Metal Fabrication Nation

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You hired a junior estimator, handed them a spreadsheet and expected accurate quotes. But nobody had time to teach them... so where were those skills supposed to come from?

In this episode of Metal Fabrication Nation, Greg Sheldon breaks down how junior estimators can build their skills when the experienced people are stretched thin.

You’ll learn how to:

1. Turn one completed job into a practical estimating lesson.
2. Build labour hours from the actual work, including setup and handling.
3. Ask better questions that busy senior estimators can answer quickly.
4. Learn from old estimates without copying their mistakes.
5. Make short coaching sessions useful while keeping proper review on live quotes.

For shop owners, senior estimators and juniors tired of being told to “just figure it out.”

What’s something you wish someone had taught you before your first quote?

Explore the FabProfit System:
FabProfit estimating training and tools

Keep learning:
Watch the FabProfit estimating webinar

Quoting metal fabrication jobs and wondering where the profit goes? Join me for the FabProfit webinar on spotting missed costs and protecting your margin before you send the quote. Watch here.

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon is built for the people who build the world: welders, fabricators, foremen, estimators, shop owners, and the next generation entering the trades.

This show is about making the metal industry stronger. Better leadership. Better shops. Better careers. Better business. Smarter use of technology. And more respect for the skilled people who keep North America moving.

The trades are not a backup plan. AI is not replacing the people who know how to build, repair, fit, weld, machine, install, and solve problems in the real world. The future of manufacturing will belong to the people who combine real trade knowledge with better systems, better business thinking, and new technology.

Follow Metal Fabrication Nation, share it with someone in the industry, and help push the trades forward.

Think your quoting process may be costing your shop profit?
Get the free Fabrication Calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html

Send us Fan Mail

You win the job. The price looks good. Then the extra hours start adding up, and the profit you thought you had starts disappearing.

In this episode of Metal Fabrication Nation, I’m sharing the audio from my FabProfit webinar about estimating metal fabrication work and protecting your margin before the job hits the floor.

We get into the work that’s easy to miss when you’re rushing a quote, why a price that “looks right” can still leave you short, and how a more consistent estimating process can help you understand what you’re actually committing to.

If you own a welding or fabrication shop, prepare estimates, or spend your evenings trying to get quotes out, this one’s for you.

This is an audio replay, so you’ll hear references to slides. Watch the webinar here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/fabprofit/webinar.html

Explore the FabProfit System:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/fabprofit

Quoting metal fabrication jobs and wondering where the profit goes? Join me for the FabProfit webinar on spotting missed costs and protecting your margin before you send the quote. Watch here.

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon is built for the people who build the world: welders, fabricators, foremen, estimators, shop owners, and the next generation entering the trades.

This show is about making the metal industry stronger. Better leadership. Better shops. Better careers. Better business. Smarter use of technology. And more respect for the skilled people who keep North America moving.

The trades are not a backup plan. AI is not replacing the people who know how to build, repair, fit, weld, machine, install, and solve problems in the real world. The future of manufacturing will belong to the people who combine real trade knowledge with better systems, better business thinking, and new technology.

Follow Metal Fabrication Nation, share it with someone in the industry, and help push the trades forward.

Think your quoting process may be costing your shop profit?
Get the free Fabrication Calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html

Send us Fan Mail

“Nobody wants to work anymore.”
“Young people have no work ethic.”
“Welders aren’t loyal.”
“Fitters will go down the road for a dollar or two more.”

Sound familiar?

But here is the harder question: What if YOU are the problem?

What if good people keep leaving, profit keeps disappearing, nothing gets done without you, and every day feels like an emergency because of how you run the business?

A lot of fabrication and welding businesses were started by great welders who got busy, hired people, and suddenly had payroll, estimating, scheduling, cash flow, and twenty employees waiting on their every word. Nobody taught you how to run a business. But being overwhelmed doesn’t erase the damage.

In this episode of Metal Fabrication Nation, Greg Sheldon is ripping the band-aid off. We’re breaking down the biggest problems happening on your shop floor and what you can actually do to fix them:

• Micromanagement: If every quote, purchase, and schedule change has to come through you, you didn't build a business; you built yourself a stressful job with employees.
• Understand Your Numbers: Revenue feeds the ego, profit feeds the business, and cash keeps it alive. Why a full shop can still go broke.
• Quoting From Your Gut: Why looking at a drawing and saying "that feels like eighty grand" isn't estimating; it's just a guess wearing work boots.
• Fear Is Not Management: Why yelling creates silence, teaches your crew to hide mistakes, and guarantees nobody brings you the bad news until it's too late.
• Protecting Toxic Performers: Why holding onto that one miserable, bullying welder is a massive mistake. Your culture isn't what's written on the wall; your culture is what you tolerate.

Stop changing priorities mid-day, take accountability for your own mistakes, and stop blaming the workforce. Tune in to find out exactly what you need to do this Monday morning to build a company capable of making good decisions without you.

