Well digging costs

[hallett21]

I realize this probably has 50 different factors but I’m just curious what well digging costs are.

Scenario:

Two 20amp 240v pumps that are supposedly drilled 20 ft deep next to a creek. When the creek goes dry so do the pumps. Supposedly there is water down at 150 ft. Trying to figure out some really rough options for a client.

Ground elevation is roughly 800ft above sea level.

Cost to dig the hole, set the vertical pipe, mount a motor and tie into existing pipes that go to the tanks.

Thanks!

 

[c_land]

@welldigger00

 

[HNL2LHC]

@was thatguy might have some insight. I have a friend that just went down 300‘ On a well that was he had dug on his property in Minden NV. I can ask numbers if that would help let m know.

 

[was thatguy]

I realize this probably has 50 different factors but I’m just curious what well digging costs are.

Scenario:

Two 20amp 240v pumps that are supposedly drilled 20 ft deep next to a creek. When the creek goes dry so do the pumps. Supposedly there is water down at 150 ft. Trying to figure out some really rough options for a client.

Ground elevation is roughly 800ft above sea level.

Cost to dig the hole, set the vertical pipe, mount a motor and tie into existing pipes that go to the tanks.

Thanks!

Just curious.
What are the wells for?
It makes a difference.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Up here, the wells average 200ft. Hole, pump, casing and electrical is about 20k. Problem we have, only a couple outfits drill, and I think only one electrical guy between the two. May be much cheaper elsewhere.

 

[welldigger00]

Figure a $100 a foot all in. The best place to start is by calling your local environmental health department, or whoever the permits are obtained from locally. Then ask them for their list of approved contractors. Then do a yelp or google search on if they’re credible. Then reach out to them on your specific area, to get an idea of all the unforeseen costs, and expectations. Pm for more info if you’d like. But not till Monday. I just rolled up to Parker and I’m gonna get my booze on, and I’ll likely leave my phone at the house!

 

[tunnel vision]

Drilled a well at my lake house in central Oregon, we had to go 900' deep but were getting 30gpm. We used a VFD pump, and it cost $38k.

 

[lbhsbz]

Drilled a well at my lake house in central Oregon, we had to go 900' deep but were getting 30gpm. We used a VFD pump, and it cost $38k.

Is that far enough down where they apply tariffs?

 

[hallett21]

Just curious.
What are the wells for?
It makes a difference.

Property irrigation. It’s a horse property. Trying to water the horses on city water and do everything else on well water.

Las virgines water district if it maters.

 

[Runs2rch]

Is that far enough down where they apply tariffs?

Had to be close to China for sure!

 

[Romans9]

400ft

Up here, the wells average 200ft. Hole, pump, casing and electrical is about 20k. Problem we have, only a couple outfits drill, and I think only one electrical guy between the two. May be much cheaper elsewhere.

Almost identical to the price here in Missouri. 400ft deep, same money.

 

[HNL2LHC]

Had to be close to China for sure!

So far down I bet the water is steam as it is so close to the center of the earth and magma OR is the earth it flat I bet it pokes through the other side

@rmarion any thoughts on this?

 

[tunnel vision]

Is that far enough down where they apply tariffs?

Damn near

 

[Ruzi]

For what it’s worth, I work for a municipality in SoCal and we’re budgeting 1.8M for a new well. I believe it’s around 1200’ deep and a 300ish HP motor. Should be about 1200GPM.

 

[Runs2rch]

For what it’s worth, I work for a municipality in SoCal and we’re budgeting 1.8M for a new well. I believe it’s around 1200’ deep and a 300ish HP motor. Should be about 1200GPM.

So who's pockets is the 1.5 Million lining???

 

[SLT Kota]

So who's pockets is the 1.5 Million lining???

I know from working with other citites that the bigger the diameter the hole both the price and the amount of water go up exponentially.

 

[Ruzi]

So who's pockets is the 1.5 Million lining???

