At a glance

Most welding rates are borrowed, not built. They come from last year's price list or the shop down the road. A real welding cost per metre adds four things: consumables, labour for the paid time it takes to lay that metre, on-costs on that labour, and a share of overhead. Then you add margin.

The number that moves it most is usually the one nobody measures: how much of a paid hour your welders actually spend with the arc on. Get that wrong and every other input is precise but pointless.

You can run your own numbers in the free MirrorWorks welding cost calculator. This post explains what sits behind each input.

The short answer: what goes into a welding cost per metre

Welding cost per metre = (wire + gas + other consumables + paid labour with on-costs + overhead) for the time it takes to lay one metre of weld, then margin on top. Paid time is arc time divided by your arc-on share, not arc time alone. Use your own invoices and wage records. Borrowed figures give borrowed answers.

Why gut-feel welding rates drift

A gut-feel rate was right once, for one job mix, one crew and one set of supplier prices. Then things change. Wire goes up. Gas rental changes. A new hand is slower on fit-up. Stainless work grows as a share of the book.

The rate stays the same, so the margin quietly moves. Nobody notices because welding hours rarely get compared with the quote.

There is also speed pressure. When a customer wants a price today, the estimator reaches for the rate they already know. That is the same squeeze covered in why slow quotes cost fabricators good jobs. A built rate is fast too, once it exists.

Consumables: wire, gas and the bits nobody tracks

Consumables are usually the smallest slice of the cost per metre, but they are the easiest to get exactly right, because you have the invoices.

Wire or filler. Cost per kilogram, and how many kilograms go down for each metre of the joint you weld. Deposition depends on process, wire size, joint size and position. A larger fillet eats far more wire per metre than a small one.

Shielding gas. Gas cost per metre = flow rate (L/min) x arc minutes per metre x (bottle cost / bottle volume in litres). Include cylinder rental if you pay it.

The bits nobody tracks. Contact tips, nozzles, liners, tungsten, electrodes for stick work, grinding and flap discs, anti-spatter, wire brushes. Individually small. Together, real. The simplest fix is to total a quarter's spend on these and spread it across welding hours as a per-hour figure.

Material sits beside welding in a fab quote, not inside it. For steel cost per part, use the sheet nesting cost calculator.

Arc-on time vs paid time

Arc-on time is the share of a welder's paid hours spent actually welding. The rest is paid too: fit-up, tacking, clamping, flipping parts, interpass cleaning, grinding, reading drawings, walking to the store, waiting on the crane or the next part.

That is why labour per metre is not just arc minutes x wage. It is:

Paid minutes per metre = arc minutes per metre / arc-on share

Arc minutes per metre = 1000 / travel speed (mm/min).

If your arc-on share is half what you assumed, your real labour cost per metre is double. That is why this one input matters more than shaving cents off wire.

We are not going to quote a "typical" arc-on figure. It varies too much by process, part size, fixturing and how work reaches the welder. Measure your own:

• Pick a few representative jobs.

• Record paid welding hours booked to each job.

• Estimate arc time from metres welded and travel speed, or from wire used.

• Divide arc time by paid time.

Do it for a robot cell and a manual bay separately. Do it for small brackets and large frames separately. The gaps will tell you which jobs are underpriced.

Labour with on-costs: the Australian version

The wage your welder sees is not the cost of the hour. In Australia, an hour of welding labour carries:

• Base rate. Your award classification under the Manufacturing and Associated Industries and Occupations Award (MA000010), or your EBA.

• Super guarantee. ATO, current SG rate.

• Workers compensation. Your state scheme premium.

• Annual leave, personal leave, public holidays and leave loading. Award or EBA entitlements.

• Payroll tax. Your state revenue office, only if wages are above your state threshold.

• Overtime and penalty rates. Award or EBA, when jobs run late.

We have deliberately left rates out. They change, they differ by state, and they differ by business. Pull them from your own payroll.

Leave matters more than people think. You pay for weeks when no one welds, so those costs must be recovered from the hours they do weld.

One cash point for 2026: under Payday Super, from 1 July 2026 super must reach the employee's fund within 7 business days of each payday, instead of quarterly. The total cost is the same, but cash leaves sooner. See the ATO's payment deadlines for Payday Super.

Labour cost per metre = wage per hour x (1 + on-cost %) x paid hours per metre

Overhead and machine time

Overhead is the cost of having a welding bay ready to go: power, welder servicing and repairs, fume extraction upkeep and filters, gas cylinder rental, PPE, test pieces, floor space and the share of rent it occupies, plus the supervisor who keeps it running.

Turn it into an hourly rate: total annual welding-bay overhead / paid welding hours per year. Then apply it to the same paid hours per metre as labour, not to arc time alone.

New equipment belongs here too. If you are weighing up a new welder, positioner or cobot, the machine payback calculator shows how its cost lands on each hour it runs.

Turning a per-metre cost into a quote

A cost per metre is a cost, not a price. The quote has to reflect the joint in front of you.

