# Welding Cost Calculator: Cost per Meter and per Job

> Source: https://netray.co/tools/welding-cost-calculator-per-meter
> Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems.
> Section: Free Tools

## Short answer

Turn weld metal weight, deposition rate and shop rates into filler, gas, labor and total cost per meter of weld.

## Category

cost-finance

## Industry

Fabrication

## Audience

- Welding engineer
- Estimator
- Fabrication shop owner

## Tool

**Kind:** calculator

**Currency:** $

**Inputs:**

#### Total weld length

**Key:** length

**Type:** number

**Default:** 120

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 1

**Unit:** m

**Help:** Sum of all weld runs on the job.

#### Weld metal per meter

**Key:** wm_per_m

**Type:** number

**Default:** 0.45

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 0.01

**Unit:** kg/m

**Help:** Use the weld metal volume calculator to get this for your joint.

#### Deposition efficiency

**Key:** de

**Type:** slider

**Default:** 92

**Min:** 50

**Max:** 100

**Step:** 1

**Unit:** %

**Help:** Solid wire GMAW is roughly 90-98%, flux cored 80-90%, stick 55-70% after stub loss.

#### Filler metal cost

**Key:** filler_cost

**Type:** number

**Default:** 3.2

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 0.1

**Unit:** $/kg

#### Deposition rate

**Key:** dep_rate

**Type:** number

**Default:** 3.5

**Min:** 0.1

**Step:** 0.1

**Unit:** kg/h arc-on

**Help:** Arc-on deposited metal per hour for your process and parameters.

#### Operating factor

**Key:** op_factor

**Type:** slider

**Default:** 35

**Min:** 10

**Max:** 100

**Step:** 1

**Unit:** %

**Help:** Share of paid time with the arc on. Manual work is often 25-40%, mechanized 60-90%.

#### Labor rate (loaded)

**Key:** labor_rate

**Type:** number

**Default:** 38

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 1

**Unit:** $/h

#### Overhead on labor

**Key:** oh

**Type:** number

**Default:** 60

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 5

**Unit:** %

**Help:** Power, machine depreciation, consumables not listed here, supervision.

#### Shielding gas flow

**Key:** gas_flow

**Type:** number

**Default:** 16

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 1

**Unit:** L/min

#### Gas cost

**Key:** gas_cost

**Type:** number

**Default:** 12

**Min:** 0

**Step:** 0.5

**Unit:** $/m3

**Outputs:**

#### Total weld metal deposited

**Key:** wm_total

**Expr:** length * wm_per_m

**Format:** decimal

**Description:** Kilograms of deposited metal.

#### Filler to purchase

**Key:** filler_kg

**Expr:** wm_total / (de / 100)

**Format:** decimal

**Description:** Kilograms of wire or electrode including losses.

#### Arc-on time

**Key:** arc_h

**Expr:** wm_total / dep_rate

**Format:** hours

#### Paid labor time

**Key:** paid_h

**Expr:** arc_h / (op_factor / 100)

**Format:** hours

#### Filler cost

**Key:** c_filler

**Expr:** filler_kg * filler_cost

**Format:** currency

#### Labor and overhead cost

**Key:** c_labor

**Expr:** paid_h * labor_rate * (1 + oh / 100)

**Format:** currency

#### Shielding gas cost

**Key:** c_gas

**Expr:** arc_h * 60 * gas_flow / 1000 * gas_cost

**Format:** currency

#### Total welding cost

**Key:** total

**Expr:** c_filler + c_labor + c_gas

**Format:** currency

**Primary:** true

#### Cost per meter of weld

**Key:** per_m

**Expr:** (c_filler + c_labor + c_gas) / max(length, 0.0001)

**Format:** currency

**Primary:** true

**Chart:**

#### Cost per meter vs operating factor

**Type:** line

**X:** op_factor

**From:** 15

**To:** 90

**Steps:** 16

**Series:**

- per_m

**Disclaimer:** Planning estimate. Excludes joint preparation, fit-up, inspection, rework, preheat energy and travel. Replace the defaults with your shop data.

## Content

**Intro:** Welding cost is dominated by labor, not wire. This calculator builds the cost per meter from weld metal weight, deposition efficiency, arc-on deposition rate, operating factor, labor and gas, so you can quote or compare processes with numbers you can defend.

**Sections:**

#### How to use the calculator

**Body:** Start with the weld metal per meter for your joint design. The weld metal volume calculator on this site gives it in kg/m. Enter your filler price, the deposition rate your procedure actually achieves, and an honest operating factor. Then add the loaded labor rate, an overhead percentage and shielding gas flow. The result splits into filler, labor and gas so you can see which line moves the total.

**Bullets:**

- Use arc-on deposition rate from your WPS parameters, not the catalog maximum
- Operating factor is the biggest lever for manual welding
- Run it twice to compare processes, for example GMAW against FCAW
- Save the PDF or Excel output with the quote

#### The method behind the numbers

**Body:** Filler required equals deposited weld metal divided by deposition efficiency, which accounts for spatter, slag and stub loss. Arc time equals deposited weight divided by deposition rate. Paid time equals arc time divided by operating factor, because the welder is also fitting, repositioning, cleaning and waiting. Labor cost multiplies paid time by the loaded rate and overhead. Gas cost is flow in liters per minute times arc minutes, converted to cubic meters.

#### Reading the result

**Body:** A typical manual semi-automatic job may show labor at 70 to 85 percent of the total, filler at 10 to 20 percent and gas at a few percent. If labor dominates, raising operating factor through better fixtures, positioners or mechanization pays back faster than shopping for cheaper wire. The chart sweeps operating factor so you can see the curve flatten as it rises.

#### Common mistakes

**Body:** Estimators often use the catalog maximum deposition rate, ignore operating factor, or forget that cost per meter depends on joint geometry. A wider groove angle or larger root gap can double the weld metal. Rework and inspection are separate costs and are not included here.

**Bullets:**

- Using 100 percent operating factor
- Ignoring deposition efficiency of flux cored or stick
- Leaving out joint preparation and grinding
- Mixing imperial and metric units

**Cta:** If you want weld costs pulled from routings, operation times and consumable costs in your ERP instead of retyped, Netray can build that reporting on top of your system.

**Faq:**

#### What is a realistic operating factor for welding?

**Answer:** Manual welding commonly runs around 25 to 40 percent arc-on time once fit-up, cleaning, and repositioning are counted. Semi-automatic with good fixtures may reach 40 to 60 percent, and mechanized or robotic cells often exceed 60 percent. Measure your own shop rather than using a book value.

#### Why is labor so much larger than filler cost?

**Answer:** A kilogram of wire is deposited in well under an hour of arc time but the welder is paid for the whole shift. Since only a fraction of paid time is arc-on, labor cost per kilogram deposited is many times the material cost per kilogram.

#### Does this include preheat and inspection?

**Answer:** No. Preheat energy, post weld heat treatment, NDT, rework and joint preparation vary widely by code and material. Add them as separate lines to your quote, or use the inspection checklist and preheat tools on this site to scope them.

#### Can I use it for imperial units?

**Answer:** Convert first. Use meters, kilograms and liters per minute. One foot is 0.3048 m, one pound is 0.4536 kg, and one cubic foot of gas is 28.3 liters. The currency symbol can be treated as any currency since the inputs are your own rates.

## Search terms

welding cost calculator, welding cost per meter, cost of welding per foot, weld cost estimate, welding labor cost calculator, filler metal cost calculator, welding quote calculator, fabrication welding cost

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