Need your opinion re work - welding/van repairs

Bear59 · Member

Need your opinion re work - welding/van repairs

dave06 · Guru

mate, a welder with caravan repair experience, you will be inundated with work

as a general handyman with metal fabrication skills as well as other skills I find it is extremely hard to keep away from work, once they find, out it's all go

as for a charge, you will not be able to have an "hourly rate" as such you will have to go on contract rate per job, a simple ten minute welding job should be able to attract, say $20, if parts or steel is involved then its cost x time x expense incurred, but aim for $20 as minimum

I would look at say $40 per hour for larger jobs

Bear59 · Member

Howdy Dave0,

that was just what I was hoping to hear, now just have to spend the next 6 months preparing/tidying up and I'll be on my way. Did 2 years around Oz back in the eighties, have been wondering ever since why I stopped!

Cheers
Bear59

Bridgee · Senior Member

Hi Bear, you sound like us - we plan to hit the road next year but also wondered about work but there seems to be plenty out there, yes we also did the whole oz trip in '74 and wondered why we stopped then I remembered why...............marriage, mortgage and kids !!! still got all 3 but not so demanding these days !

dave06 · Guru

we did much the same at around the same time mark and I know why we stopped, bloody kids, and look I must apologise for not welcoming you to the forum, I hope you find us a good mob also take away and place a lot of good knowledge.

if you can get an inverter, mig, tig, arc generator (currently around $6,500, cheaper secondhand) then you could set up a great little business, and a with a little advertisement on the back of your van/camper I can see great things and plenty of work and quite a good living

once the c o c k ys know you are there, then they will look for you, a lot of travellers have little repair jobs as well and if you could maybe change and repair a 4wd tyre (currently charging $40 to do) simple to setup, this would be on top of minor van repairs

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Pick any far north tourist town.
Stick up A5 pre-printed notices in shop widows, caravan parks etc, etc.
Put a sign "mobile repairer, caravans, campers, trailers, small or big jobs, welder, "I come to you".....on your vehicle.
Quote a mobile phone number.
Going rate in Broome or Derby or Kununurra is $100/hr for a mechanic and such and "we will squeeze you in late next week".
Make sure you have an ABN, and insurance and issue proper tax invoices and receipts (makes all of your travel and caravan park costs tax dedutable).
Credit card capability might be useful, but not necessary.

Cheers,
Peter

dave06 · Guru

I thought the whole Idea was as a "retirement income" you could charge those prices and get away with it but then you've got all the bull that goes with it, you might as well start a full blown business doing it that way

i think you could generate a nice little "kitty stuffer" and be of enormous value to fellow travellers by charging a reasonable rate and not "sucking" them dry, still excellent money to be made and a good lifestyle to be had

Bear59 · Member

thanks to everyone for the very helpful responses, I have the abn/insurance option already in place from my current situation but am leaning towards the "kitty stuffer" cash approach as I won't be targeting a level of income that would make tax deductability worth the effort (getting too lazy may also be kinda relevant?). Needless to say I'll be keeping my options open.

dave06 · Guru

thats what I thought, I run a little tool sharpening business here in pirie, concentrate on tungsten tipped cutting tools, saw blades, buzzer/thicknesser blades and router bits

I know what it is like to run a business, the council ordered me to provide a male and a female toilet as well as disabled, and off street parking for a minimum of ten cars, my business is drop off and pick up as well as delivery, they have been giving me greif since day one, I live in a normal house albeit double block, the second block is full of sheds and fernery I have not the room nor need for off street parking

the taxation department has just finished auditing me for the third time this year alone, the bill from the accountant that I use is $1400 just for this year, I am treated like some sort of criminal, and yet the dole bludgers just up the street still get their $4-5,000 just for breeding more little dole bludgers

when I hit the road I will be taking the machinery with me BUT it will all be kitty stuffer, the ammount of tax that I have paid this year alone with my two jobs and the business would keep a pensioner in baked beans for 12 months

I will advertise and take the business as it comes, when I dont feel like it I will remove all signage and just sit!!! and I would advise you to do the same, otherwise there is no retirement!!

Bridgee · Senior Member

Yes Davo we know where you're coming from re a small business, we just sold ours and whereas you had the hassles of runing a business from home we rented a building BUT anything that went wrong with the building we had to foot the bill, completley difference circumstances than renting a house. We ran our own business so not dole bludgers, plus being self employed made way for two more people in the workforce. We employed people to stop them being dole bludgers.

Of course being in a small business peolple automaticlly assume you are making milions and little do they know with all the overheads , regulations and headaches, you are sometimes better off working for someone else.

What thanks do we get now??

We pay in excess of $1000 to the accountant, and we pay another coupla grand in capital gains tax ....whoopee!

Basil Faulty · Guru

yep a man with any sort of "manual dexterity" will always have "work". Casual welders always seem to be in demand and if you got yourself a pressure vessel endorsement its a case of "name your price".
Strange how all the "olde WORLDE trades" no one wants to teach anymore but they are still in high demand, Boilermakers, stone masons, etc can get obscene salaries if you are in the right place at the right time.

pawsoz · Senior Member

If you get up here to the Darwin area you will definately be swamped with all manor of smaller private 'cash in hand' jobs I can tell you!

Now there are a couple of things I want doing....when will you be up thius way?!!!!

I think what goes here in Darwin would be fairly true of most areas up around these parts and top of WA too.

Annie and her boyz

Gary and Kerry · Guru

For any GN who intends to do a bit of work here and there it is a good idea to have an ABN and also A National Police Check certificate.
ABN can be got online free of charge,Police check any Police station $45.00

Bear59 · Member

G'Day Annie and the boys,
if I get to Darwin I hope your old lab's friendly, my geriatric old golden retriever's been looking for a really slow boyfriend cos she can't keep up with the fast ones!
Cheers