Houston area (along with DB's not from Houston) BS thread

No more shutdowns?

 

I haven’t hit one in a while and they don’t pick up until the fall. I’ve been on a maintenance gig at a local plant

 

What kind of mobile welding are you doing?

 

Anything. From fences to big pipe jobs.

 

Hell yea!
Simple shit like this goes for 3 grand

 

So Add debt and invest in myself rather than pay debt off and try to push investment to pay off debts and then some?

 

I wouldn't add debt for something you don't know will pay off. I get creative and find another option. Look for cheap used equipment, this probably won't be the equipment you want but will allow you to get started and make money so that eventually you can get the stuff you want. I'd also cut out anything in your budget you don't need from eating out to cable. Then I'd sell anything I have that I don't need and that's not making me money. Lastly I'd reach out to potential customers and see if you could negotiate a project to where they paid you partially up front to help with equipment needs. Just my 2 cents

 

I don’t even have internet or cable at my house and I haven’t ate out in months lmao.

 

wait you own a "bike" now too? like dis:

 

A mountain bicycle. Had to find a way to kill time on weekends off without spending money since I’m trying to save. A $200 bike seemed like the best option

 

You found a mountain over there??

 

Shhhiiittt. A 35 minute drive to Katy where the trails are is a helluva lot closer and cheaper than 3 hours to hidden falls or 6 hours to Gilmer

 

I am with @TexAggie (and interestingly enough I am also a Fightin' Texas Aggie c/o 2012 WHOOP!). Find yourself something cheap but usable to get you started, then get some gigs and some steady clients or at least some people who will rep your work with the cheap gear, then BOLO for a diesel welder that someone is offloading for a good, reasonable price and go for it. there are also auction sites floating around (specifically the one linked sells surplus items from gov, public, and private entities mostly in ETX) and then theres always craigslist deals but you have to sometimes deal with crazies and riff raff so sometimes the reward is not worth the nonsense IMO.

Get a good deal on something and build up by saving up while youre doing it. it will put you in a habit of doing it and then you can upgrade the gear later. Do you have your dockside (not certain if you need a cert to work quayside but you def would need a TWIC) or marine welding cert?

 

Yea I’ve had my TWIC for a couple years now.

I found a used machine I can use but will still have to use my CC for it cause I don’t have the disposable cash saved and i worry that every day that passes that I try and save for equipment, is a day lost that that equipment could be making me money. Idk I’m in a weird spot lol

 

It's a crap shoot. Generally, at your age, I think any investment in your future, for something you like and are planning to stick with, is a good thing. BUT, that does not mean there may not be pain on the way. Your best bet is to put pen to paper (or spreadsheet) and add up costs and profits over some time periods and see what comes out. Lots of assumptions here and you should run numbers for best and worst cases.

 

Noted.

Need to take risk cause I’d like to have kids in the near future and want to have the best life for them but also don’t want to add debt before having em lol.

 

^^^THIS.

How many jobs do you expect to complete per week or month and how much revenue do you expect each job to gain for you (after cost of materials, fuel, time, etc.)? Get wild with excel and try to figure it out. And just when you think you have it figured out, add in an unforeseen scenario (medical issue, injury, etc.) and see if your plan is still doable. Also dont forget to find the tipping point when your enterprise will become profitable after your initial expenditure of funds to get off the ground. It will take some time, but find out when that time will be.

 

I should have made my forum name the thread killer

 

Everyone's at lunch

 

You're dead on. I guess im still not used to mountain time.