⚙️ Metal Fabrication Shops

Fabricate profitably. Deliver on time.

Steel pricing by kg, welding time that actually gets charged, powder coat costs that reflect reality, and a production floor you can see from your phone — Slabr is the business OS built for jobbing shops that make things with metal.

Book a demo Start your workspace

Built for metal fabricators · 5-day support

Product preview

Sample Flow for cut, weld, finish, deliver.

Operation costing, QR-scanned stages, connected floor status — preview using sample data based on the Slabr workflow model.

Flow™ · Operations

Production board

Live stage view across the floor — capacity, blockers and risk-to-install

Cutting3

3/4 cap

J-1812

Sample kitchen project

Themba 2h

J-1810

Sample glazing — foyer

Joe 5h

J-1809

Sample stone bathroom

Marco 4h

Assembly4

4/5 cap

J-1805

Sample stone vanity

Lerato Wed 17:00

J-1804 RISK

Sample metal balustrade

Sipho Wed 12:00

J-1803

Sample furniture commission

Cara Thu 09:00

J-1802

Sample fit-out — lobby

Marco Fri 10:00

Finishing2

2/3 cap

J-1798

Sample kitchen — unit 14

Lerato Thu 15:00

J-1796

Sample wardrobe

Themba Fri 09:00

Install2

2/4 cap

J-1794

Sample fit-out — lobby

2 fitters Fri 10:00

J-1791

Sample kitchen install

2 fitters Mon 09:00

12–18%

average margin recovered from accurate labour costing

9 stages

of production floor QR tracking, per job

lost to forgotten powder coat and consumable costs

1 click

from approved quote to tax invoice

Six pain points · Six fixes

Six margin leaks every metal shop is silently absorbing.

Jobbing shops live on tight margins. These six leaks quietly cost 6–12% per job — Slabr surfaces them before the quote leaves your desk.

Problem #1

kg pricing with offcuts you pay for but never charge

You buy 6m of 40×40×3 SHS at $1.50/kg. You cut three pieces — 900mm, 1200mm, 600mm — and the 300mm offcut goes in the offcut bin. You've paid for that steel. It just didn't go into the job. Slabr prices material by kg with a configurable offcut waste factor per section type and grade. The offcut cost is distributed across the job, not silently absorbed into your overhead.

Slabr fix

kg UOM material pricing with per-section offcut waste factor. Offcut cost allocated to job, not written off.

Problem #2

Welding time is costed too cheap — or not at all

A skilled welder costs $60–$90/hour fully loaded. Most jobbing shops charge $25–$40/hour because they set a rate 5 years ago and never updated it. Or they quote 'supply and fabricate' as a fixed price without ever calculating how many hours it actually takes. Slabr's operation costing lets you set a rate per operation — cut, weld, grind, drill, bend — and attach estimated hours to each stage. The labour total is calculated, not guessed.

Slabr fix

Operation rate card with per-operation costing. Estimated hours per stage produce an accurate labour total before the client receives the quote.

Problem #3

Powder coating is an afterthought that kills margin

Powder coating goes on the quote as a round number — $80. But the actual cost depends on surface area, colour (standard vs RAL vs metallics), primer coat, and collection logistics. When the powder coater invoices you $130, you've already invoiced the client $80. Slabr has a powder coat catalogue with per-m² rates per colour category, so coating cost is calculated from the job's surface area — not estimated from memory.

Slabr fix

Powder coat line item with configurable m² rate per colour category (standard, RAL, metallic), applied from job surface area calculation.

Problem #4

The shop floor has no structure — jobs move and nothing is tracked

On a busy Monday morning you have 14 active jobs on the floor. Some are cutting, some are waiting for material, some are half-welded, some are ready for collection. Without a tracking system, the only way to know the status of any job is to walk the floor and ask. Three jobs are late. Two clients are phoning. Nobody told you. Slabr's QR job cards give every job a scannable identity. Your team scans at each stage and the system updates in real time.

Slabr fix

QR-scanned production stages per job: Material Ready → Cut → Bent/Formed → Welded → Ground → Inspected → Coated → Packed → Collected. Floor status updates as the team logs scans.

