Welding and fabrication shop websites: capabilities pages

A capabilities page is the page a purchasing agent, an engineer or a general contractor opens before they send you a drawing. They are not looking for friendly words; they want to know in under a minute whether your shop can do the job: which processes, which metals, how thick, how big, to what code, and how many. A clear, honest capabilities page gets you onto their list of shops to ask. A vague one gets you skipped.

Who reads a capabilities page

Homeowners rarely read this page. Its readers are:

Buyers at manufacturers and plants looking for a shop to take overflow or a regular part.
General contractors who need structural or miscellaneous steel done to plans.
Engineers and designers checking whether you can work from their files and meet a code.
Local businesses with repeat repair work: fleets, food plants, quarries, farms with large equipment.

They often compare several shops side by side. They are scanning for a reason to rule you in or out. Make it easy for them: short lists, specific limits, no fluff.

What to list, section by section

Welding processes

List the processes you use regularly, each with one line of what you use it for. For example:

MIG (GMAW): production and general fabrication in mild steel.
TIG (GTAW): stainless, aluminum, thin material and visible welds.
Stick (SMAW): field repairs and structural work outdoors.
Flux-core (FCAW): heavier structural work and outdoor jobs.

If you do specialty work, such as cast iron repair, hardfacing or pipe welding, list it separately. Only list what you do well and would want more of.

Materials and thickness

Say which metals you work with and, if you can, the range of thickness you handle routinely. Mild steel, stainless and aluminum are the usual three. Add others only if you have done them more than once: chrome-moly, cast iron, brass. A line like "Aluminum from thin sheet to heavy plate" is fine if you prefer not to give numbers, but buyers appreciate numbers when you know them.

Equipment and cutting

List the machines that change what you can take on, not every grinder. What matters to a buyer:

Plasma or laser cutting table, with the largest sheet size it takes.
Press brake, with its length and tonnage.
Saws, shears, ironworker, rolls.
Drilling and machining capacity, if any.
Lifting: overhead crane capacity, largest piece that fits through the door.
Mobile rigs: how many, and what they carry.

This is the part of the page that answers "can they physically do it?" Keep it current. A buyer who calls about a machine you sold two years ago will remember.

Certifications and codes

Name the certifications your welders hold and the codes you work to, in the standard way buyers recognize. Many structural shops work to AWS D1.1 for steel; aluminum structural work often refers to AWS D1.2; pressure work refers to ASME Section IX. List only what you can document, and say you can provide welder certificates and procedure records on request if you keep them.

If you are not certified for a code, do not imply it. "We do not do code pressure work" is useful information, and buyers respect it.

Quantities and lead times

Say whether you do one-offs, short runs, ongoing production, or all three. If you take repeat orders, say how you handle them: blanket orders, scheduled releases, keeping stock on hand. Give a general idea of lead time ("most small jobs within two weeks") only if you can keep to it.

Drawings and files

List the file types you accept: PDF drawings, DXF or DWG for cutting, STEP files if you work in 3D. Say whether you can draw from a sketch or a sample part, and whether you offer shop drawings for approval.

Finishing

Buyers want parts ready to install. Say what you do in-house and what you arrange through partners: painting, powder coating, galvanizing, sandblasting. "Powder coating through a local partner, arranged by us" is honest and useful.

Mobile and field welding on the capabilities page

If you weld in the field, give it its own section here, written for business buyers rather than homeowners:

What the rig carries: welders, generator, cutting gear.
The kinds of field jobs you take: equipment repair, structural installs, on-site modifications.
How far you travel and whether you work at plants or job sites with safety requirements.
Whether your crew has the site safety training or badges your clients usually ask for, if that applies.

Project photos with specs

Photos on a capabilities page are proof, so caption them like a buyer would want:

What it is: "Platform and stair for a mezzanine."
Material and process: "A36 steel, MIG and stick, shop primed."
Size or quantity: "Twelve units", "a long run of handrail".
What was special: "Built from a contractor's sketch; we drew the shop drawings."

Use your own photos, taken in daylight, and ask the client before you show work done for them. Some manufacturers do not want their parts shown, and asking first keeps the relationship. Project stories has a pattern for turning a strong job into its own page.

Keeping the page readable

A capabilities page can get dense. A few habits keep it usable on a phone:

Use short headings and lists, as above, not long paragraphs.
Put the phone number and a "send us your drawing" button at the top and the bottom.
Keep a separate, friendlier services page for homeowners and farmers, so this page can stay technical. What a welding shop website needs covers that page.
If you have a printable line card or PDF, link it, but put the main content on the page itself so it works on a phone.

The contact form for this page can ask for a little more than the homeowner form: company name, a file upload, quantity and a needed-by date.

What to do this week

Write your processes, materials and equipment lists from what is on your shop floor today.
Check each certification you list is current and say who holds it.
Pick five jobs and write a four-line caption for each.
Add a file upload to the contact form that accepts PDF and DXF.
Ask one regular customer what they wish your site told them. Their answer is often the missing line.

If your current site has a capabilities page that is out of date or unreadable on a phone, you can see your site rebuilt first from what is already there, and correct the lists before anyone else sees it.