Starting a mobile welding business in NJ

By MDaley Date 04-21-2008 02:46

My husband was recently offered an oppurtunity to start his on welding business. He has been welding since high school and currently works for a company welding signs for businesses, so I would say he has abt 15-20 years of welding experiance. He has been wanting to start up his own business for some time. You will probably see me on here alot more than him, as I will be taking care of everything, except the welding. What I am looking to find out is what needs to be done in the state of NJ to accomplish this. He is certified by job completion. I have no idea of what that means, but you guys might know. We need to start out small and work our way up. We have a truck, we have a welding machine, and we have the welder.:). Now what steps are next. I am ignorant on this and would love things being spelled out until I get more familiar with welding terminology. I am not a welder but can run a business, as I have my own to run. I know he needs Business Insurance. Someone had said that it was $100,000. I am not sure if that is standard or if this person had more going on than we plan to at first. It will be solely my husband with one truck and one machine. We are looking at basic startup costs. What is the minimum that needs to be done to start and what are price ranges. I was contacted today from someone we know that is willing to make an investment to help get him started. It is the best chance we have at this if the price is right. We have 2 disabled children and his $22.50 per hour is not cutting the bills. I also know that the first year of a new business is the deciding point of whether we will succeed or fail. So if you guys could help me with some estimates and what we have to do to get started, I would thank you for any help you can give me. He already has some great leads and contacts. He has a great reputation as this has been all his has done and loves what he does.
Thanks for reading this,
Cynthia

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 04-23-2008 04:00

   I was hoping someone would chime in on this one.

The ammount of liability will be specified by Your customers on some jobs, and the type of work You do might be limited by Your insurance in some cases. I have heard of guys with a basic liability policy that are not covered for welding trailer hitches, for example.

   What sort of work does Your husband do? [other than the signs], and what sort of work is in Your area?

   There have been a bunch of other threads on the pro & con of starting Your own welding business in the last year or so, You should probably read them if You havn't already.

By MDaley Date 04-23-2008 13:57

Well...getting down to the grit here about exactly what he can do. I know that the signs that he buildes are the type that are for companies. The signs are the big ones that are used on the outside of buildings that are lighted. Like the WaWa, PNC, CVS, Children's HOspital, Ect. He has also welded the bus shelters that are at alot of the bus stops. He has done Fabrication. I know that he is pretty good at most anytype of welding, but cannot do Pipe welding for the oil rigs because he said he did not have the right machine. Recently he done some work on trash bins and such. He can provide alot more detail on that end.
Thank you for responding. I was stressing on this end.
Cynthia

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 04-24-2008 03:24

It is really hard to predict how much income He will end up with after all the costs of operation are met. The guys here that are making the big money are welding pipe out west.

About a year ago a guy here in southeastern Pa. told Me he was charging $65/hour and doing a lot of plant process piping. These are jobs that He comes home from every day.

All I can say is that I wish You folks the best of luck.

By Tom11980 (*)

Date 04-24-2008 14:46

I have a million dollar coverage. I just started a business in Jan. and it has been working great. I would suggest though as soon as possible to get a welder that can weld pipe and rig work it just opens a lot of doors ( rig pay up here in Wy is 75 to 80hr ). I would suggest maybe talking to the bigger construction companies or the city they might have some fab work to be bid on benches, signs, gates, ect.

By Tom11980 (*)

Date 04-24-2008 14:48

just a side note not all rig work is not all pipe there is a lot of fab work too.