First, thanks to AWS for having these forums available. I've been a member here for a little while, but I have a question or two I wonder if you'd be willing to help with. Some of you may recognize me from another forum, so "Hi" in advance. I'm not asking this there because of the number of inexperienced people I'd be getting "answers" from. You know what I mean!
I'm a self-employed weldor in Harrisonburg, VA with little formal welding education. Most jobs I'm called on involve equipment repair - probably half of my work comes from equipment rental companies. I've been at this for almost five years, and am looking to move into more 'professional' type work. Several local factories have called me with work opportunities, but they always ask if I'm "certified," to which the answer is always 'no.' Then they say, let us know when you are.
My work is mobile, and generally run-of-the-mill 7018 structural work. Among those who have asked, almost no one has specified which "certification" they want, and honestly I don't think most of them know, although the type of work they'd need would generally be structural. I did lose one job that needed a D1.1 cert which I don't have.
Most companies in this area haven't certified their weldors, although I do know one company that I previously worked for that would lie and say they had. I know, because I took their cert "test" which involved having two other weldors watch me run a couple of random beads with stick and MIG, and then pronounce me "certified." No destructive testing, etc. So I've decided that being cert'd, probably through an AWS ATF, would give me a leg up over most everybody else around here. I think being able to find my name and cert number on this website would be an advantage, and I'm trying to figure out how to do it most cost-effectively. Most of my customers aren't going to have their own tests to give me.
The closest ATF to me is Earl Beck in Baltimore, but the test itself will run $600 or $655, depending on 3/8" or 1" plate. The class to take beforehand runs nearly $2,000. There's also another beginner class which may or may not be a prerequisite to the cert-prep class. It also runs nearly $2,000. Has anyone in my position done something like this before? Is that a normal expense for the class and test? It seems high to me, but ???? My other option is to skip the class, take the test, and if I fail I can retest later for another $250 or $275, I forget which. If I don't use power tools, I can get a dual-cert to D1.5 for an additional $275. Although I don't foresee any bridge work in the near future, who knows?
I might consider ASME in the future, but I've never done any pressure pipe welding, and there's no central online database I'm aware of for ASME cert lookup like there is for AWS. For a guy with a truck out on his own, I think the AWS online database will give me the most bang for my buck when it comes to a desk jockey trying to validate my claims vs my competitors' claims.
What do y'all think? Any additional ideas or comments are welcome. Thanks in advance.