Problem #5

Jobbing shop chaos — no visibility of total workload

You win five jobs in a week. You quote them all competitively. Then you realise your floor capacity is fully loaded for the next three weeks and you've just promised three of those clients a two-week turnaround. Slabr's production scheduling shows your floor capacity by week — active jobs, their stage, and their due dates — so you know before you commit to a deadline whether you can actually hit it.

Slabr fix

Production scheduling dashboard: floor capacity view by week, active jobs by stage, bottleneck identification, delivery date feasibility.

Problem #6

Quote revisions and order confirmations are a mess

Your client asks for a price. You send a quote. They ask to change the grade of steel from 3mm to 5mm. You re-price in Excel, save a new file, email it. They reply that they actually wanted 4mm. You do it again. Three weeks later the job starts and you're using the wrong spec because you lost track of which revision was approved. Slabr versions every quote revision. The client approves via portal. The approved spec is what the job card shows on the floor.

Slabr fix

Quote revisions with version history. Client approves specific revision via portal. Approved revision locked to job card — no risk of wrong spec in production.

Every job type, structured the way the trade quotes it.

From single-section work to multi-component assemblies, the quote shape matches what you actually fabricate.

Structural steel

Columns, beams, brackets, weld-on plates — priced by kg with section-by-section breakdown.

Gates & fencing

Frame kg + infill panel pricing + hardware + surface treatment, all on one quote.

Staircases

Stringers, treads, handrails, balustrades — mixed section types, one structured quote.

Custom metalwork

Bespoke one-off fabrications with material + operation + finish per component.

Sheet metal fabrication

Plate kg pricing, folding operations, spot welding — with bend allowance awareness.

Industrial equipment

Multi-component assemblies with sub-assemblies, hardware, and painting as separate sections.

Every operation, priced by its own logic.

No more lumping every minute of shop time at one flat rate. Each operation carries its own UOM and rate card.

Plasma / laser cut

per cut or per metre

Angle grinding

per hour

MIG / TIG welding

per hour + consumables

Press brake bending

per bend

Drilling & tapping

per hole

Sand / bead blasting

per m²

Powder coating

per m² per colour category

Galvanising

per kg

How it runs

From scope to invoice paid — nine stages, one record.

Six steps the office sees, nine production stages the floor scans through. Same job, same data, no re-keying.

Scope & enquiry

Log the client enquiry. Record job type, material specs, section sizes, surface area, quantity, finish. Attach drawings or DXF.

Quote generation

Build the quote: material by kg, operations by hour, consumables by item, powder coat by m². Margin per line and per job before you send.

Client portal approval

Client receives a branded link. They see the breakdown, drawings, terms and delivery date. Digital approval with timestamp creates the order.

Material procurement

Approved job generates a requirements list. Raise POs to steel suppliers directly from the job. Receipt updates inventory and unblocks production.

QR floor production

Job card with QR code. Team scans at each of nine stages. Floor status updates as scans land. Client milestones auto-notify.

Delivery & invoice

Collection or delivery scan marks complete. Invoice from the approved quote — one click. Payment tracked. Margin report immediate.

Built for the trade

Every feature a metal shop needs. None it doesn\'t.

No generic SaaS template — purpose-built for jobbing shops that quote by kg, run on operations, and live on margin.

Book a demo Start your workspace

kg UOM material pricing per section and grade
Offcut waste factor per material type
Operation rate card: cut, weld, grind, bend, drill
Estimated hours per operation stage
Powder coat pricing by m² per colour category
Consumable add-ons: rods, gas, grinding discs
Surface area calculation for coating line items
Quote revision versioning with client portal approval
Material requirements list from approved quote
Supplier PO direct from job material list
QR-scanned production stages: 9 stages
Connected floor status dashboard
Production scheduling by week with capacity view
Steel and material inventory tracking
Job margin report: quoted vs actual cost
Invoice from job in one click, VAT-compliant

Pricing leaks

The 5 most expensive mistakes metal fab shops make

Each one quietly drops gross margin three to eight points without ever showing up on a single line item. Cross-linked to the glossary so the underlying mechanic has its own page.

