Extra welding stations do not add paid welding hours. This fictional repair and light-fabrication shop has four installed stations but three compensated welders, including the working owner. Mobile assignments draw from the same calendar, and the selected sold mix does not cover the retained operation after ramp.
Check qualified paid hours and collected job contribution before buying or filling another station. Equipment availability cannot solve a labor or pricing constraint.
Which resource actually limits sold work?
The case is a repair and light-fabrication welding workshop in a lower-cost US industrial metro, forecast from January 2027 through December 2029. Three welders supply 480 available individual hours monthly. The owner is one of those paid welders and is counted once; half-time office/scheduling coverage adds no welding hours.
Four installed stations provide equipment flexibility, while a single mobile rig serves off-site work. A welder dispatched to that rig is unavailable for simultaneous shop work. The owner’s management, travel, setup and other nonbillable tasks must fit inside unsold time rather than creating another free labor pool.
How does the shop and mobile mix divide the roster?
The selected 45% utilization sells 216 individual welder hours monthly after ramp, leaving 264 hours outside sold work. Equipment repair, steel fabrication, mobile work, TIG work and pipe repair divide the 216 hours once. The following fees include ordinary metal and parts reimbursement; they are not pure labor-only charges.
An available station does not establish the right worker or process for every item. Match actual competence, preparation, material responsibility and acceptance requirements to each job. The scenario excludes an assumed heavy construction business and supplies no safety-critical certification or qualified procedure evidence.
| Service allocation | Sold hours | Fee/hour | Earned fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repairs | 64.8 | $110.00 | $7,128.00 |
| Steel work | 54 | $125.00 | $6,750.00 |
| Mobile welding | 54 | $145.00 | $7,830.00 |
| TIG work | 32.4 | $140.00 | $4,536.00 |
| Pipe repairs | 10.8 | $165.00 | $1,782.00 |
What must a completed job contribute?
Ordinary metal/parts and purchased specialist finishing/testing belong in direct inputs. Power, premises, maintenance, paid welders and office coverage remain operating costs. The mobile rig’s presence is an asset decision; it does not make travel, setup or the person operating it costless.
March earns $28,026.00 but incurs $5,885.46 of direct costs and $25,279.91 of operating expenses, leaving EBITDA of -$3,139.37. That deficit includes the owner’s economic remuneration before depreciation, interest and income tax. A busy station count cannot be used instead of this contribution calculation.
Does the equipment investment produce a viable cash plan?
Startup uses total $110,206.54, including equipment, setup and opening stock. Proposed uncommitted equity is $290,000.00 with no debt modeled. The opening reserve and startup uses are separate: retained cash is not another machine expense.
The model uses 20 inventory days, 13 supplier payment days and 18 collection days. First-year net income is -$77,450.99 and the later years remain negative. Minimum forecast cash is $19,121.32, conditional on the proposed funding. Positive remaining cash does not turn the loss-making workshop into a recovered investment.
What should be measured before adding capacity?
Reconcile a completed shop job and a completed mobile job to all individual welder time, ordinary material purchases, outside finishing/testing, travel/setup and final collection. Assign the owner’s work to the same paid calendar and record the shop work displaced by the mobile booking.
Use that evidence to decide whether the bottleneck is the scoped fee, sold workload, qualified labor or equipment. Reassess the loss-making base economics before buying another station or assuming another full-time worker. A new asset needs a supported operating use and its own cash commitment.
Make the next decision with your own evidence
Compare collected workshop and mobile jobs using all individual paid hours and purchases, then fix the base fee or cost mismatch before committing to another station or worker.
Explore published business plan examples ↗Arcstead Welding is a fictional prelaunch scenario prepared with AI assistance. Inputs are illustrative; forecast results come from the matching saved financial model. Funding is proposed. The diagrams explain the case and do not depict actual premises, established demand or promised earnings. Replace the assumptions with evidence before committing.
Read our methodology