Originally Posted by
Name User
No welders on W2 payroll are making $100/hr. Even union ones. That's >$200k a year. Nope not happening.
Yes, if they own their own rigs, they might be bringing that in. Or more. But it's running a business. One guy I know spends $750 a week on average in diesel fuel alone. Not to mention consumables (been to Airgas recently?).
If you operated a 400 series Cessna on charter, with a rate of $600/hr, are you making $600/hr? Of course not. Same exact thing.
I've seen contract engineers making rates like that and (much) more, it just depends on the going rate for what you do at the time. If you are the guy with what they need you can negotiate the heck out an hourly rate. There was a guy at a bizjet company I used to work for who made more than $250 an hour base rate with overtime kicking in after 40, he was the only guy who knew what they needed. He worked 60 hour minimum weeks, he used to buy me dinner on Thursday when he hit 40 that week and then we'd go for beers. There is no morality in such pay rates, and there is no mercy for you whenever the company is done with you either, no matter how good a deal they got at the time. If some welder has what they need now and a billion dollars is at stake they'll pay the hourly rate to keep him there.