How do you think I can afford the wonderful world of boating?

I know from working with other citites that the bigger the diameter the hole both the price and the amount of water go up exponentially.

I’d imagine this budget is also including land acquisition, dosing and analyzer equipment, a building for that equipment and so on…

 

[welldigger00]

So who's pockets is the 1.5 Million lining???

The difference in every aspect of domestic well production to a municipal public water well production is on several orders of magnitude. I owned and operated a mom and pop drilling and pump company for 25 years, and at my peak I employed 20 or so employee, and had three to four rigs running at one time, and a few pump hoists. An individual domestic well project on average would be a week or so from start to finish for a small cookie cutter deal. Three dudes, 150 gallons of fuel a day, and 60hrs or so on wages per dude. A municipal project is typically a 24 hrs a day deal, with prevail, and engineers, inspectors, etc. Ripping a 10” bore into rock with air/foam, or standard circ mud is predictable for the most part. Especially if it’s in your territory. A 30” hole reverse with no additive it a strange town? Holy shit, that’s nightmare fuel. Fuck that. That’s “was that guy’s” game. Once you start a reverse project, you can’t turn it off until the media envelop is all the was to the top of your liner. Not including some kind of exotic stainless screen at $700 per foot, and exotic glass bead filter media. But what do I know, I’m just a truck driver now

 

[AZLineman]

Up here, the wells average 200ft. Hole, pump, casing and electrical is about 20k. Problem we have, only a couple outfits drill, and I think only one electrical guy between the two. May be much cheaper elsewhere.

I have 3 wells, That is crazy cheap for these days. My neighbor just went down 280, water at 90, pump tank everything 55K.

 

[monkeyswrench]

I have 3 wells, That is crazy cheap for these days. My neighbor just went down 280, water at 90, pump tank everything 55K.

I don't know what accessories cost. The 20k (last year or so) got a hole you could plug a genny in and get water from. It may be it's cheaper because the drillers are Brothers or father/son...it's all a family deal between the "competitors". They have old rigs, Detroit powered stuff. In 13 years, only seen one out of town rig...shiny yellow from Buckeye iirc.

 

[was thatguy]

The difference in every aspect of domestic well production to a municipal public water well production is on several orders of magnitude. I owned and operated a mom and pop drilling and pump company for 25 years, and at my peak I employed 20 or so employee, and had three to four rigs running at one time, and a few pump hoists. An individual domestic well project on average would be a week or so from start to finish for a small cookie cutter deal. Three dudes, 150 gallons of fuel a day, and 60hrs or so on wages per dude. A municipal project is typically a 24 hrs a day deal, with prevail, and engineers, inspectors, etc. Ripping a 10” bore into rock with air/foam, or standard circ mud is predictable for the most part. Especially if it’s in your territory. A 30” hole reverse with no additive it a strange town? Holy shit, that’s nightmare fuel. Fuck that. That’s “was that guy’s” game. Once you start a reverse project, you can’t turn it off until the media envelop is all the was to the top of your liner. Not including some kind of exotic stainless screen at $700 per foot, and exotic glass bead filter media. But what do I know, I’m just a truck driver now

Yep

I drilled for an established outfit out of Phoenix.
He has a wide variety of rigs and operations.
I ran a Jeffco 110 top drive and a Taylor 250 rotary rig doing primarily city wells in AZ.
Always flooded reverse, full pit system.
Stainless screen and blanks, 22” or 27”, glass beads from Sweden or whatever.
We’d spud with over 100’ of 10” or 12” steel collars to maintain straightness within .5 of a degree. About 1200’ TD typically.
Usually a 14” or so pilot hole, then wireline to check deviation, then hole opener to 30” or whatever.
City wells, as you know, have a tight tolerance for deviation. They will be rejected if out of tolerance. A lot of outfits can’t afford the collars or even the rig to drill these wells.
Now add in the 2-3 extra 2” drop pipes for gravel check and fill, water level and sample line, pump and draw down tests, not to mention the phone book thick contract detailing requirements for the entire process.
They are a far cry from a domestic water well.
I’ve never seen any city well come in under $1.3 million or so.
The outfit I worked for usually won the bids without being low bidder, because they could actually do the job.
I never saw it first hand, but I know more than once that they were hired to come in a take over a city well that a lower bidder simply could not perform on.
These wells are usually staged for revenue recovery and capture.

