Build quality is all important and it has a large effect on price. You can make something quickly, get it out the door and sell it cheaply. Or you can make it slower and spend far more care on making it. Some of the extra time goes into the prep work before you start welding.. Much of it is the time spent after it has been welded, the cleaning up process. The economy range that I now do is a little more speed and a little less attention to detail. I will explain the difference below.
Pre welding
Anything that has a hole drilled in it, needs to be cleaned, there is almost always some swarf left as the drill passes through the hole. The speedy way is to “wipe” a grinder over it. A quick pass with a grinder will remove any swarf.. The better way is to use a deburring bit in the drill. Its very similar to a counter sink, it puts a very tiny almost counter sunk edge on the hole. This leaves the hole free of burrs from drill and “softens” the edges. A much better finish, but something that is usually hidden under a bolt.
Wall plates, really should have the corners radiused. Simply because they look better without the corners. on the economy range I don’t do this as its a time issue. On the custom made stuff its a quality issue. So it gets done.
Post welding
This is where the majority of extra time is spent. During the welding process, splatter forms. This is like tiny balls of weld that didn’t stay in the weld and decided to jump around. Molten bits of steel, which stick to the area around the weld. They look unsightly and no amount of paint is going to hide them. So they need to be removed, these can usually be removed with a hand file. A better finish can be had if it is then sanded down with a small air sander, but its easy to spend a good 10 minutes cleaning and use a few sanding discs in the process. For the economy range a file and a very quick “buzz” around with the air sander will get a reasonable finish. On the custom made items i will spend the time but this is reflected in the price.
work in progress, needs pictures to help better explain.