Welders/Fabricators?

[308ftWIN]

Wanting to replace the rusted out firebox on a Brinkmann offset barrel smoker. Cooking chamber is still in really good shape.

Put out an ad on Facebook looking for local welders/fabricators and had one guy reach out to me.

I asked for something similar to the below, maybe in the 18x18x18 or 20x20 range and was quoted "somewhere between $250-300." No specifics discussed on steel gauge etc yet.

That smoker wasn't much over $600 10 years ago so I balk at that figure a little, but if that's reasonable, and dropping that much now can keep me running for another 5 years or more, I'd probably say that's good enough.

Appreciate your time and wisdom.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

I'm neither a welder or fabricator but I frequently work with manufacturers and machine shops to make custom parts and cabinets for my work. There's no way he's all in at >$300 in this day and age, especially considering you've haven't specified the materials yet, my guess is that's how much the labor will cost you. Depending on what material you specify that cost could double since the prices on raw materials, specifically steel and stainless steel jump significantly almost quarterly. Shit, recently it cost me about $500 to have eight 3' long filler panels made that were just bent 18 ga sheet metal, that didn't include powder coating.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

I am a retired welder / fabricator. What you have pictured is more along the lines of sheet metal work.

 

[mtrmn]

I agree with Triggermonkey, if the guy's gonna make any money I would think the price would be at least double what he quoted off the top of his head.

 

[Sniperwannabee]

@TxWelder35

 

[Mbaysinger89]

Yeah 300 for a professional welder isnt gonna cover it. For no more than what that is find a younger guy that has a welder that will work for cheap and provide the materials.

Where are you located?

 

[458win]

Price of steel is 3-4x what it was 3 years ago. If you go stainless that’s going to add to the cost. $250-$300 was probably just labor to do it. For stainless .1 it’s going to be 4-500$ for material. Is the picture of the one you want to replace? Doesn’t look like it’s rusted through.

 

[TxWelder35]

1/4 would be the absolute thinnest I would build a cook box out of. Here local a 4x8 sheet of 1/4” plate is $360. 3/8 is $500.

I really don’t do small stuff like this anymore unless it’s for commercial clients who are willing to spend what’s it’s actually worth to fix.

So I’d be at $600-$650 in materials, and probably 4-6 hours in labor.

$1500 gets you a new smoke box from me.


If $300 gets you materials and labor then I would expect your new smoke box to last exactly one use before something falls off or it is so warped that it is completely unusable.

 

[TxWelder35]

If you want a simple fix and only the bottom is rusted out, you might get away with having a piece of 1/4” or 3/8” cut to fit in the bottom and welded in place. That’s closer to a $300 fix from a guy on fb

 

[TxWelder35]

If the bottom is too rusted to get some weld on get some 3 or 4” angle iron and put it along the bottom with it welded at the top, then drop the new piece of plate on top of that and weld it in llace

 

[308ftWIN]

Price of steel is 3-4x what it was 3 years ago. If you go stainless that’s going to add to the cost. $250-$300 was probably just labor to do it. For stainless .1 it’s going to be 4-500$ for material. Is the picture of the one you want to replace? Doesn’t look like it’s rusted through.

It's a sample pic of what I'm wanting.


Appreciate all the replies so far!

 

[Mister Ridge]

It's a sample pic of what I'm wanting.


Appreciate all the replies so far!

Have you priced out a new smoker? Would it be worth it to repurpose yours into something else and buy a new one?

 

[n2ishun]

It *looks* like it's stainless and I'm not seeing any issue areas.
Maybe post a pic of the bad spots ?

My bad, thought that was the actual smoker in question.
Brinkman is pretty much bottom level stuff.
Hit up the local craigslist or whatever and look thru the commercial used cooking stuff.
Lots of restaurants going out of business....probably pick up a nice used unit of commercial quality for less than you think.

 

[Clob McStrunk]

My local guy is at $450 just to leave the shop. He stays booked constantly.

 

[TxWelder35]

My local guy is at $450 just to leave the shop. He stays booked constantly.

Yep

 

[Bradu]

You're probably going to find it's cheaper to buy another Chinese built smoker versus having a decent welder build a new firebox. You might luck out and find someone doing side work on the weekends that's looking to make a little extra money but steel prices are still pretty high.

 

[308ftWIN]

Have you priced out a new smoker? Would it be worth it to repurpose yours into something else and buy a new one?

With the figures I'm seeing thrown around here, it very may well be the better play.

I've gotten 10yrs out of this one which isn't bad in my eyes for what I got it for. It was a good starter one to learn on.

 

[Mbaysinger89]

Post up pictures of what you have currently. May be able to peice something together that will work for a few more years if you want. Hell even bolting some 1/4 to the bottom would be sufficient if thats a route you wanna go.

 

[ZiaHunter]

Would tend to agree with Bradu. Based on the picture it almost looks like stainless and with the cost of stainless sheet today it probably cost several hundred dollars in materials just to replace the bottom only then add in the cost of welding. Do you know the thickness of the material?

 

[Average guy]

I wouldn’t put my gloves on for $300. That’s a minimum of at least double that. And that’s giving it away.

 

[UpSideDown]

Buy a commercial unit that's close enough and bolt it in place of what you're replacing. You won't hire a welder for less than the cost of a new commerically made unit.

