Pricing for a odd project.

[Scott Briggs]

Hey all, maybe you guys can help me out here. I had an request this morning for a price for a 300 gal or so fuel tank that will sit on top of an old ambulance. I came up with it being 6'wx8'Lx10"h. It will have baffles in side to cut down on slosh.
This tank will be to big to shear an break the parts, so it will have to be welded together. There will be roughly 90ft total of weld on this thing, inside and out. Cutting the parts will take maybe an hour, but Its gonna take a lot of time just to weld it out. My big question is on the welding part, how do you all come up with a figure for welding?

Scott

[benval76]

Depending on the area you are in, shop welding normally would run between 40 and 60 dollars/hour. My area is generally around 55 an hour.

[Scott Briggs]

I'm figuring it at $50/hr, I came up with $1500. Does that sound right? This tank will get welded inside and out.

Scott

[benval76]

I think your pretty close in pricing. I do however think it would be worth your time to locate a job shop that could run a double break on an 8 x 8 sheet to cut down on welding as much as possible.

[bhamer62]

MIG? TIG? What material, SS Alum Don't forget leak test! Be sure to add in cost to cover unexpected repairs, it's easier to drop the final price than to increase it. I would go at least $60 hr. Quality welding on an item like that isn't something to be discounted.

[Scott Briggs]

Hey guys, I was planning on using 10ga carbon for the tank and 16ga for the baffles, stainless isn't necessary and aluminum isn't cost effective on this tank. I will be mig welding it. It's not a hard project, I have built plenty of them in the past, but I have always worked for some else so I wasn't in on the pricing part of it. I have contacted a local fab shop about doing some brake work for me, just waiting on their bid.

Scott

[dustywill]

Am I the only one wondering how the center of gravity will be effected on a vehicle with ~2100lbs of fuel on top? Scary.