Posted: 4/28/2008 3:26:19 PM EDT
OK, the first guy wanted 17 bucks a foot, including the casing! The second guy wanted 14 bucks a foot, including casing...  same guy (last one) was 7 bucks a foot couple of years ago. they say "diesel costs" are the reason....(their drills run on gas.) am I getting raped here? I am ready to get a shovel and start freaking digging!!! |
here in CO you can't start for less than $100.00 per foot! the kicker is there's no guarantee. former riding buddy had them go down 100ft and still nothing, went another 50 and stopped. mostly rock (foothills) but still had to pay. |
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First off all no V-12 Cat engine that I know of runs on gas. Secondly, as of today here in PA my cost on steel casing was up to 10.00 per foot for quality 6" 15lb/ft casing. Take into consideration that a drill rig gets about 5 mpg, a rig tender that gets 7, both running on diesel and that the V-12 deck engine runs full bore for about 6 hours on a typical well. Then add in wage and insurance costs for two people competent enough to operate a $750,000 piece of equipment safely while performing intense physical labor in dirty and miserable conditions. Then subtracts out the benefits of getting high quality pollution free clean water that will last a lifetime for your family no matter what happens to the local city water supply. I think its plenty fair to ask for $4000-$6000 for such an item. In fact, its far less than your average septic system, 1/5 the cost of most vehicles, 1/100 the cost of many houses, and your gonna come on here and bitch about getting raked over the coals......If the driller is only charging $14 a foot with casing he is getting screwed on the deal I know what it costs to drill a well and its well north of $14 per foot. But I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I would get some low pay, ill trained illegal immigrants to do it cheaper so that you can save a little money as long as they don't come calling for you job next. |
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My brother-in-law owns a dairy farm. Three years ago he and his brother bought up the assets of a well digging company because they had gotten sticker shock when they had to drill their farm irrigation well in a different spot. They figured that it was easy and they could make some money of the side. In that time they have been making more money (per hour) by digging wells than they make by dairy farming. If they stopped dairy farming they could go state wide and make more money overall. |
+1 my old man installs septic systems he finally raise his prices this year because of diesel been the same rates since about 2000 to try to stay somewhat competitive with unlicensed fly by night guys one side benefit is high fuel costs are driving out alot of the unlicensed fly by night guys down side is alot of my dads business is unfucking unlicensed fly by night guys jobs he is always amused when people say I can have my brother's uncle cousin do it for half he says sounds like a good deal go ahead heres my card call me when the county comes by to inspect it and it will be 25% more because I have to tear out 90% of the " new" system |
Unless the drilling out there in WA is far different than it is here I highly doubt they went out and spent close to a close to a million dollars on the machinery it takes to drill a quality well properly in order to save $4000. Again, unless they are shallow wells getting surface water which maybe alright for irrigation not okay for human consumption there is nothing easy about drilling a well. It takes alot of smarts and knowledge of rock formations, drilling practices, and machinery to do it. Are they insured? Well drilling has some of the highest insurance rates there are because of the dangers involved. I highly doubt that its really "easy" for them if they are legit. |
Is it safe to assume you drill wells for a living? 
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alter your pitch, velocity, and attitude please.  point well taken, sarcasm rejected. |
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well, my mistake for asking in general discussion I guess. but "whoa" to all you people that overpaid and now think I should.... You overpaid. That's right, believe it or not, you overpaid. Yall are living in a have it now pay for it later world and I can't fault you for that, not your fault. nothing is. Let me also say unlike most people who can justify paying TOO MUCH MONEY for a well, I built a farmhouse for what your SUV costs. I don't have a mcmansion. Most around here paid around 6 to 7 bucks a foot recently, it's a little farming community where people don't compete with what their neighbor has in their garage, cause they got no garage. There aren't mobile homes within miles, just old fashioned farmhouses. So let me humbly thank you guys for the replies, but it looks like I had no business even asking this here. Most of you pay more for a meal on the town than I pay for food all week.