#MetalFabrication #BusinessOwnerTruths #BlueCollarBoss #WeldingShop #ShopManagement #EntrepreneurReality #BlueCollarLife

Quoting metal fabrication jobs and wondering where the profit goes? Join me for the FabProfit webinar on spotting missed costs and protecting your margin before you send the quote. Watch here.

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon is built for the people who build the world: welders, fabricators, foremen, estimators, shop owners, and the next generation entering the trades.

This show is about making the metal industry stronger. Better leadership. Better shops. Better careers. Better business. Smarter use of technology. And more respect for the skilled people who keep North America moving.

The trades are not a backup plan. AI is not replacing the people who know how to build, repair, fit, weld, machine, install, and solve problems in the real world. The future of manufacturing will belong to the people who combine real trade knowledge with better systems, better business thinking, and new technology.

Follow Metal Fabrication Nation, share it with someone in the industry, and help push the trades forward.

Think your quoting process may be costing your shop profit?
Get the free Fabrication Calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html

Send us Fan Mail

Yes, I’m talking about alcohol again. Last episode I talked about addiction in the trades and what the person trapped inside it is actually going through. 

This time, I’m going after the culture and the industry that have made alcohol so normal in our shops, homes, and lives. 

It may be off topic, but not really; it destroys our workers, families, careers, and businesses, and nobody is talking about it enough. So I am. 

The question is; could one person actually start taking down the alcohol industry? 

Quoting metal fabrication jobs and wondering where the profit goes? Join me for the FabProfit webinar on spotting missed costs and protecting your margin before you send the quote. Watch here.

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon is built for the people who build the world: welders, fabricators, foremen, estimators, shop owners, and the next generation entering the trades.

This show is about making the metal industry stronger. Better leadership. Better shops. Better careers. Better business. Smarter use of technology. And more respect for the skilled people who keep North America moving.

The trades are not a backup plan. AI is not replacing the people who know how to build, repair, fit, weld, machine, install, and solve problems in the real world. The future of manufacturing will belong to the people who combine real trade knowledge with better systems, better business thinking, and new technology.

Follow Metal Fabrication Nation, share it with someone in the industry, and help push the trades forward.

Think your quoting process may be costing your shop profit?
Get the free Fabrication Calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html

Send us Fan Mail

Yes, this is about the metal trades. But this episode goes somewhere our industry rarely goes. How can someone swear they are finished in the morning, then return to the same substance that night, while meaning it both times? I take you inside the craving, fear, deception, withdrawal, and shame that turn relief into a prison. Before we judge the person behind the welding hood, we need to understand the fight nobody else can see. 

Quoting metal fabrication jobs and wondering where the profit goes? Join me for the FabProfit webinar on spotting missed costs and protecting your margin before you send the quote. Watch here.

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon is built for the people who build the world: welders, fabricators, foremen, estimators, shop owners, and the next generation entering the trades.

This show is about making the metal industry stronger. Better leadership. Better shops. Better careers. Better business. Smarter use of technology. And more respect for the skilled people who keep North America moving.

The trades are not a backup plan. AI is not replacing the people who know how to build, repair, fit, weld, machine, install, and solve problems in the real world. The future of manufacturing will belong to the people who combine real trade knowledge with better systems, better business thinking, and new technology.

Follow Metal Fabrication Nation, share it with someone in the industry, and help push the trades forward.

Think your quoting process may be costing your shop profit?
Get the free Fabrication Calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html

Send us Fan Mail

As AI becomes woven into every part of society, are we building the greatest tool in human history, or something we’ll one day regret?

This episode explores the questions surrounding AI, privacy, convenience, power, and the future we’re creating.

What do you think?

Quoting metal fabrication jobs and wondering where the profit goes? Join me for the FabProfit webinar on spotting missed costs and protecting your margin before you send the quote. Watch here.

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon is built for the people who build the world: welders, fabricators, foremen, estimators, shop owners, and the next generation entering the trades.

This show is about making the metal industry stronger. Better leadership. Better shops. Better careers. Better business. Smarter use of technology. And more respect for the skilled people who keep North America moving.

The trades are not a backup plan. AI is not replacing the people who know how to build, repair, fit, weld, machine, install, and solve problems in the real world. The future of manufacturing will belong to the people who combine real trade knowledge with better systems, better business thinking, and new technology.

Follow Metal Fabrication Nation, share it with someone in the industry, and help push the trades forward.

Think your quoting process may be costing your shop profit?
Get the free Fabrication Calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html

Send us Fan Mail

As AI becomes part of everyday life and work, are we heading toward two distinct groups; those who embrace it and those who choose to avoid it?

In this episode, I explore whether that divide is already forming, what it could mean for the skilled trades and manufacturing, and whether there is still room for a middle ground.

Where do you stand: AI or Anti-AI?

NEXT EPISODE WE GO MORE IN DEPTH ON THIS TOPIC and I SHARE MY OPINION ON THE DANGER OF AI AND WHAT I DISAGREE WITH AND HOW IT MIGHT RUIN EVERYTHING; ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE PUTTING A CHIP IN YOUR BRAIN AND CONNECTING IT TO STARLINK.

