Cost per metre of weld

What a metre of weld really costs once the filler, the gas, the electricity and the hours are all counted — the number you need before quoting, not after.

Short answer

The cost of a metre of weld is driven by paid time — the deposited mass divided by the deposition rate and by the arc-on factor — not by the price of the wire: labour is over two thirds of the cost. Deposited mass comes from the cross-section (m = A · L · 0.00785, so 60 mm² over 10 m is 4.7 kg), and the deposition rates are about 1.3 kg/h for MMA, 3.2 kg/h for MAG, 4.2 kg/h for flux-cored wire and 0.6 kg/h for TIG. Raising the arc-on factor from 45 to 60 % cuts the cost per metre by 19 %. What moves the cost is below.

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Where the money goes

The calculation starts from the groove cross-section, converts it to deposited metal, then adds losses to get the filler actually consumed. Gas follows from the arc time. Electricity follows from current, voltage and the efficiency of the source. Labour follows from arc time divided by the share of the shift spent under the arc.

That last input is the one that decides the answer. Stick welding runs at 25–35 % arc-on time, semi-automatic at 40–55 %. Everything else is fitting, tacking, changing electrodes, chipping slag and moving. Quotes that assume a welder welds all day are the usual reason a job loses money.

Output is per hour of burning arc. Fitting, cleaning and measuring come in through the share of time under the arc, which the calculator applies separately.

What actually makes it cheaper

Not the price of the filler — it is rarely more than a fifth of the total. Labour dominates, so anything that reduces arc time or rework wins: a smaller groove angle, correct fit-up, a process with a higher deposition rate, and welds that pass first time. Over-welding is the quiet killer: a fillet made 8 mm where the drawing asks for 6 costs 78 % more filler and just as much extra time, and it is not stronger.

Worked example: 10 m of V weld in 10 mm plate, MAG — where €10.84 per metre comes from

With its default values the calculator works out exactly this case: 60° V joint, 2 mm gap and root face, 10 m of weld, MAG, wire at €3/kg, gas at €4/m³, power at €0.25/kWh, labour at €25/h, 45 % arc-on time. Prices default to euro; choose your own currency in the Currency field — the arithmetic does not depend on it, as long as every price is in the same currency. Step by step:

1. Cross-section with reinforcement: 62.6 mm².
2. Weld metal: 62.6 · 10 · 0.00785 ≈ 4.92 kg.
3. Wire: 4.92 / 0.93 ≈ 5.29 kg → €15.86.
4. Arc time: 4.92 / 3.2 ≈ 1.54 h; over that time 13 l/min uses 1.20 m³ of gas (€4.79) and about 9.4 kWh of power (€2.35).
5. Paid time: 1.54 / 0.45 ≈ 3.42 h → €85.38 of labour.
6. Total €108.38, or €10.84 per metre.

Labour is 79 % of the cost here, wire and gas together 19 %, power 2 %. The chart above shows the same split: anyone looking for savings in the price of wire is looking in the smallest drawer.

Welding cost per inch and per foot in the US: how shops price it

The calculator shows the cost per foot and per inch next to the cost per metre: one foot is 0.3048 m and one inch 0.0254 m, so the 10.84 per metre above is 3.30 per foot and 0.275 per inch, in whatever currency the prices were entered. There is no single US price per inch to look up — it is built from the same four things as anywhere else:

• Time. Deposited metal divided by the deposition rate gives arc time; arc time divided by the operating factor (the arc-on share) gives paid time. In the example that is 0.341 h per metre — about 6.2 minutes per foot, 0.52 minutes per inch — for a 60° V weld in 10 mm plate (close to ⅜″) with GMAW (MAG).
• Filler. The same weld uses 0.528 kg of wire per metre: 0.355 lb per foot, 0.030 lb per inch. Multiply by your price per pound of wire.
• Gas. At 13 l/min it is 0.120 m³ per metre: about 1.29 ft³ per foot, 0.107 ft³ per inch. Multiply by your cylinder or bulk price per cubic foot.
• Labour rate. Shops price the hour as a shop rate: the welder's wage plus burden (taxes, insurance, the building, machines, consumables not counted elsewhere) and margin. It is the largest number in the result, so use your own.

Example with an assumed rate, not a market price: at a shop rate of 100 per hour, the labour in this weld comes to 100 × 0.341 / 39.37 ≈ 0.87 per inch, or about 10.40 per foot; add the wire and gas from the two lines above at your own prices. Many shops quote small jobs by the hour with a minimum charge and use a price per inch or per foot only for repeated production welds, where the time per inch has been measured. Cutting, bevelling, fit-up, grinding and inspection are priced on top — none of them is in the cost per inch.

What changes the cost per metre the most

The same weld, with one calculator field changed in each row:

Each row changes one calculator field from the defaults: wire 3 EUR/kg, gas 4 EUR/m³, power 0.25 EUR/kWh, rate 25 EUR/h, arc-on share 45 %. These are sample prices, not a market price list.

How to read it

The biggest lever is the arc-on share: a drop from 45 to 30 % raises the cost per metre by 39 %, a rise to 60 % cuts it by 20 %. It depends on organisation — fixtures, access to the joint, whether the welder grinds and carries parts on top of welding. The labour rate acts in proportion to the labour share, the wire price only weakly: +43 % on wire gives +6 % on the metre. Geometry matters more than it looks: one millimetre more gap is +18 %, because the cross-section grows and every other item grows with it. Flux-cored wire comes out cheaper than MAG thanks to its higher deposition rate (4.2 against 3.2 kg/h), although the calculator prices it per kilogram the same — if your flux-cored wire costs more, enter its price.

Cost per metre of fillet weld by throat size

For fillet welds the calculator takes the leg z. At the same prices a metre of a4 (z = 5.7 mm) costs about €3.05, and a metre of a6 (z = 8.5 mm) about €6.85. The throat grows by half, the cost more than doubles, because the cross-section goes with the square. Reading "a6" where the drawing meant z6 therefore adds about €3.40 to every metre (z6 costs €3.43). The a-to-z conversion is in the fillet weld calculator.

Pricing a structure from the cost per metre — step by step

1. Weld lengths from the drawing, split by joint type — easiest in the weld map.
2. Cost per metre for each type with the calculator, using your prices and your arc-on share. If you do not know it, measure one day: arc hours from the machine counter divided by shift hours.
3. Multiply and add up. Double-sided welds count as two.
4. Work outside welding as separate items: cutting, bevelling, fitting, straightening, cleaning, testing. None of it is in the cost per metre.
5. Check the material quantity — weld metal mass and number of spools come from the deposited metal calculator.

Typical mistakes in welding cost estimates

• Pricing by arc time. At a 30 % arc-on share the paid time is more than three times the arc time.
• Material without losses. Weld metal mass is not the mass of wire or electrodes bought — divide by the deposition efficiency.
• One arc-on share for shop and site. On site it is usually lower; price site work separately.
• The other side forgotten. A double-sided weld and an X joint are the full cross-section, not half.
• Nominal geometry. The real gap and angle on the shop floor move the cost by well over ten per cent (table above).

Author: Dmitry Frolov, welder and metal fabricator Updated: 26 October 2026