Welding together APEX steel bed rack

Hey everyone. I'm not very knowledgable in the welding world, and I'm buying this bed rack disassembled requiring welding How long should something like this take? I found a welder that is quoting me $150-$200 for the service which seems a bit steep. Located in D.C. Baltimore Area. Any help would be great!

 

Thats not bad, especially if it's aluminum which is harder to work with than carbon steel.

 

I think I paid around $100 for mine to be welded. It might vary depending on what part of the country you are in.

 

As far as I can tell its just regular old steel tubing lol

 

How many pieces are there? Is he coming to you or are you going to his shop?

 

That sounds about right to me, the shop I work at charges $110 an hour, other shops I have been to are about $90, remember they have to tack everything together, make sure its straight and square, prepare the weld areas (if need be), weld, then clean the weld area. A rack like that could take a couple hours if the welder is experienced. The real benefit to these types of kits are for DIYers who can and want to do it themselves to either save money or as a learning experience.

 

Looks like it would require around 13 total welds and around 11 pieces based off of the picture.

 

Yeah I mean I'd love to do it myself If I had the equipment. would have ordered it assembled but it's out of stock

 

Is he responsible for the fit-up as well?

The fit-up is just as important as the welding. In this case it will take some time. His price is fair.

 

I hear ya, its a good excuse to buy the equipment, learn a new skill and build more crap in the future.

 

@MHARMS I should have mentioned I helped with the fit up on mine so I'm sure that helped lower my cost.

 

To be honest, you could probably have a local to you fab shop make that for cheaper than buying it, shipping it, then having it welded.

 

Haha maybe when I commit to buying a house with a garage I'll start doing stuff like that.

 

I know a guy....lol!

 

Whenever someone debates my quotes I walk away. No argument or justification. If you can’t afford my price I can’t afford to waste any more of my time. If you can’t understand why my price is where I quoted it then you don’t understand what’s involved. If you know someone who is cheaper the why are you still here?

Every time I fill my gas bottles it isn’t free and my filler rods, tungsten, mig wire or stick electrodes don’t grow on trees. We haven’t even touched on my machinery and those cost something to buy and more costs to fix or replace. Friday I dropped $100 on basic consumables for my plasma cutter. The wheel on my bench grinder for grinding tungsten does wear out. This summer I was in $500 in fixturing clamps which doesn’t include the other $800 to $1000 is various clamps, c-clamps etc and I bet those numbers are still low. All those things that don’t figure directly into your bill have to be purchased somehow.

$200 still sound expensive?

Personally I would have paid the extra to have it welded at the manufacturer in their jigs and then paid extra to ship it to me. For me to make it as perfect as they can do in their jigs takes TIME.

 

I also hear ya....

 

check out @Mobtown Offroad for their welding abilities

 

I second this. Who better to weld the product than the manufacturer? However, if I remember right, they are backlogged until the new year and aren't offering in house welding. At least that was the case about a month ago when I inquired.

 

For that part of the country I think it is a fair price .

If you think otherwise I am sure you can find someone with a China built Mig who would love the chance to weld.

Take your prints go to a few places get quotes