Spent 3 weeks on a welded piece and charged 2 800. Then I added up the argon.
Finished a welded steel piece in March. Roughly 5 feet, forged base, took me the better part of three weeks with a couple of days lost waiting on a shear at the yard. Quoted 2 800 like it was still 2019 in my head.
Then I did the paperwork, which I should have done before I opened my mouth.
Steel came to 640. Argon, discs, gas for the torch, a new set of tips, about 210. Yard delivery 85 because I can't lift that stock alone anymore and I'm not pretending otherwise. Shop electric for the welder and the compressor ran me maybe 90 for that stretch. That's 1 025 in materials and consumables before I've touched a tool.
So 1 775 for three weeks. I also pay 400 a month on the shop. Do the rest yourself.
The part that stings isn't the number, it's that I knew better. I've been doing this thirty years. I priced it off what a piece that size used to go for and never once looked at what the stock actually costs me now. Steel's up and I'm still quoting like a kid who's just happy to be in the room.
Raised my quote sheet by 20 percent after that. Lost a quote last week over it. Fine.
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The argon is the one that catches everybody. Steel you remember, you paid for it in one ugly moment. But gas and discs and tips bleed out in twenty and forty crown pieces and nobody counts them until the piece is already sold and gone.
The number that matters isn't 2800 anyway. It's what you'd need to charge to do it again without flinching, and my guess is that's closer to 4000. Quoting from 2019 memory is a habit, and habits in this business cost you quietly.
Been there. Half my old invoices were apologies in euro form. The good part is you only do the arithmetic once before it sticks.
The bleed is the part nobody warns you about. 640 for the steel I felt in my chest. The 210 in tips and gas I couldn't even tell you where it went.
4000 is about where I landed too. Did the arithmetic twice to make sure I wasn't just angry.
"Apologies in euro form" is a good way to put it. I've got twenty years of those in a drawer.