 

[Bender]

I am a sales/manager for a multimillion dollar fabrication company. Our material quotes change in two/three days. We use to be able to hold a quote for 30 days, or longer. But now, if we don’t get a PO# that week, we have to requote. ...... and our shop is booked solid 20 weeks out.

 

[cas6969]

I wonder if he's not just a hobby welder looking for something to weld.

 

[TxWelder35]

I am a sales/manager for a multimillion dollar fabrication company. Our material quotes change in two/three days. We use to be able to hold a quote for 30 days, or longer. But now, if we don’t get a PO# that week, we have to requote. ...... and our shop is booked solid 20 weeks out.

It steadied out for me finally, but there for a while my quotes from the steel yards were only good til 5pm

 

[Average guy]

I wonder if he's not just a hobby welder looking for something to weld.

Looking to lose his ass

 

[Salad_shooter]

Pm sent!

 

[Mudburner]

I wouldn’t put my gloves on for $300. That’s a minimum of at least double that. And that’s giving it away.

This. You'll get what you paid for, including a lot less.

I learned years ago, "Don't ever tell people that I can weld." Some guys are like women, they find out you can fix cars, or weld, or some other skill, and they'll ask you to do it for cheap. Don't be that guy. Skilled craftsmen are worthy of their pay.

 

[NoDopes]

Got a quote for $3K to move my fence back 10ft as part of a pool build.
After getting ass raped on the pool, I bought a welder and did it myself. $800 all in and now I own a small mig/tig/stick welder.
Winning.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Monday, I asked about the price of 1"x1"x0.125 Angle, mild, hot-rolled as well as 1"x0.125" Flat Bar, mild, hot-rolled.
5 - 20' lengths of each.

The price given to me, before taxes and delivery was $206.93 and the quote was good for 24 hours ONLY.

Canuckistanian dollars, but still. This is simply here to give you an idea of material cost insanity.

 

[Nova98Cobra]

I weld on the side and run a craigslist add. When I started a few years ago I did a lot of work on smokers. That was a common job for some reason and even back then as a new welder and much lower metal prices that would be a $300 job. Today it’s double that and your getting whatever scrap metal I have in the shop

 

[308ftWIN]

Greatly appreciate all the replies.

I found a type of 'charcoal basket' on ebay that I think I can rig up in the existing remnants of the firebox to buy myself a couple more years with it. At that point I'll gladly just look for a new one or a high quality used one. Think I've gotten more than fair life out of this one already.

Obligatory pics of some of my prior handiwork.

 

[RPN]

I've run a engineering business for 12 years, and every year between 2010 and 2021 stainless went up between 9.5 and 11% pa.

Between December last year and today it has gone up 42%. I haven't had an increase in 3 months, so there is probably one due any day.

 

[Jgunner]

If you brought be materials and consumables, it was a 2hr job, 300 is fairish for a hobby welder. Problem is anyone is a hobby welder, isn't going to have the tools to make quick work of that, a grinder and a drill is going to make that a 6 hour job and likely look like shit. At least that my experience. I knew a guy who did smokers for side money. They got progressively nicer, but he was 2k 10 years ago with scrap metal he bought off cl or a scrap yard. Hardware was always new though.

 

[kwityurbeachn]

If you don’t have a big family a cheap option the recteq bullseye pellet smoker for 300 to 500 bucks. I love mine. Have 6 grills/ smokers, 2 electric smokers for rv, nat gas and propane grills and a large wood and coal smoker. The recteq is only one used now.

 

[Jethro3898]

I am a sales/manager for a multimillion dollar fabrication company. Our material quotes change in two/three days. We use to be able to hold a quote for 30 days, or longer. But now, if we don’t get a PO# that week, we have to requote. ...... and our shop is booked solid 20 weeks out.

I remember the "good old days" (early 90s) when customers used to ask how long we could hold our price and we simply said "as long as you need". Steel had always been ~$0.28 per lb and hadn't moved in forever. In fairness, I didn't work here in the early 90s (I started in '98), just heard the stories. Of course, we deal mainly in wide flange.

Now.....you get 15 to 30 calendar days based upon what I can get from my vendors. Things have stabilized for us in the realm of wide flange, angle and structural plate. In fact, we had our first decrease from the mill for wide flange on 7/22/22. That was the first actual decrease since 4/20/20. Up to the 7/22/22 we had 15 straight increases totaling $845 per ton.

Coil is a bird of a different feather. Keeping up with coil is maddening. It's literally like watching the Dow Jones Industrial average. Those guys hold their prices for just a few days. I can remember at the peak getting quotes that said they were good until 5:00pm the same day.

 

[fpgt72]

I am by far not a welder, some may say I am a farmer welder. I can stick metal together and it will stay. I don't grind much, sometimes it is on a bit of equipment and I don't care as long as it works. Other times it is just not that bad.

For yet another "hobby" I play with old cars, so welding in new metal is nothing new. Making panels out of "other parts" is in my wheel house. Cheap metal at junk yards, grab a hood and you have a great deal of useable metal.

All that said, learn to weld, or at least learn to stick metal together. That in and of itself is fun. But it will lead to other "metal toys". Soon you will be looking at a lathe, and next a mill, plasma cutter....on and on. But it is a fun hobby.

You have a project (how mine started) now learn to fix it yourself. Chances are you have other things you could apply those skills to.

My two bits that is not worth two bits.

A guy on youtube I watch said.

Why pay $500 to have it fixed when you can fix it yourself for $200 after you buy $2,000 worth of tools.