Hire commercial divers for underwater welding and repairs
Underwater welding and repair covers structural fixes that cannot wait for a dry dock or a dewatered site: welding patches, doublers and brackets onto steel hulls, piles and sheet piling; cutting away damaged steel; repairing or jacketing pilings; and fitting or replacing hardware such as structural anodes, intake grates and ladders.
The American Welding Society's D3.6M:2017 Underwater Welding Code covers welding under water in both wet and dry environments. It sets three weld classes: Class A (comparable to above-water welding), Class B (for less critical applications) and Class O (to meet another designated code) (AWS). A good result is a repair made to the class your engineer specifies, with a written procedure, before-and-after video and inspection records.
This is commercial diving, not a job for a recreational diver. Plan for a dive team rather than a single diver, a written dive plan and an engineer's specification for the repair. In the US, OSHA's commercial diving rules apply to every place of employment where diving is performed, with a few listed exemptions such as instruction, government search and rescue, and qualifying scientific programs (OSHA 1910.401); Ontario and Great Britain have their own rules, described below.
DiverHire is a new marketplace in public beta. Post the repair free with drawings, depth and access details, compare bids from commercial divers, and check their certificates and insurance yourself. Payment is arranged directly with the diver or company you choose, and DiverHire takes no fee on jobs.
Who needs this
- Ports, marinas and terminals: steel pile and sheet-pile repairs, fender and ladder fixes, anodes on structures.
- Commercial vessel operators: hull patches, sea-chest grates and damage repairs to reach the next dry-dock.
- Waterfront property owners: failing steel seawalls, boat-lift frames and piling repairs.
- Marine and civil contractors: a dive team for the underwater part of a larger project.
- Utilities and municipalities: intake screens, outfalls and gates.
Hire only commercial divers for this work. In Ontario the diving regulation applies to all diving operations except federally regulated ones, recreational diving and a few other cases, and employers must ensure divers meet the competency requirements of CSA Z275.4 (Ontario Ministry of Labour). In Great Britain, the Diving at Work Regulations 1997 say no diver may dive in a diving project without an HSE-approved qualification valid for any activity they may reasonably expect to carry out (HSE approved list, 2026). See how to hire a diver for the questions to ask.
Typical pricing
Ask for underwater welding and structural repair to be quoted per diver-hour or per team-day, with mobilisation (getting the crew, dive station and welding gear to site), materials and any engineering or weld inspection listed separately. Some firms set team minimums, so even a short job carries the cost of a full crew. We could not find a public welding rate card to cite; the nearest published figures, for scale, are these:
- Jacksonville, Florida: hull cleaning on commercial vessels at USD 225 per diver-hour with a three-diver minimum, a cleaning rate rather than a repair rate (DS Diving, 2026).
- Northern Washington: damaged-piling retrofits (carbon wrap or concrete forms, not welding) at USD 250/h plus materials (PNW Diving Services, viewed September 2026).
Quotes vary with depth, visibility, access, travel and team size, and with the weld class and inspection your engineer requires. Ask for a separate mobilisation price, a day rate and an estimate of days, so bids can be compared line by line.
Guides
- How to Hire a Diver: A Checklist for Boat Owners and Marinas
- Planning, Pricing & Recording Underwater Work: A Guide for Clients and Divers
Required / preferred certifications
- AWS D3.6M:2017 Underwater Welding Code (Class A, B, O welds)
- ADCI Entry-level tender/diver
- ADCI Air diver
- DCBC Unrestricted Surface Supplied Diver (trained in burning and welding)
- HSE Surface Supplied Diving (Great Britain)
Other diving services
- Underwater inspection
- Underwater photography
- Salvage operations
- Boat & hull cleaning
- Marine research support
- Marine surveying
- Underwater cleanup
Commercial diving by city
- Aberdeen, UK
- Anchorage, USA
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Baltimore, USA
- Boston, USA
- Brisbane, Australia
- Charleston, USA
- Chicago, USA
- Cleveland, USA
- Corpus Christi, USA
- Detroit, USA
- Dubai, UAE
- Duluth, USA
- Fort Lauderdale, USA
- Galveston, USA
- Halifax, Canada
- Hamburg, Germany
- Honolulu, USA
- Houston, USA
- Jacksonville, USA
- Jersey City, USA
- Key West, USA
- London, UK
- Long Beach, USA
- Melbourne, Australia
- Miami, USA
- Milwaukee, USA
- Mississauga, Canada
- Mobile, USA
- Montreal, Canada
- New Orleans, USA
- New York, USA
- Norfolk, USA
- Oakland, USA
- Perth, Australia
- Philadelphia, USA
- Portland, USA
- Portland, USA
- Rotterdam, Netherlands
- San Diego, USA
- San Francisco, USA
- Savannah, USA
- Seattle, USA
- Singapore, Singapore
- St. John's, Canada
- Sydney, Australia
- Tampa, USA
- Toronto, Canada
- Vancouver, Canada
- Victoria, Canada
Need a welding & repairs diver?
Post a job for free and compare bids from divers who serve your area.