Quoting metal fabrication jobs and wondering where the profit goes? Join me for the FabProfit webinar on spotting missed costs and protecting your margin before you send the quote. Watch here.

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon is built for the people who build the world: welders, fabricators, foremen, estimators, shop owners, and the next generation entering the trades.

This show is about making the metal industry stronger. Better leadership. Better shops. Better careers. Better business. Smarter use of technology. And more respect for the skilled people who keep North America moving.

The trades are not a backup plan. AI is not replacing the people who know how to build, repair, fit, weld, machine, install, and solve problems in the real world. The future of manufacturing will belong to the people who combine real trade knowledge with better systems, better business thinking, and new technology.

Follow Metal Fabrication Nation, share it with someone in the industry, and help push the trades forward.

Think your quoting process may be costing your shop profit?
Get the free Fabrication Calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html

Send us Fan Mail

Are you tired of losing bids to dirt-cheap overseas suppliers? The Chinese Belt & Road Initiative is a massive global machine designed to undercut your local fabrication shop. But slashing your margins and racing to the bottom is not the answer.

In this episode of Metal Fabrication Nation; we break down the hidden costs of cheap global fabrication and show you exactly how to fight back. You will learn the 5-step process to build an unstoppable Market Dominating Position. Stop competing on price; identify your customers' true hot buttons; and become the only logical choice for your clients.  

Get your free audio class and workbook and start mapping out your shop's Market Dominating Position today. 

https://gregsheldon.github.io/fab-profit-system/mdp.html

Keep it real. God bless.

Quoting metal fabrication jobs and wondering where the profit goes? Join me for the FabProfit webinar on spotting missed costs and protecting your margin before you send the quote. Watch here.

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon is built for the people who build the world: welders, fabricators, foremen, estimators, shop owners, and the next generation entering the trades.

This show is about making the metal industry stronger. Better leadership. Better shops. Better careers. Better business. Smarter use of technology. And more respect for the skilled people who keep North America moving.

The trades are not a backup plan. AI is not replacing the people who know how to build, repair, fit, weld, machine, install, and solve problems in the real world. The future of manufacturing will belong to the people who combine real trade knowledge with better systems, better business thinking, and new technology.

Follow Metal Fabrication Nation, share it with someone in the industry, and help push the trades forward.

Think your quoting process may be costing your shop profit?
Get the free Fabrication Calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html

Send us Fan Mail

Nobody owes you a career. In this episode of Metal Fabrication Nation, Greg Sheldon drops a massive wake-up call for young tradespeople.
Why do highly talented welders fail while average workers become indispensable? 

Greg reveals the unwritten rules of the shop floor, the single biggest mistake that kills apprenticeships, and why mastering the "boring stuff" is your fastest ticket to earning top rate. Plus, a hard truth for the veterans and shop owners complaining about "kids these days."

Your name is your resume. Hit play to learn how to protect it.

Quoting metal fabrication jobs and wondering where the profit goes? Join me for the FabProfit webinar on spotting missed costs and protecting your margin before you send the quote. Watch here.

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon is built for the people who build the world: welders, fabricators, foremen, estimators, shop owners, and the next generation entering the trades.

This show is about making the metal industry stronger. Better leadership. Better shops. Better careers. Better business. Smarter use of technology. And more respect for the skilled people who keep North America moving.

The trades are not a backup plan. AI is not replacing the people who know how to build, repair, fit, weld, machine, install, and solve problems in the real world. The future of manufacturing will belong to the people who combine real trade knowledge with better systems, better business thinking, and new technology.

Follow Metal Fabrication Nation, share it with someone in the industry, and help push the trades forward.

Think your quoting process may be costing your shop profit?
Get the free Fabrication Calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html

Send us Fan Mail

In this raw, personal episode of Metal Fabrication Nation, I talk about divorce, fatherhood, court pressure, anger, control, faith, and what men in the trades carry when nobody is watching.

This is not a polished episode.

It is real, emotional, and straight from the heart.

Sometimes the hardest thing a man has to build is himself back up.

#MetalFabricationNation #MensMentalHealth #Fatherhood #SkilledTrades #RealTalk

Quoting metal fabrication jobs and wondering where the profit goes? Join me for the FabProfit webinar on spotting missed costs and protecting your margin before you send the quote. Watch here.

Metal Fabrication Nation with Greg Sheldon is built for the people who build the world: welders, fabricators, foremen, estimators, shop owners, and the next generation entering the trades.

This show is about making the metal industry stronger. Better leadership. Better shops. Better careers. Better business. Smarter use of technology. And more respect for the skilled people who keep North America moving.

The trades are not a backup plan. AI is not replacing the people who know how to build, repair, fit, weld, machine, install, and solve problems in the real world. The future of manufacturing will belong to the people who combine real trade knowledge with better systems, better business thinking, and new technology.

Follow Metal Fabrication Nation, share it with someone in the industry, and help push the trades forward.

Think your quoting process may be costing your shop profit?
Get the free Fabrication Calculator and Baseline Efficiency Report here:
https://gregsheldon.github.io/metalfabexcel/calculator.html