Cost to make it wall worthy

[PineLane]

I've been messing around readin', lookin, searching for quite some time and I'm not convinced of the right way to do this.

I understand if you're building a...idk...let's say a four sided tank. You're welding all corners to make a solid tank. It takes quite some time to weld that tank and you can figure your total time on the basis of hours. Might've taken 2 hours of welding time to complete.

But, let's say, you're attaching some hooks on the back of a wall hanging or tab's to hold a picture, or something small that probably takes more time to get everything set up than actually weld, BUT you are using gas/wire/electricity. Maybe it's splitting hairs, but I think that 15 second weld and 5 minutes of set-up should somehow be accounted somewhere.

I'm curious if anybody worries about it or just exactly how you account for that few moments of weld time. I tack hangers on the back of wall hangings and I think about it every time I tack 'em on.

[weldor2005]

At times I make small welded items. But I wont make them until I have at least 5 items sold because of set up time and this gives the customers a better price. so if you do them in quantity you can save on the set up time. AS for accounting the price of welding, that can easily be figured out too. How many watts your machine draws over a given time frame times your energy rate charged by your provider. shielding gas can be calculated too.

I'm a welding engineer, and I know how to plug all these costs together, but really, it is so much better to just add 10% and call it overhead.

[acourtjester]

One way to look at is ?time is money? by that I mean whatever you do takes your time. You can put a value for different types of time (welding time, setup time, ect) charge your time in 15 minutes blocks for billing. Plans how to do a project may have one value, welding time may have included material costs involved plus labor cost for another value. You are in business and once you develop your costs billing is easy. If a job is worth doing then it is worth being paid for.

[beefy]

Every time I make something for the first time I sit back and think about how long it took, what took the time, how it can be done faster next time, etc. Most of all, was it worth it and can the efficiency be made better to make it worthwhile.

Making multiples of the same item is the ideal for me because you can continually work out the flaws, refine the process, buy materials in one hit, the list goes on. Yeah I certainly think about all the little things that take time, ESPECIALLY the talking with customers which can be a very time wasting exercise at times.

I would just say look at everything that went into making an item, time, materials, consumables, etc. Was it worth it for you, if not focus on things that give a better time to profit ratio. If you make the same profit in a 3rd of the time your net hourly income just went up 3 times.

Keith

[PineLane]

Thanks all for the responses. Truly is a help!