Just the other day I was looking for some angle iron and square tubing for a utility trailer I want to build. Only to find out that a couple of the places I checked on were way high in price. If I would have just taken their prices and bought it, I would’ve overpaid by more than 100%. The point I’m trying to make is, once I shopped around I got my steel for a lot cheaper. I’ve written different articles on where you should and should not buy steel from. You definitely don’t want to buy steel from a box store, but even different welding shops can be ridiculous, so you need to pay attention, otherwise for sure you will overpay.
One different welding shop quoted me at over $7 a foot for 2 x 2 x 3/16 square tube. Only to find out that I can get it at different places for around $2.75 a foot. The same thing happened for 2 x 2 x 3/16 angle iron. The shop that was overcharging wanted to charge me over $3 per foot when the when the other guys are only going to charge me about $1.60 a foot.
Basically it’s just like anything in life, everybody wants to separate you from your money so you have to be careful. Nobody is going to watch out for your money like you can.