How much does welding subcontracting cost in 2027?
Hourly rate, preparation, jigs, cutting, finishes, transport: how the price of welding subcontracting is built up, and how to compare two quotes.
“How much does an hour of welding cost?” Every buyer asks. It is a fair question, but a misleading one: two subcontractors with the same hourly rate can return quotes that differ by a factor of two for the same part. What matters is how many hours they charge, and what those hours contain.
What an hourly rate is made of
A welding workshop’s hourly rate covers much more than the welder’s wage:
- the welder’s loaded wage (social contributions, bonuses, holidays);
- equipment: welding power sources, tables, tooling, overhead cranes, depreciated over their life;
- consumables: wire, gas, nozzles, discs;
- energy and fume extraction;
- overheads: design office, quality, supervision, building.
In Belgium, automatic wage indexation moves part of these costs every year, which feeds through to rates. The tight market for recruiting welders pushes in the same direction.
We do not publish a range of rates here: the figures in circulation vary widely by region, workshop size and type of work, and we prefer to quote only verified data. Above all, remember that the hourly rate is only one of the price factors.
What really makes the price of a part
Preparation time
In small batches, this is the main item: reading the drawing, questions to the customer, designing and building a jig, set-up, positioning and tacking. On a simple part, preparation can take several times the arc time. A quote that looks expensive often hides a jig to be paid off over a small quantity.
Cutting and material
Steel weight, thickness, laser cut length, any folding. A design well suited to cutting (see designing a welded part for laser cutting) reduces this item and the assembly time.
Welding
Length and throat of the welds, process (see MIG, MAG, TIG: which process), welding positions, number of times the part has to be turned over.
Quality requirements
Enhanced inspection, specific procedure qualifications, comprehensive EN ISO 3834 requirements or material traceability add time. That is justified when the part demands it; otherwise it is an unnecessary extra cost. See EN ISO 3834 explained for buyers.
Finishes and transport
Straightening, grinding, shot blasting, painting or galvanising, packing, delivery: all items priced separately, often subcontracted in turn.
Quantity
All the fixed costs of an order (preparation, jig, programming, set-up) are spread over the number of parts. Going from 10 to 50 units can cut the unit price far more than any negotiation on the rate. Our price of a welded part page shows this with a worked example.
Comparing two quotes
To compare welding subcontracting offers, check:
- The scope: is cutting included? Finishing? Transport?
- Fixed costs: are jigs, programming and admin fees charged separately, built into the unit price, or waived on the first order?
- The reference quantity: a unit price only makes sense with the quantity it applies to.
- Lead time: a low price with an uncertain lead time can cost more than a fair price that is kept.
- Quality requirements: are they at the same level in both offers?
- Changes: what does a drawing revision mid-batch cost?
What production from the 3D file changes
When the program and the assembly sequence are generated from the STEP model, and the part is held without a dedicated jig, the fixed share of an order falls sharply. That is what makes small batches affordable, and it is the model behind our custom welded parts offer: an indicative price online as soon as the file is uploaded, then a firm price after a check.
Key takeaways
The cost of welding subcontracting depends less on the hourly rate than on the number of hours charged, and in small batches, those are mostly preparation hours. Compare scopes, fixed costs and quantities rather than rates, and design your parts so they are simple to assemble.