Job quote
A quote for your customer built from metal, welding and labour: welding is costed from the weld cross-section, the same way as the weld cost calculator, in your currency and units. The finished form with your company header prints to PDF. Everything stays in this browser.
Short answer
A welding quote is built from four kinds of lines: metal (weight × price per kg), welding (from the weld cross-section: wire, gas, power and paid time), labour (hours × rate) and other items — delivery, painting, fixings. Overheads, margin and tax go on top. Welding is costed here the same way as in the weld cost calculator: a metre of single-V butt weld in 10 mm plate with MAG at a €25/h rate and 45 % arc-on time comes to about €10.84, and almost 80 % of that is labour. How to build the quote is below.
How to build a quote in five minutes
- Header. Enter your company name, details and the customer — they go onto the form. Company details are shared with the site's other documents and are remembered.
- Prices and rates. Labour rate, wire and electrode prices per kilogram, gas per cubic metre and electricity. You choose the currency and the units (mm or inches).
- Line items. Metal by weight from the drawing or from a saved weight calculation; welding by joint type, thickness or leg and weld length; labour as hours for fit-up, grinding, painting.
- Totals and print. Overheads, margin, discount and tax as percentages. “Print / PDF” prints only the form; CSV opens in Excel.
How it is worked out
Welding is costed from the weld cross-section: groove geometry plus 10 % for reinforcement, deposited weight = section × length × 7.85 g/cm³. Filler is the deposit divided by the process recovery; arc time comes from the deposition rate; total time from the arc-on share. The weld cost calculator on the site uses the same data and formula.
The total is built like this: overheads are a percentage of the items, margin of items plus overheads, discount of the sum with margin, tax of the total before tax. You type the tax name and rate yourself: the quote does not know which country you work in.
Example: a frame from an I-beam
An IPE 200 beam 6 m long (134.4 kg at €1.20/kg — €161.28), one metre of 10 mm single-V butt weld (€10.84), 6 m of fillet welds with a 5 mm leg (€14.27), four hours of fit-up and grinding at €25 (€100) and €60 delivery. Items total €346.39, overheads 10 % — €34.64, margin 15 % — €57.15; total before tax €438.19, tax 20 % — €87.64, to pay €525.82. Welding is less than a tenth of this job: the metal and the fit-up hours cost the most.
The metal weight calculator works out the steel weight, the bill of materials lists the parts, the cutting plan nests the bars, and the weld cost calculator takes one weld apart in detail.
Quotes, company details and prices are kept in this browser and are not sent anywhere. To keep your quotes safe or move them to another device, save a backup file — the “Backup to file” button above the list.
Frequently asked questions
How do I work out the cost of welding work?
Add up four things — metal, welding, labour and other costs — then add overheads, margin and tax. Welding is easiest to cost from the weld cross-section: it gives the deposited weight, and that gives wire, gas and time. Time is the main item: in a typical weld it is 75–80 % of the cost.
Should I charge per metre of weld or per hour?
Per metre when the welds are alike and there are many of them: the customer understands it and you can compare jobs. Per hour when there is a lot of fit-up, repair and small welds that a metre does not measure. The quote lets you mix both: welding as per-metre lines, fit-up and grinding as hours.
What should a welding quote include?
The list of work with quantities and prices, the total with and without tax, how long the price is valid, lead time and payment terms, and what is not included — painting, installation, delivery, if you do not take them on. The quote has a “Terms and notes” field for this.
Which tax do I put on the quote?
Whichever applies to you: you type the name and the rate yourself — VAT, IVA, MwSt, GST — or zero if you are not registered. Tax is charged on the total after overheads, margin and discount.
Where are quotes kept and how do I send one to a customer?
Quotes, prices and company details are kept only in your browser and are not sent anywhere. Customers get a PDF: “Print / PDF” prints one sheet with the form. To move quotes to another device, save a backup file and load it there.
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