Adjust for the job:

• Process. MIG (GMAW), TIG (GTAW), flux-cored (FCAW) and stick (MMAW) run at very different travel speeds and consumable costs. TIG on thin stainless is a different rate from MIG on plate. The calculator below covers MIG, TIG and stick only. For flux-cored, use the same method with your own wire cost, deposition rate and travel speed, and leave gas out if you run self-shielded wire.

• Material. Mild steel, stainless and aluminium need different filler, gas and care.

• Position and access. Flat and horizontal work goes faster than vertical, overhead or tight access.

• Joint prep. Bevelling, back-gouging and multi-pass joints add time before and between passes.

• Structural work. Welding to AS/NZS 1554.1 needs a qualified Welding Procedure Specification, qualified welders and the inspection the job calls for. Price the paperwork, testing and hold points, not just the weld.

• Rework risk. Distortion, tight tolerances and unclear drawings. Price it as a named assumption or a contingency.

Per metre, per hour or per job?

• Per metre. Suits repeat joints, production runs and known weld lengths. Watch out: short welds with heavy fit-up look too cheap.

• Per hour. Suits repairs, one-offs and site work. Watch out: the customer carries the risk, which some will not accept.

• Per job. Suits mixed fabrications quoted as a whole. Watch out: it hides which part of the job lost money.

Many shops build the quote per metre and sanity-check it in hours. If the two disagree, the per-metre rate is usually missing fit-up.

Illustrative example only. These are round placeholder inputs, not typical figures. Put your own in.

• Travel speed 250 mm/min, so 4 arc minutes per metre.

• Arc-on share 40%, so 10 paid minutes per metre.

• Wage $40/hr with 30% on-costs, so $52/hr loaded. Labour = $52 x 10/60 = about $8.67 per metre.

• Overhead $30/hr x 10/60 = $5.00 per metre.

• Wire, gas and sundries from your own invoices, say $2.00 per metre.

• Cost about $15.67 per metre, before margin.

Change the arc-on share from 40% to 20% and paid time doubles to 20 minutes. Labour and overhead double with it. That is the lesson, not the dollar figure.

The welding cost calculator asks for exactly these inputs: process (MIG, TIG or stick only; no flux-cored), wire cost ($/kg), wire feed (kg per 8-hour day), arc-on time (%), gas cost per bottle, bottle volume (L), gas flow (L/min), operator wage ($/hr), on-costs (%), overhead ($/hr), target margin (%), weld length (m) and travel speed (mm/min). It splits the result into wire, gas, labour, overhead and margin per metre.

If the job is cut before it is welded, price the cut with the same discipline. See how to quote laser cutting jobs without losing margin and the laser cutting cost calculator.

Checking the quote against the job

A rate only improves if it meets reality. After each weld

ing-heavy job, compare:

Quick diagnostic. If you answer no to any of these, the rate is a guess:

• Do welders book hours to jobs, not just to the day?

• Do you know your arc-on share for manual and robot work separately?

• Are fit-up and grinding in the rate, or assumed away?

• Are on-costs built in, including leave and payroll tax where it applies?

• Does overhead have its own hourly figure?

• Do you review quoted vs actual welding hours at least monthly?

Do this while the job is running, not after the invoice. What job profitability should show mid-job covers how. For the full post-job check, see did that fabrication job actually make money. When a customer adds welds or changes a joint mid-job, price it as a variation: how to price change orders mid-job.

MirrorWorks Sell builds quotes from your real machine rates and job history, so the next welding quote starts from what the last one actually cost.

FAQ: welding cost per metre

How do I calculate welding cost per metre?

Add consumables, arc-on labour with on-costs, and a share of overhead for the time it takes to lay one metre of weld. Use your own wire, gas and wage figures. The MirrorWorks welding cost calculator does the sum for you.

What is arc-on time?

The share of a welder's paid hours spent actually welding. Fit-up, grinding, handling and waiting are paid but lay no weld, so a low arc-on share pushes up the real cost of each metre.

Should I charge welding per hour or per metre?

Per metre suits repeat joints and production work where weld length is known. Per hour or per job suits repair, one-off and awkward-access work. Many shops build the quote per metre and sanity-check it in hours.

What on-costs should an Australian shop add to welder wages?

Super guarantee, workers compensation, leave and leave loading, and payroll tax if you are above your state threshold. Check current rates with the ATO and your state revenue office.

Why do welding quotes lose money?

Usually because grinding, fit-up and rework are not in the rate, consumables are guessed, or overhead is left out. Comparing quoted and actual hours per job shows where the gap is.

Final thought

Welding is often one of the biggest labour lines in a fab quote, and the one priced most by habit. Build the rate from your own costs, measure your arc-on share, and check every big job against its quote. The rate will get better each month.

If you want quoting, scheduling and job actuals in one place instead of three spreadsheets, MirrorWorks is built for that. See how pricing works or talk to the team.