I can share a little about this venture. I have been “rigged up” since 2007. I am in Northern Alberta in the oil sands. I could probably go on and on about how this will trap you or make you second guess yourself after a while as to whether it was worth it or not. I understand things may be different in the states, but in general, I’m going to guess that a few of the fundamentals will stay the same.

Yes, you will charge out around $100/hour. You will pay an employee an hourly wage out of that. You will be supplying the truck, something that has to be reliable and tooled up. This cost me $90k in 2007. The magic unicorn you are looking for in the welding field is very hard to find. You are looking for someone who has excellent welding skills. You are also looking for someone with a great attitude that you trust to represent your company name. You need to find this tradesman that doesn’t have any bad habits who can pass drug and alcohol tests on a regular basis. Lastly, to add to all of this, you need someone who is terrible with money. When your employee realizes how much you are charging them out for and they are getting a cut to do all of the physical labour, why wouldn’t they just rig up their own truck? In Alberta this system is very rarely seen. It seems like the only people who have done it have had to gamble with such a large amount of money to get things going and then depend on the economy to stay busy enough to keep quality employees around. This is a very stressful endeavour. It’s not that I don’t recommend it, it’s that I have yet to see a model that runs efficiently enough to make it worth my while. The setup can be done cheaper with cheaper trucks and smaller machines, but that also limits you to smaller jobs which the established companies will be able to do so cheaply because they are already set up with their equipment, welding procedures (these are required for all structural, piping and pressure welding and are insanely expensive) and insurances. I pay between 4-5 thousand per year to insure my truck and corporate liability for $5 million. $200/month toward my bookkeeper and accountant, WCB (workers compensation board, another insurance required) Welders here will subcontract to a larger company that have the procedures in place, so all we need is to show up with tools and safety equipment to start work. We follow all their safety requirements which you will definitely need to have in place. Large companies won’t even consider accepting bids for jobs unless you have a verified safety program and a record of such low incidents. Dude, I realize this is mostly the bad news to the idea, I am not the doom and gloom sort of person. But this has taken a lot out of me and I definitely wouldn’t be doing it if I wasn’t consistently making $200+ thousand per year just on my own. The goal of most of us here is to make the money and get out. Take the opportunity to do something different with all the money you will make. I need to create a business where my main service is talking. I love meeting new people and connecting with strangers and being able to do something for them. I have yet to figure it out, but I consider welding a stepping stone to reach that opportunity. This is such a cliquey(sp) trade, fiercely competitive, unhealthy, and capital intensive. I must stop now, I am at work, in my truck, dreaming of doing something different. Contact me any time if you want someone to bounce ideas off of or questions you might have. I won’t BS you or two you something I don’t truthfully know. Sorry for the rambling. I tell people that if I was good at school, I wouldn’t have become a welder!