How much to drill a well?

[chris142]

prices are crazy high here now. last year was $125 a ft. Talked to a neighbor who just paid $150 a ft.

I need to go 400 ft!

 

[DRussell]

60,000 dollars to drill a 400 ft well seems excessive.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

That seems WAY high but maybe it's a regional thing. I had a new well drilled about five years ago. Can't remember what they charged but seems like it was 25 drilled and 25 cased. I'll post back if it can find his quote.

 

[wp6529]

It will be regional as the geology of the area dictates the difficulty drilling / time spent drilling / wear on equipment. Drilling in the sand/clay here is very different than drilling in hard granite somewhere else and would / should reasonably cost more for the same depth.

 

[Jim.ME]

Another case of gathering useless info. Your neighbor's price may be in the ballpark for your area given the earlier price you had that you posted. Talk to your local well drillers if you want a correct estimate. What I, my neighbor, or anyone else paid in the last year, or 20 years, most likely doesn't apply to your current case or area, so why bother gathering that information. JMHO

 

[Crazy Horse]

Another case of gathering useless info. Your neighbor's price may be in the ballpark for your area given the earlier price you had that you posted. Talk to your local well drillers if you want a correct estimate. What I, my neighbor, or anyone else paid in the last year, or 20 years, most likely doesn't apply to your current case or area, so why bother gathering that information. JMHO

Good advice Jim .... obviously a LOT of factors involved. Sort of like asking how long is a piece of string? BUT having said that, I can see a guy checking around for comparison sake.

 

[chcase]

prices are crazy high here now. last year was $125 a ft. Talked to a neighbor who just paid $150 a ft.

I need to go 400 ft!

Please call around and get current estimate location, location, location As a licensed person to put in well It mostly depends what the soil is sand clay, will drill easy but granite is a whole different deal. Some areas have depth requirement and other places don't. Nobody on this board can give you a honest estimate.

 

[JOCCO]

I had this come up in the past couple years. Well driller friend said 10 grand. Some were less some were more. I am quite sure it was less than 175 feet.

 

[Jim.ME]

Good advice Jim .... obviously a LOT of factors involved. Sort of like asking how long is a piece of string? BUT having said that, I can see a guy checking around for comparison sake.

It sounds like he actually needs to have a well drilled. He said," I need to go 400 ft!". He said the price was $125/foot a year ago and he talked to a neighbor who just paid $150/ft. I would want a real estimate to work with, not estimates from a discussion forum, if I really needed to have a new well drilled.

What value does comparing prices from across the country have? I don't see the comparison value of what the going price of drilling a well in Maine is to anyone in California, there are just plain too many variables for it to be meaningful. One might get some competition between local drillers, if they need work, but I expect they will just laugh at what someone on a forum told him about a driller from across the country got to drill someone's well and the driller will likely say, "so have them drill it for you", at least the one's around here would.

 

[DanielW]

Around here in the Canadian Shield where the granite bedrock starts just a few feet down prices are always crazy high. But even still, your price seem a touch on the high end. You definitely want to get a few estimates first. There's one guy around my area who's known to be nearly double the price of everyone else - he's has great advertising and a salesman peronality, so he gets all the rich cottagers (of which there's no shortage around here). He's also known to go much deeper than anyone else. Maybe it's a fluke and every well he digs just happens to need to be 150' deeper than any nearby well, but all the locals suspect him of going unnecessarily deep just to charge more once he's already set up. All the locals hate him, and go with one of the other local drillers who are typically much more reasonably-priced.

Also, how do you know you have to go 400 feet? It's not surprising if you do; one of our wells is 600'. But once you get to those kind of depths I don't see how they'd know exactly how deep they need to go until they get down past 200' or so and start checking return rates.

 

[Crazy Horse]

It sounds like he actually needs to have a well drilled. He said," I need to go 400 ft!". He said the price was $125/foot a year ago and he talked to a neighbor who just paid $150/ft. I would want a real estimate to work with, not estimates from a discussion forum, if I really needed to have a new well drilled.

What value does comparing prices from across the country have? I don't see the comparison value of what the going price of drilling a well in Maine is to anyone in California, there are just plain too many variables for it to be meaningful. One might get some competition between local drillers, if they need work, but I expect they will just laugh at what someone on a forum told him about a driller from across the country got to drill someone's well and the driller will likely say, "so have them drill it for you", at least the one's around here would.

I suspect if someone tells us that the price in their area is $200 per foot then one might feel better .... ..... MAYBE? I guess we're all curious creatures down deep.

 

[wp6529]

There are approximate maps of known aquifers in many areas. In my immediate area there is know to be one at around 100' with good quality water but so-so flow rates, and another around 400' with lower water quality but high volumes available. I'm on the 100' aquifer ($4,500 with pump and tank about 8 years ago in this easy drilling clay/sand) and the quality is good (still hard enough to need a softener), but the flow rate is poor so I have to buffer it with am 1,100 gal cistern tank which works fine until the wife forgets and leaves a hose running to animals or garden and runs out the cistern.

 

[Jim.ME]

I suspect if someone tells us that the price in their area is $200 per foot then one might feel better .... ..... MAYBE? I guess we're all curious creatures down deep.

So, when I say mine was only $2200 for 425 feet with the pump and tank installed, he is really going to feel like crap? It was about 20 plus years ago, so it might cost a bit more now.

 

[chris142]

i think a lot of the prices comes from our emissions laws. No diesel equipment can be older than the 2011model year. All the well guys had to buy new trucks. I was quoted $125 last year by all the drillers in my area.

My casing rusted and burried my pump. I cant afford $50-$60k. Might just have to walk away from the house at this point.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

So, when I say mine was only $2200 for 425 feet with the pump and tank installed, he is really going to feel like crap? It was about 20 plus years ago, so it might cost a bit more now.

They drilled one for me, half a mile deep, and it only cost $129.95...

 

[stevieb49829]

$11K for a 500 ft deep dry hole in granite, 4 years ago. We sold the property to the neighbor who already had a well. steve

 

[Blackhole49]

i think a lot of the prices comes from our emissions laws. No diesel equipment can be older than the 2011model year. All the well guys had to buy new trucks. I was quoted $125 last year by all the drillers in my area.

My casing rusted and burried my pump. I cant afford $50-$60k. Might just have to walk away from the house at this point.

Where is it that diesel equipment can't be older than 13 years? When you say "walk away", I sure hope you mean sell. Must be a pretty old house for the casing to do that.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

Where is it that diesel equipment can't be older than 13 years

I want very badly to answer that

 

[Jim.ME]

Where is it that diesel equipment can't be older than 13 years? When you say "walk away", I sure hope you mean sell. Must be a pretty old house for the casing to do that.

California, I believe is where he resides.

 

[chris142]

Where is it that diesel equipment can't be older than 13 years? When you say "walk away", I sure hope you mean sell. Must be a pretty old house for the casing to do that.

California. without water the house cant be sold. Well was drilled in 1965. house is mid 50's