Jim Parker
Actually I have just about enough work to keep me busy, 95% oilfield work. But in October I got hooked up with a company doing a facility hookup about a mile from my home. Was great work,all new pipe and whatever other material was used was new. In my work,most of the time this is not the case. Not sure what kind of work you do,but this facility hookup involved 1,2,and 3 inch diameter pipe welding,fabbing up pipe stands or supports and whatever else that may need welding. Anyway they asked me if I was interested in working with them,and I said yes,but I really did not know if I could handle the additional work along with my current customers. Even though it involves some traveling,[the way they talked they work mainly in central and southern Michigan] it would be closer than Arkansas. I will e-mail you with the info of this company,it is just a four man crew that does all the tank setting and plumbing involved in hooking up a facility. They just need a welder with his own rig to do whatever welding is necessary on these hookups. They told me it is hard to find a good welder because all are busy in the oilfields,and farmer welders are not good enough.[I think they used one for awhile]. Anyway it might be worth a try to contact them to see if they could keep you busy. Oh,yes,they are great to work with. One other thing you would not work for them,you would be working for whatever company they are working for at the time. When the job is complete you would have the owner of the company sign the invoice and then you would send it to the appropriate oil company.You would charge your going rate,still working for yourself. Thanks.

The only downside was as Sourdough said,wind and rain. Most of the time the weather may be good,but you can have times when rain and wind can be day after day,and they tend to work in the rain unless it is a little on the heavy side. The wind we tried to shield it as much as possible. Don`t get me wrong I enjoyed this work,but wind and rain are the only drawbacks as I mentioned in one of my above posts. In many aspects of oilfield work as many here know,a person works through the wind and rain,but the job I was on to me was especially critical because of the extremely high H2S content. Jim,I e-mailed you with some of the company info,but one other thing I forgot to mention is there is a $90 per diem per day allowed when out of town. That is what the roustabout company owner told me. Thanks.