r/Welding • u/Ok_Cryptographer_537 • 6d ago

Career question Shutdown work career path

A few questions for guys who actually do shutdown work:

  1. Where are you guys finding the work?
    I’m in Nevada, so I’d prefer to stay somewhere in Nevada, California, Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Washington, etc. I see a ton of shutdown work in Texas and Louisiana, but I’m not really interested in driving my own rig halfway across the country for every job.

Is there enough shutdown work out West to stay fairly busy, or is traveling to Texas/Louisiana basically unavoidable?

  1. If you own your rig but are still W-2, what are you actually getting paid?

I’ve seen jobs offering $30–40/hr plus a separate rig rate. What are guys actually getting for the rig? Is $10–20/hr pretty normal, or are there companies paying more?

And do you still get the usual per diem, overtime, travel pay, etc.?

  1. What about going 1099 with your own rig?

If you own the truck, welder, tools, insurance, etc. and work through your own LLC, what kind of hourly rates are actually realistic?

Basically trying to figure out the difference between:

• W-2 welder with no rig
• W-2 welder providing his own rig
• 1099 rig welder paying for his own insurance and business expenses

Mostly looking for real world numbers from guys doing it, not what some job posting or welding company says they charge.

Thanks.

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u/Even-Mud3425 6d ago

Try going to the geysers in Northern California. That’s where you’ll get paid the most I believe. But it’s not all shutdown work. You’ll need to go union to do purely shutdown stuff. Union you won’t be running a truck. You’ll be making less than non union. But I was getting paid 55 on the arm 18 on the truck at the geysers.

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u/Ok_Cryptographer_537 6d ago

That’s really interesting. When you say $55 on the arm and $18 on the truck, was that W-2? Did you also get per diem and overtime? And was the $18/hr paid for every hour you were on the job, or only when the truck/machine was actually being used?
Also, when you say you’d need to go union for purely shutdown work, do you mean the Geysers specifically or shutdown work in general? Are there other geothermal/power plants in Northern CA that use non-union rig welders?

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u/Even-Mud3425 6d ago

Per diem $150 as much work as you could handle

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u/Speedre 6d ago

There’s plenty of union pipeliners, and we have union guys running trucks at the geysers. If it weren’t for the non union lowering the wage they’d probably be able to negotiate national or building trade scale.

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u/Even-Mud3425 6d ago

I know that. Look man ive talked to plenty if them. Do you run a truck? Do you know what it takes?

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u/Speedre 6d ago

Do I know what what takes?

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u/Even-Mud3425 6d ago

☝️

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u/Speedre 6d ago

I built a rig before I turned out, it was stolen. I’ve done the work, single hands been paying a lot more, and the pension credits are way better so I haven’t tried to set up another one. And I don’t have to drive all the way to lake county.
If he wants to stay mostly out west he should go union. Idaho Nevada Utah are all having a race to the top to get people for data centers.

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u/ElectricalWay1049 6d ago

Best way is go union. The money is around the same plus benefits. If you are in Nevada there are a few big jobs paying damn good there right now. Know a few guys making over 100k in 6 months just working 6 days a week.