#01

kg-pricing without section-class differentiation

A blanket $/kg rate across every section silently mis-prices the catalogue. Small structural sections — 25×25×2 SHS, 20×3 flat bar, 6 mm rod — carry a higher cost per kg from the mill than 150×150 RHS or 12 mm plate, and they yield more offcut per metre because the cut count is higher relative to length. Differentiated $/kg by section class with a per-class waste factor is how AISC and steel-trade estimating references frame the same problem; one global $/kg overprices the heavy work and underprices the small sections where margin is supposed to live.

Glossary: wastage percentage→

#02

Welding labour priced at the general fabrication rate

A certified MIG/TIG welder is not the same hour as a general fabricator running an angle grinder. AWS-certified welding carries a skill premium, slower deposition rates on critical joints, and consumables (gas, wire, tungsten) that the general rate does not load. US BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation shows skilled-trade compensation runs materially above generalist averages once benefits and statutory load are included. Quoting all shop hours at one rate gives away the welding margin and overprices the grinding and clean-up hours.

Glossary: variance (labour rate)→

#03

Powder coat priced as a flat job, not per m² × colour class

A round-number powder coat line ($80, $150, $300) ignores the two variables the coater actually charges on: total m² of surface area and colour class (standard polyester, RAL match, metallic, dual-coat). Qualicoat and the Powder Coating Institute publish the underlying process steps — pre-treat, cure schedule, film build — that drive cost per m². On a balustrade with 14 m² of surface in a metallic finish the gap between a flat $150 quote and the coater's actual invoice is routinely 40–80%, paid out of the fabricator's margin.

Glossary: variance (cost vs. quoted)→

#04

Consumables (rods, gas, grinding discs) absorbed into overhead

Welding wire, shielding gas, flap discs, cutting wheels, anti-spatter and tip cleaners are direct cost of the job — not facility overhead. Procore's COGS guide and standard managerial-accounting treatment of direct materials both class job-attributable consumables as cost of goods sold. Pooling them into overhead under-states job cost on the heavy-weld jobs (which actually consume the discs and gas) and over-states it on the light cutting work, distorting which job types your shop is really making money on.

Glossary: job cost→

#05

No operation-card costing — cut, weld, grind, coat as one labour line

Activity-based costing literature (Saylor managerial-accounting open text) is explicit on machine-driven cost: when a workshop spans plasma cutting, press-brake bending, MIG/TIG welding and surface finishing, charging every hour at one rate distorts every quote. Each operation has its own UOM, throughput and tooling cost. An operation card that prices cut by metre or per cut, bend per stroke, weld per hour with consumables, and coat per m² is the only structure that lets a fabricator see which operations are profitable and which are silently subsidising the rest.

Glossary: cut list→

Frequently asked

Six questions metal fab shops actually ask.

Answers reflect the workflow Slabr is built for — not a generic vendor pitch.

How should I price welding labour vs general fabrication labour?

Build them as separate rate cards. AWS-certified MIG/TIG welding carries a skill premium, slower deposition on critical joints, and direct consumables (gas, wire, tungsten) that a general fabrication rate does not load. US BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation publishes skilled-trade compensation as materially above generalist averages once statutory and benefits load is applied — fully-loaded skilled-welder cost commonly lands $55–$90/hr in developed markets versus $35–$55/hr for general shop labour. Quoting both at one blended rate hands away the welding margin on heavy-fabrication jobs while overpricing the grinding, drilling and clean-up hours on light work.

Glossary: variance (labour rate)→

What’s per-m² pricing for powder coat by colour class?

Powder coaters charge on two variables: total surface area in m² and colour class. Standard polyester whites, blacks and greys sit at the lowest rate. RAL matches, anodic-look greys and architectural ranges step up. Metallics, candies, dual-coats and chrome-effects are the highest tier because they require base + clear or extended cure. Qualicoat and the Powder Coating Institute publish the process steps — pre-treat, electrostatic application, cure schedule, film build — that drive the rate. Practically, configure a per-m² rate per colour class in your material catalogue and apply it to the job's calculated surface area, not a memorised round number.

