Anyone drill a well lately?

[DaveNay]

I got my first estimate for having a second well put in at the farm, and I almost fell out of my chair. This estimate is from the same company who put in the existing well on the property in 1996, and they gave me numbers for duplicating the exact same well (same depth, casing, pump, etc.) They gave me an estimate of $9000 for a 120' deep sand and gravel well. That comes out to $75 per foot, and as usual with wells, there is no guarantee they won't have to go deeper.

I have never had a well drilled, but my gut is telling me that is on the high side.

 

[Big Dog]

I got my first estimate for having a second well put in at the farm, and I almost fell out of my chair. This estimate is from the same company who put in the existing well on the property in 1996, and they gave me numbers for duplicating the exact same well (same depth, casing, pump, etc.) They gave me an estimate of $9000 for a 120' deep sand and gravel well. That comes out to $75 per foot, and as usual with wells, there is no guarantee they won't have to go deeper.

I have never had a well drilled, but my gut is telling me that is on the high side.

That's robbery plain and simple! You should be in the 2-3 thousand dollar range.

 

[Cowboyjg]

Ye sir....I'd say that's just a little out there.

Havn't drilled any at "the farm" yet but $3k to $4k in my part of Fla was typical to 150' with extra $ beyond that. Cant speak to the the other info like size, pump type etc but that was for 4" pipe with submersible pump.

 

[Junkman]

Most well drillers charge by the foot of drilling. They also quote the casing as a separate item and it also is by the foot. Get the best price that you can and negotiate from there with the least expensive driller. Don't muddy the waters with the cost of the equipment to get the water out of the well. You can do that yourself, or get bids on that later on. I put my one pump system in 20+ years ago and it is still working. I have done a bunch of them when they get struck by lightning. Nothing can protect a well from lightning. If you don't try to pin the driller down to a very specific time period, they will give you a better price. That way, when a slack time comes, they come and do your well. You just want to give him a general time frame, such as the next 3 months. If you give them too much time, then they might not ever get to it. NEVER give them any money in advance. Around here, they want money in advance to tie you down. They have your money and you think that you are not free to go to someone else. When I had mine done, we had an "agreement". It covered the cost and a time period. If they didn't do it in that time period, then I could find someone else and had no obligation to them. I never gave them a deposit. Some well drillers don't care about how they treat you because they will only deal with you once in a lifetime. How often does one have a well drilled?????? Junk...

 

[BigAl]

I got my first estimate for having a second well put in at the farm, and I almost fell out of my chair. This estimate is from the same company who put in the existing well on the property in 1996, and they gave me numbers for duplicating the exact same well (same depth, casing, pump, etc.) They gave me an estimate of $9000 for a 120' deep sand and gravel well. That comes out to $75 per foot, and as usual with wells, there is no guarantee they won't have to go deeper.

I have never had a well drilled, but my gut is telling me that is on the high side.

Idaho === $3000 for everything complete . I just went over this with a well driller . $9000 ????? ....yea thats a little high !!!!!

 

[Cityboy]

Georgia - 6" diameter 560' deep well in granite with 6-1/4" casing. Guaranteed to drill until you get at least 5 GPM. I wound up with over 60 GPM and hit water at 120', 265' and 320'. Driller stopped at 560'. Total price with diaphram tank installed in the basement $3,800. That was in 1998.

 

[Grooming Snow]

You have to remember that this is in Illinios & they have hard water Which make it harder to drill for
Boy O Boy It dose sound high but ? I hear people here in Wisconsin paying in the $6,000 but that would be for ever thing and thats in by 10am and out by 3pm The guy next door had one put in last year 150' .
When we drilled a new well in 1988 $10.00 A FOOT BUT it took 4 day to pound it with the old cable drill total cost for 100' well with 60' of 6' casing and 40' in to the rock & a submersible pump that I plumb myself was $1,400.00 and water is at about 20 feet from the top of the well cap and we pull about 12,000 to 15,000 gallons a day out for the cattle and milking and I forgot about my teen age girl with the 1/2 hour showers 2x a day.
I have ask what the hell can you be doing that takes a 1/2 hour and

 

[AndyM]

I'm at 200 feet, and I was charged $5000 for the drilling and setting the pump. That was three years ago.

 

[DaveNay]

Got another quote......this one's even higher! $9800 for a 250'

Sucks to be me.

 

[Junkman]

Dang you....... stop getting quotes on the pump, because that is where they are raping you. Keep that seperate so you are comparing apples to apples, nothing else...... Junk....

 

[Cityboy]

Those prices are unbelieveable! A $5,000 well complete with pump and tank would be considered outrageous here. Figuring in material and labor this guy is probably looking to make a profit of well over $7,500 according to a local well driller I know.

Looks to me like there is opportunity for investment in a well drilling business in your area. Ya'll need more competition, big time.

 

[REDDOGTWO]

Your price for one well is more than what I paid to have three wells drilled, with pumps on two of them. They are shallow wells.

I had the three wells drilled two years ago. It cost me 2400 to drill all three. The depth on them was close to sixty feet each. The well with the five horse motor and controller cost an additional 2513.00. The well that has a horse and half, a variable speed controller and pressure tank was an additional 2707.00. The total was 7620.00 for all three.

 

[mtntopper]

Started drilling today on another mountain property we own at $30.00 a foot for drilling and casing. No wiring or pump work is included at this price. Many unknowns in drilling at 8400 foot in the mountains including lots of solid rock and other things to screw up the rig and cost more money. Hoping to only have to drill about 100 foot on this one as it is between two other wells that are both less than 100 feet and produce about 15 gallons per minute on same north sloping mountain side.

 

[mtntopper]

We hit water at about 120 feet on Monday and are producing about 8 to 10 gallons a minute. Drilled on down to 200 and set the pump at 160 feet. This gives a reserve of about 140 gallons stored in well casing as the water in the well casing is now at about 20 feet below the ground surface.

First attempt on last Friday was not so great. The ground at about 20 to 50 feet below the surface would not allow the drill stem out without collapsing inward and having to re-drill through the same area each time. Quit after about 50 total feet and 4+ hours with $800 in added labor plus material costs. This will sometimes happen in our area but not frequently. You are more likely to hit an underground cavity or cavern and have to start over. Relocated to about 50 feet away and did not have that problem on Monday.

Total cost with the pump and basic wiring will be about $34 per foot which does not include the first attempt on Friday.

Our remote location and the demand for drill rigs in the CBM (coal bed methane) area near us brings the costs to drill for water up higher than in many areas. Most rigs in this area are booked ahead for up to a year in advance. Hundreds of rigs are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in development of the CBM resources in the Powder River Basin area of Wyoming.

 

[joasis]

In Oklahoma, the quoted cost for a water well currently is $7.50 a ft, which includes 4 inch casing, and gravel pack, and a flow test. Minimum of $750, so I feel pretty lucky, since I am going to have 2 drilled in the mext few months...since the minimum applies, if both wells are 60 feet, I will only pay the actual feet drilled times 2 wells, since they are both on the same property. A 1 hp power pump and tank here, from my supplier, is less the $600...sounds like you are being taken for a high dollar ride.

 

[DaveNay]

...sounds like you are being taken for a high dollar ride.

Thankfully, we have changed our plans and the new building will be located close enough to the existing well that we don't need to drill a new well, we can just run some lines to the arena for the hydrants.

The cool part is they are going to directionally drill the new lines, and only need a small pit where the hydrant is located, and then they horizontally drill towards the house (under the windmill tower, under the driveway and under the pool) and then right through the foundation wall. I won't have any surface repairs to do after trenching 250'.