be come a bigger job than first meets the eye,so how do the prices above stack up.

Not forgetting the van is a very Early MK6...so probably only really worth just over what Garage A wanted to charge...lol

[loot]

Welding is mostly profit but it is a horrible job to do underneath working up, smoke, rust and sparks all over the place, you get neck ache, back ache, ark eye and bad lungs and if you are very unlucky a hot rock in your ear hole probably why most ppl can't be bothered doing it unless it is worth while.

Another thing to think of is like you said, until the guy starts cutting back and cleaning it he won't know the extent of the job, he knows this and isn't going to start until you agree on the price and the work.

Guy 1 might be familiar with the job and have priced accordingly, guy 3 might have given a cheap quote to get the job but you can't expect him to stick to the price if the arse falls out of the van when he shows it the welding torch.

I can't see what needs doing so can only make general points about it, sometimes they charge silly money for naff all welding (eg i had an mot years ago and there was a 50p size hole and that's all it failed on so i said crack on as i wanted to drive the car home.)

12 pounds it cost me now that sounds reasonable but we're going back to the mid 90s so by my calculation that equates to about 200 pounds

Bloody garages

I spent 3 hours rebuilding the corner behind the n/s rear arch on my mk5 and the tester said it wasn't part of the mot
I still have my welding gear but try to avoid it as best as i can, do the odd exhaust repair or external repair, last 1 was my sisters spam panel on her almera.

It may shave a few quid off if you do some prep work ie remove carpet or unseal whatever.

If it genuinely only just needs the bit you said and the metal around them is solid then i think the prices are too much (my price Lol)
300 max imo.

Got any pictures?

[Shitlaptop]

To be honest loot i did take pics but they just looked shite...needs to be up on a ramp really to get good look.

The third guy is experienced...works on classics through to modern stuff so id say he knows his stuff,he had a good poke about and suprised me when he said he would chop this out plate that and then reweld in what he cut out.

Ive seen my MK5 welded with in an inch of its life...small 2" hole become 3 foot square...so appreciate its not a job for the faint hearted,just amazes me how prices can vary.

I refuse to get my hands dirty (ive walked off numerous jobs when the site agent has insulted me by actually asking me to help out when Forklift work was quiet lol) so happy to pay someone and sit and watch.

I guess the money spent on the van so far means really its crack on and get it super sweet and hopefully enjoy it for a few years.

Van was £1500 with another £350 for windows...welding is gonna be about £500 all in and then £250 to have body work/rust bubbles taken care of then sprayed from sway line down...another £130 for a chap to sort out 240v sockets and do some bits on my gas install...bugger soon adds up...

[loot]

You're not wrong, i paid 3k for my van and with doing it up and buying things for it i bet I'm not far off 10k

[Shitlaptop]

You're not wrong, i paid 3k for my van and with doing it up and buying things for it i bet I'm not far off 10k

And no doubt worth every penny....

I know mine is old and scabby but still love it...

[Shitlaptop]

Welding is mostly profit but it is a horrible job to do underneath working up, smoke, rust and sparks all over the place, you get neck ache, back ache, ark eye and bad lungs and if you are very unlucky a hot rock in your ear hole probably why most ppl can't be bothered doing it unless it is worth while.

Another thing to think of is like you said, until the guy starts cutting back and cleaning it he won't know the extent of the job, he knows this and isn't going to start until you agree on the price and the work.

Guy 1 might be familiar with the job and have priced accordingly, guy 3 might have given a cheap quote to get the job but you can't expect him to stick to the price if the arse falls out of the van when he shows it the welding torch.

I can't see what needs doing so can only make general points about it, sometimes they charge silly money for naff all welding (eg i had an mot years ago and there was a 50p size hole and that's all it failed on so i said crack on as i wanted to drive the car home.)

12 pounds it cost me now that sounds reasonable but we're going back to the mid 90s so by my calculation that equates to about 200 pounds

Bloody garages

I spent 3 hours rebuilding the corner behind the n/s rear arch on my mk5 and the tester said it wasn't part of the mot
I still have my welding gear but try to avoid it as best as i can, do the odd exhaust repair or external repair, last 1 was my sisters spam panel on her almera.

It may shave a few quid off if you do some prep work ie remove carpet or unseal whatever.

If it genuinely only just needs the bit you said and the metal around them is solid then i think the prices are too much (my price Lol)
300 max imo.

Got any pictures?

You wasn't far wrong with Guy 3...although I will say we ended up finding quite a bit more than expected.

And he took it back to proper metal and not just "enough" if that makes sense...so all in all both sides welded and he stone chipped it etc...worked out about £700 ish and he done it in stages to help with costs.

Very very happy now...wasn't sure about a LWB but Matthew Riches basicly said you"ll regret it if you don't...and the boy was spot on...great bloody van.

Hopefully no more welding for a while.

[matthew2riches]

i've been trying to get hold of you for fookin months! no phone, no details, no nothing. I lost the fookin lot

pm me your details again stuart.

kept the van then

[Shitlaptop]

i've been trying to get hold of you for fookin months! no phone, no details, no nothing. I lost the fookin lot

pm me your details again stuart.

kept the van then

Yeah she is looking good...even bought some new seat covers £15.99

[Robertgp]

Sorry to hijack your post but I saw on the bottom of Matthew2riches message that it says about welding in Suffolk. I've got a transit Mk5 that needs welding and was wondering if he'd be able to help? Or if you know anyone that can? I can't PM anyone as I've only just registered on here