Glossary: variance→

How do I track consumables per job?

Treat welding wire, shielding gas, flap discs, cutting wheels, anti-spatter and tip cleaners as direct cost of the job. Procore's construction COGS guide and standard managerial-accounting treatment of direct materials both class job-attributable consumables as cost of goods sold, not facility overhead. The practical rule: anything physically consumed in producing a job goes on its job-cost record, billed back via either an itemised consumables line on the quote or a percentage uplift on welding hours that maps to actual draw. Pooling consumables into overhead under-states cost on heavy-weld work and over-states it on light cutting jobs.

Glossary: job cost→

Why does kg-pricing fail on small structural sections?

Mill pricing is not linear in section size. Small sections — 25×25×2 SHS, 20×3 flat bar, 6 mm rod, light angles — cost more per kg than heavy structural because the rolling and cutting cost is amortised over less mass. The AISC steel construction reference frames this as a normal pattern: $/kg rises as section weight per metre falls. A blanket shop $/kg averaged across a mixed catalogue silently overprices heavy structural quotes (where you lose work to competitors using class-specific rates) and underprices small-section work (where you absorb the higher mill cost out of margin). Per-class $/kg fixes both ends.

Glossary: wastage percentage→

Should I quote off-site coating and on-site welding the same way?

No — they carry different risk and cost shape. Off-site powder coat or galvanising is a sub-contracted line: surface area × rate per colour class, with collection logistics and a coater lead time that drives your delivery date. On-site welding is your own labour at a skilled rate, plus consumables, plus travel and site-time premiums (set-up, isolation, hot-work permits, working at height) that workshop welding does not carry. Quote them as separate operations with separate rate cards. Lumping them into one ‘finishing’ line is how the on-site welding hours and coater invoice both end up underpriced.

Glossary: variance→

What’s a healthy gross margin in metal fabrication?

Gross margin in jobbing fabrication varies sharply by mix and geography, so any single number is illustrative rather than benchmark. Procore and trade press primers commonly cite metal and miscellaneous fabrication shops in the 20–30% gross-margin range on a fully-loaded labour build-up, with structural-only shops at the lower end and high-skill specialty fabrication (stainless food-grade, architectural feature work, AWS code welding) at the upper. The number that matters is whether your closeout margin matches your quoted margin — a 28% quoted job that closes at 14% is the leak, not the headline target.

Glossary: gross margin→

Sources & references

Where the numbers above come from.

Public industry references for the kg-pricing, welding-rate, powder-coat, consumables and operation-costing claims on this page. Figures without a public source are framed as illustrative in the body copy.

American Welding Society (AWS) — Industry body for welding certification (CWI, CWE), structural welding code D1.1, and skilled-welder qualification standards referenced for the welding-rate premium.
American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) — Steel construction reference covering section properties, mill pricing patterns, and structural detailing — basis for per-class kg pricing rather than a flat shop rate.
Qualicoat — international quality label for coated aluminium — Process specification for powder coating pre-treatment, application, cure schedule and film build — the steps that drive per-m² rate variation by colour class.
Powder Coating Institute (PCI) — North American industry body publishing process guidance, cure-schedule references, and finish-class definitions used in per-m² coating pricing.
Saylor Managerial Accounting — Activity-Based Costing — Open-text treatment of ABC for machine- and skill-driven cost. Frames the case for operation-card costing instead of a single shop labour rate.
Procore — Cost of Goods Sold for Construction — COGS primer covering direct materials, direct labour and job-attributable consumables — basis for placing welding gas, wire and discs on job cost rather than overhead.
US BLS — Employer Costs for Employee Compensation — Quarterly release of wages, statutory contributions and benefits as a share of total compensation. Skilled-trade compensation runs above generalist averages once fully loaded.

Get started

Stop quoting from memory. Start fabricating profitably.

Set up your material catalogue, load your operation rates, and configure your production stages. Your first quote will show you exactly how much margin you have been leaving on the floor.

Book a demo Start your workspace

No setup fee on Starter / Growth · Cancel any time · 5-day support

Fabricate profitably. Deliver on time.

Built for metal fabricators · 5-day support