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| I know my Dad was looking at the cost to have a new well dug at a property he bought in Arkansas. The original well is over 60 years old and he wanted a price just in case that one dried up. He was quoted around 12-14k and was told the average depth for the area was between 150-250 ft to get into good water. |
| Fordguy. Sorry about the sarcasm its just frustrating to see people say they are getting raped by someone in my industry who is in fact giving them not that bad of a deal. And the you get the prerequisite yahoos who say get the amish or do it yourself or my uncle says its easy. In fact, if the industry took profit margins more in line with other construction industries that cost would be much higher. I can tell you its not just the cost of diesel. The cost of steel casing has nearly doubled in the last two years. The cost of diesel has more than doubled. The cost of health insurance has gone up significantly also. Our company has put its prices up about 20%.....in the last 5 years. The reason is because you get these fly by night guys who don't have insurance and most of the time don't do it properly. In an industry where the customer cannot see the end product there are lots of tricks and ways to cheat and the majority of the time the cheaters are the part timer two bit operations. Plastic casing that is not strong enough in many rock formations to be pounded down to properly seal off surface water from contaminating your families well is one trick. Another is to quote a low price then drill to Tibet as the incremental cost is not that much and it helps to lower the fixed cost of coming out to the job. Also beware that no one around here gives a cased cost. We give a cost per foot for the drilling and a cost per foot for the casing. There is no way to tell exactly how much casing you need relative to the depth of the hole itself. The casing only needs to be done to hard bedrock which could be 20ft or 200 ft. depending on the exact location. Again sorry for the sarcasm its just the internet commando mentality of brothers in laws cousins uncle and I are gonna get some silver tipped titanium shovels and dig ourselves a well is enough to piss anyone off after a hard day in the well drilling business. I wouldn't expect you to overpay for a well thats not what I was trying to say, just remember you get what you pay for and we drill a properly constructed 200 ft. well for about $4000. Were not making tons of money on it but were doing it right paying our workers fair wages and properly insuring ourselves to protect everyone, and making enough to cover equipment costs involved I hope your contractor does the same. |
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I do wonder why if fuel is driving all the drillers up, why are some 14, some are 35, some are 42 a foot? Fuel is equally high everywhere, to within a few dimes...not ten or fifteen dillars..? Well, they charge that because that's what the market will bear in their community. I support capitalism. All I ask is don't tell me "that's what I have to charge to stay in business" when in reality that's what you charge because....that's what you CAN charge in this area! Nothing wrong with that, just don't blow smoke, cry poormouth, and expect me to believe it. |
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I live in a small farming community as well and those quotes are inline for what I was quoted last year. My current well is around 135 ft, and when we pulled the pump to do some work bringing it to code, it looked like there was 30ft of water. So rather than drilling a new well we just made the current one right with the DNR. |
If only life were that simple Fordguy. I guess if you want to be ignorant that's fine. I was trying to help you out by explaining the various costs that go into a properly constructed well so that you don't get screwed by someone playing games. Instead of listening you choose to insult me saying Im crying poormouth and blowing smoke when you clearly don't know shit. The people posting their quotes are from all over the country. You see the ground underneath of each persons property contains different rocks. In some areas these rocks are soft such as limestone and shale. In other areas the rocks are hard such as granite. No lets say you are gonna drill a hole in your head with a handdrill to let some of the ignorance out. If your thick skull were made of plastic it wouldn't be such a hard task. If your skull was made of hardened stainless steel this simple task would be much harder on your hand drill, bits, and take alot more time to drill the same thickness of your skull. Drilling in granite can take days to do a well where drilling in a limestone well can take a few hours. No how can a driller charge the same for both? Do you know even know what grade of casing you were quoted was it 13 lb/ft. 15 lb/ft. 19 lb/ft. steel or was it plastic it all matters. Are they going to grout the well? In areas out west the drillers may have to travel a couple hundred miles. We do things the way they are supposed to be done according to the National Ground Water Association recommendations and all local pertinent municipal regulations some of which require permits and setting up appointments which inspectors all of which is included in the per ft. price. I can tell you it costs us about $14/ft for a drilled and cased section especially in hard rock when using 15lb. steel casing. After the casing its about we charge about $7.00 per foot. Don't post ignorant things like its just a matter of what we can charge cause its far more difficult that. |
dougman, you came out of left field with your comments, I wasn't talking to you or about you. I appreciate your input, but your attitude is way out of line. It's perfectly reasonable to question the disparity in costs across the country, my question was genuine, I wasn't throwing stones, "crying poormouth" is a saying from my family, sorry if you took exception to that, but come on, stop being so defensive, ok? 
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The reason? How about warranty? And the fact the low-ball quote probably has some fine boiler plate about "incidental costs" and "force majure". If you don't get a signed contract with performance claims, there is the reason. Drilling water wells has many risks. Considering this is an investment that will last for at least 50 years, don't skimp. Going cheap is like using a Lorcin for concealed carry. |
Yup...I paid over $16k on my 620 foot deep well here in Wyoming. |
I see the same thing in many threads Like I say it makes me realize the gap between my world and the one that many on this board claim they live in or in other words I realize just how countrified I am. 
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+1. Doug you came on a bit strong right out of the gate. if he was refering to one of your quotes i get it but you need to not take it so personal. on another note glad im on city water... until drought hits.... 
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You can't see why I got a little annoyed with the OP? This doesn't sound so much like a genuine question as a sarcastic rhetorical question followed by an uninformed conclusion.
It's followed up by this gem which, being as I am the only member in the business that is posting about why it costs so much two posts above yours, its seemed to be pretty obviously directed towards me. Fordguy If I thought you were asking a genuine questions here with this post I would'nt have chewed you out but you solicited free advise in GD, in a sarcastic way, about cost of well drilling. I was the only one who provided you with truthful reasons why the cost is the way it is and you replied basically calling me a liar. |
actually you pretty much walked all up and down the CoC but don't let that stop you  Good thing you ain't a cop or a lawyer cause you would have a stroke around here |
is this how you relax at the end of a work day? You're going to need a stint before long there brother. Again, NOT ABOUT YOU. |
again with the "about me" type thinking? uh, no.
I bet you're just up to your knees in business with that attitude. |