If you work in construction, commercial building maintenance or countless other fields, you either need a welding crew on staff, or you need to hire welders to do on-site welding for you. If you opt to do the latter, you may end up talking to multiple companies as you make your decision. Here are some of the questions to ask:

1. What Industries Have You Served in the Past?

To ensure a company has experience serving customers like you, you should chat about their past experiences. In particular, you need to find out which industries they have worked with in the past. There can be differences between the challenges in various industries.

For example, a company that has a lot of experience doing handrails or residential welding, may have a different skill set than a company that primary focuses on architectural steel or commercial jobs.

2. What Do You Do in Your Assembly Shop?

In a lot of cases, companies that provide on-site welding, also have a fabrication shop. There, they make the components that get welded on your site. For instance, imagine you have a dock that you need repaired. The company's crew may assembly the necessary components in their shop and then come to your work site to weld everything together.

If you end up hiring a company that does not have its own assembly shop, you may need to provide these professionals with space to do the assembly work on your site as well.

3. Do You Offer Project Services?

As indicated above, there can be multiple components involved when you hire an on-site welding crew. Oftentimes, it is not simply a case of coming in and doing a bit of spot welding. To ensure you and the welders you hire are on the same page, you may want to talk with the company's reps about their project services.

For example, do they provide feasibility studies? Do they have a point person to liaison with you? Do they have drafting and design services, and if so, what is the protocol for sharing information with you and getting it approved? These are all important questions to consider.

4. How Do You Screen Your Welders?

Finally, talk with the company rep about how they screen their welders. If these professionals are going to be on site working next to your staff, you want to ensure that they are safe and that they don't have a criminal background or other serious issues. On top of that, you also want to ensure they have the right training to handle the work.