If you want to work as a welder in a shipyard, on a construction site, or in high tech, you’ll need to be certified. However, there’s a wide field for non-certified welders.
One variation is mobile welding. You can set up a truck with an electric and gas welding system, hand and power tools, and do housecalls for all sorts of welding jobs, from fence and gate repair and construction, to minor automotive fabrication as well as commercial applications.
You’ll find that since so few people are equipped or trained in welding, and even fewer who want to be mobile, there’s a large, hungry clientele.
Your author set up a small welding truck with a Hobart electric stick welder and oxy-acetylene set. My little Toyota truck carried a ladder, and a couple hundred pounds of tools such as an angle grinder, a large assortment of Vice-grip clamps, squares and measuring devices, drills and so on.
My specialties developed by themselves. My very first project was to build some engine mounts for a custom promotional vehicle, the Smile Shuttle as shown in the article.
An early project was to repair a stainless steel sink in a restaurant that had developed a leaky seam. I found that welding thin-gauge stainless steel is not easy, it’s something that can be learned. That wasn’t the hard part. I either hand to drag my 50-foot welding cables into the restaurant, generally through a kitchen window, or disconnect the sink, drag it into the parking lot, weld it, then drag it back and and hook it up.
Another of my early jobs was to construct a custom ladder rack for a pickup truck.
Within a year, I had as many custom truck racks and restaurant sinks as I could handle. The construction workers and restaurateurs all contacted each other when they needed my services.
I really liked the custom racks, because each tradesman had specific requirements, such as hooks for cables or hoses, holders for special equipment and so.
Yup, that’s me, many years ago!
Of course, you can set up a similar business. Something I didn’t do, but you should, is really work to protect your health. Do not breathe dangerous or heavy metal fumes! I was pretty good about it, and my health is still fine, since I went on to another business after a couple of years, but you really should wear a high quality breathing mask and carry a strong fan or work in ventilated areas.
One thing I did do was to really focus on fire safety. It would be way to easy to do a little job in which a spark from your work starts a grass fire, sawdust fire, sets rags on fire and so on. The fire may be small and unnoticeable for a while, until it isn’t!
So, I always carried literally a few various fire extinguishers. I always checked my environment before I started working. I asked for volunteers to watch the area for smoke or fire, and whenever I felt it was necessary, I either stayed around for a half-hour or more when a job was finished, or made sure someone else kept an eye on things.
Even still, I set my pants on fire one time. Literally! I was fixing some broken cross-members in a ramp truck, one that hauls cars up a ramp with a winch to carry them. There was a lot of grease on the structure under the ramp. Basically, I had no business welding in that rig in the first place. After an hour, having brushed up against the various framework, my pants became coated in grease. At one point, I felt a sort of sweaty warmness along my left thigh. I lifted up my hood to discover flames coming off my pants that I quickly padded out with my gloved left hand. I wasn’t hurt in the slightest, but things could have been worse!
On another occasion, I had hired a helper, something I had done many times. This helper was new, so one of the things I showed him is how welders get into the habit of never just picking something up. I always quickly touch a thing to make sure it is not hot, then I pick it up.
Not 15 minutes later, right in front of the kid, I absent-mindedly picked up a one-by-one inch bit of square tubing I had just welded, leaving some impressive blisters on the palm of my hand.
I also avoided any projects that would cause any worry. I would not repair a broken car frame member. I would not work on safety-critical components. I would not work on structures that carried a lot of weight. I would not work in flammable environments.
General welding is a lot of fun because every job is different.
Another version that costs somewhat more to set up is in-shop welding. You can start your own welding and fabrication shop. You can also start as a mobile welder, then as your income grows, transition into having your own shop.
Personally, I loved the art of gas welding, and did as much of that as I could. Some of the jobs were really fun. For instance, I was once asked to replace the broken off fin at the bottom of an outboard boat motor. The two-inch aluminum fin was entirely missing. Using hollow-core aluminum gas welding rod, I rebuilt the fin, bead by bead, ground it into shape and smooth with a 4-inch angle grinder, charged the guy a couple hundred dollars, and was on the road to the next job.
If you’d like to set up as a mobile welder, make sure you have a lot of practice and are very safety-conscious.
Then you may find this info helpful: General Business Action Pack.
You’ll probably want a website to promote your business and then maybe some digital marketing. If you don’t want to build your own website or do your own marketing, make sure to find someone who has a good reputation. Unfortunately, many in the website business are less than ideal. You may find this article useful in finding a true professional: People Being Cheated in Website Development, SEO and Promotion.
In addition to the usual ways to build business, you may find that you work from time to time along side carpenters, plumbers and others who need welding services. For instance, a plumber who installed rooftop solar water heating systems called me one day to fabricate mounts for his solar panels. The next thing I knew, I was getting calls all the time to do the same thing for him, and also his buddies in similar businesses. Let them know you’re available, and you may quickly get as much work as you can handle.
