Saving money by sub contracting

[JNewman]

As blacksmiths we tend to be people who want to be self reliant and able to do anything in our shop.  I am as guilty of this as anyone,  my shop is really tight for space largely because of all the machinery.  That being said I have always subbed out some work and find myself doing more and sometimes am surprised at how I am saving money on materials as well as my labour.  Here are a few examples of where I have saved money lately

 

Laser and flame cutting shops get better prices on plate due to the volume they are buying often some of this saving will get passed on to you.  For years when I needed pieces of heavy plate I would go to my local steel supplier and search his yard for a piece of plate roughly the right size, always rusty often pitted.  I would then burn my gasses cutting the plate to size and would have to grind the rough burned edge to clean it up.  A few years ago I had some things that I had to have flame cut and I was pleasantly surprised how cheap it was.  Next time I needed some plate I had them quote the exact size I needed  and then went and priced a drop from the steel supplier that was slightly smaller than I wanted in one dimension and slightly larger in the other.  It was MORE than the piece cut exactly what I wanted.  The burning shops edges are clean enough I have even had them cut bolt holes in 1" plate.   I have a job that comes up about once a year where I need 4 10" discs cut out of 1/8" stainless.  I used to buy a drop of stainless plate and then cut them out using a beverly shear.  Shearing out the 1/8" stainless is a LOT of work.  Last time I had them laser cut and paid about $20 less than I had paid for a drop barely large enough to get my discs out of a year before and did not have to spend a couple of hours with the beverly shear. 

 

If I can I buy my steel cut to size.  I have a big 12"x14" bandsaw a chop saw and a carbide blade chopsaw and use them all.  But if I know ahead what sizes I need and my supplier will saw them to size for a reasonable price I let them do it.  I would love to have an automatic saw and a bridge crane to feed it but I don't and I don't have enough work for it to justify the cost of those tools.   I get a 24' bar of 2 3/4"  4340 cut to 3 1/2" slugs for $75,  that is what it would cost me at my shop rate to set it up in my saw before I took 1 cut.   There saw cuts the bars cleaner and more accurately than my saw does.  They cut 1" bars in "half" for me at 12' for free which is much easier than handling 22' bars and 12' is one of the sizes I need the stock cut to.    Even 1/2" mild steel is often worth having cut 4 or 5 lengths cut to 16" pieces on my steel yards ironworker costs around $20, far less than my cost to sawcut them.   The pre cut steel is also much easier to transport in my truck or unload from the suppliers truck, easier to move around the shop and store. 

 

I don't have a sheet metal brake and have done sheet metal work with clamps, angle iron and mallet.  But the small shop around the corner has huge press brakes sheet metal rolls shears and a big ring roller.  I have had him do sheet metal jobs and roll pipes for me and he has done a better job and way faster than I could.  As a bonus I have done 2 jobs lately that he referred the customer to me because it was work he could not do.  

[vapremac]

John ,

You bring up some very excellent points ! In today's world where the profit margins
for businesses are razor thin every aspect of the cost of production has to be
analyzed in every way imaginable.
Out sourcing,as you have proved,can certainly add to your bottom line.It speeds up
production and let's you focus on other in house items.
Lot's of ways to be profitable ,just have to be savvy about it.....analyze,analyze,analyze..
...............

William

[macbruce]

''You've got to spend money to make money.''  I agree wholeheartedly that there are time it's just foolish do everything yourself. I remember one instance when I needing 5-600 pickets once and dreaded the thought of handling 75 lengths of 3/4'' sq and cutting them into 30'' pieces........Then I asked the supplier, how much to cut em? Cripes it was less than $150 and saved me probly a whole day of lifting and sawing and when I picked up the load it was on a pallet.....a forklift put it neatly into my truck and away I went, no lashing 20 footers onto the overhead rack, no flags......I spent a hundred and saved TIME, wear and tear on yous truly and that was good return by my reckoning........ B)

[VaughnT]

I'm a huge proponent of subbing out work whenever I can.... even though I'm a hobbyist.  

 

Knife-makers will routinely have blanks water-jet cut for them because it saves their time and energy.  Why shouldn't a blacksmith? The economy of scale dictates that a water-jet company will always be able to do it faster/easier/cheaper than a jack-of-all-trades shop.  I consider them to be just another tool in my toolbox.

[DSW]

Very true. I occasionally do small jobs for other guys because I have the tools of skills to do the work that they don't. Masonry/concrete work and metal are areas where I typically get calls to come out and assist friends of mine.

 

I'll add one other item to the mix, renting vs buying. While it's nice to have every tool imaginable for yourself, many times it's really not cost effective for the few times you need to use them. A small shop who only occasionally does rails probably doesn't warrant the need to own a core drill for example. Rather than own the drill, I rent. If I buy anything, I just buy the bit. That's really where most places make a vast portion of their money. Most places measure the diamonds on the bit when you rent, then measure them again when your return it, or have a fixed rate minimum for wear. If it's a common size you always use to set posts, it may pay to just buy it. On the other hand if it's an odd size, especially if it's quite large, it may just pay to rent, or hire out someone who already has the right size.

[VaughnT]

"...renting vs buying."

 

You couldn't get more spot-on if you tried, hoss.  That's something of a running argument between me and my dad because he's a huge tool-aholic.  The problem is that his place is so cluttered up with tools that he often forgets that he has them and will go buy another one thinking that it's his first time doing it.  I can't count the number of nearly-new tape measures he has!

 

If you can rent, do it.  If nothing else, it will save you a ton of frustration because you don't need to dig through a pile of never-used stuff to find the one thing that you do need!

[rockstar.esq]

There are lots of core drilling firms out there as well.  Most of them offer some kind of X-ray or ground penetrating radar imaging should you find yourself working on a structure with vulnerable and concealed stuff hiding in the masonry.

[Judson Yaggy]

Sand blasting.  Best thing in the world to sub-contract.  Don't tell the blasters, but even if they cost more than what I can do it for (which they don't) I'd still pay them to do it!

[Wroughton]

All good points,
My powder coater is my blaster too.
My metal supplier is my cut man AND my delivery guy. My water jet guy (not that cheap but I'm not as accurate as CNC cutting by hand either) is 100 miles away so my
metal supplier does the shuttling back and forth for free due to their volume of traffic through the area.
My metal supplier offers plasma, HD plasma and Laser cutting also, so I'm up to my eyeballs in precision if need be.

I have been the sub for whole finished product, parts, pieces, nails and rivets.

Evaluate (analyze, as stated before) where your time and resources are best spent and go from there. Pride in doing everything "in house" may keep you in the poor house.