 

[welldigger00]

Yep

I drilled for an established outfit out of Phoenix.
He has a wide variety of rigs and operations.
I ran a Jeffco 110 top drive and a Taylor 250 rotary rig doing primarily city wells in AZ.
Always flooded reverse, full pit system.
Stainless screen and blanks, 22” or 27”, glass beads from Sweden or whatever.
We’d spud with over 100’ of 10” or 12” steel collars to maintain straightness within .5 of a degree. About 1200’ TD typically.
Usually a 14” or so pilot hole, then wireline to check deviation, then hole opener to 30” or whatever.
City wells, as you know, have a tight tolerance for deviation. They will be rejected if out of tolerance. A lot of outfits can’t afford the collars or even the rig to drill these wells.
Now add in the 2-3 extra 2” drop pipes for gravel check and fill, water level and sample line, pump and draw down tests, not to mention the phone book thick contract detailing requirements for the entire process.
They are a far cry from a domestic water well.
I’ve never seen any city well come in under $1.3 million or so.
The outfit I worked for usually won the bids without being low bidder, because they could actually do the job.
I never saw it first hand, but I know more than once that they were hired to come in a take over a city well that a lower bidder simply could not perform on.
These wells are usually staged for revenue recovery and capture.

It made total sense back when everything was turban. Now that they’ve switch to subs with equivalent hp, you could totally get away with deviation. The engineers think that it’s a lazar beam that bores the hole. Fuck, throw in a few boulders, or clay seams just right, and now you’ve got a decent kick.

 

[25Elmn8r]

Up here, the wells average 200ft. Hole, pump, casing and electrical is about 20k. Problem we have, only a couple outfits drill, and I think only one electrical guy between the two. May be much cheaper elsewhere.

Pretty close to our pricing here in N Idaho.
We ended up going 280' and got 100gpm. All in we were about $23k.
We also had to wait about 18 months for them to get to us. I heard it is well over 2 years wait time now.

 

[was thatguy]

It made total sense back when everything was turban. Now that they’ve switch to subs with equivalent hp, you could totally get away with deviation. The engineers think that it’s a lazar beam that bores the hole. Fuck, throw in a few boulders, or clay seams just right, and now you’ve got a decent kick.

Caliche is NOT your friend!

 

[welldigger00]

Caliche is NOT your friend!

No shit!! Learned that the hard way in Lucerne valley! You’ve got to drill the same hole three times is swells so bad. Or run expensive long chain polymers that wreak havoc on the shaker. Shill throw three foot ropes in the air off the scalper…

 

[1manshow]

So who's pockets is the 1.5 Million lining???

Exactly!! Someone is cutting a fat hog on that well. I just drilled a 1000 ft well and it was 300.00 a foot and the pump and 250hp motor and electrical was another 165,000. We setting it up to pump around 1500 GPM

 

[kimbalee]

Neighbor here in Northern Nevada near Gardnerville had a well that was at 80ft. Had a new well dug at 200ft - $38k with pump. That was about 6 months ago. Our soil is almost 100% sand/dg, no rocks at all.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Exactly!! Someone is cutting a fat hog on that well. I just drilled a 1000 ft well and it was 300.00 a foot and the pump and 250hp motor and electrical was another 165,000. We setting it up to pump around 1500 GPM

Is this for ag or municipality? F'k that's a lot of water

 

[1manshow]

Is this for ag or municipality? F'k that's a lot of water

It’s a ag well

 

[hallett21]

According to the gauge it did 19 gallons in a minute.