What goes on a welding estimate
Fabrication is estimated because the hours depend on fit-up, and fit-up depends on how true the thing you are welding to actually is. Steel has a price per meter; a gate that has to fit an opening nobody measured properly does not.
- The item, with dimensions and a drawing or a sketch
- Steel by section, grade and length — the part that is genuinely firm
- Welding hours and the process, since MIG, TIG and stick are different rates
- Fit-up and preparation time, shown separately from the welding
- Finish: shot blast, primer, galvanising or powder coat, and who is doing it
- Mobile work: the call-out, and what you can and cannot do on site
- Certification or testing, where the job needs it
The sample line items and example prices this sheet opens with are on the welding invoice template — the same table, which is about the trade rather than about this paper, so it lives in one place rather than on all six. Working out the price itself? The markup calculator turns your cost and markup into the figure to put on the estimate, and shows the margin it leaves.
What you get
A PDF, and a link your customer can open in any browser. Word and Excel versions are not available yet — if a spreadsheet is what you need, this is not yet the tool for it, and saying so is cheaper for both of us than you finding out after typing everything in.
Pick how it looks
Six looks, from a plain classic sheet through a bold top band to a shop ticket, and your initials go on automatically until you upload a logo. See all six.
How to send it
Most customers want the paper on their phone, so the estimate goes out by WhatsApp, text or email, or as a link that needs no app and no account on their side. Or download the PDF to print it or keep it for your own records.
Questions
How do I estimate fit-up time?
Measure first, and if you cannot measure, say so on the estimate. Fit-up is the variable in almost all fabrication — a frame meeting an out-of-square opening, a bracket onto a surface that is not flat — and the hours disappear there rather than in the welding.
Should finishing be in the price?
Show it either way, as its own line. Galvanising and powder coating are sent out, come back on somebody else’s timescale and cost real money, so a customer who assumed “painted” was included is a customer with a complaint. It is also the easiest line to drop if they want the price down.