Does Water Borehole Drilling Have a Cost Per Metre?
The short answer: yes, absolutely.
When you’re weighing up the possibility of having your own personal water supply in the form of a borehole, how much it will cost is high on the list, and while the total cost of drilling a water borehole can significantly vary depending on numerous factors, the cost isn’t based on just a simple ‘per metre drilled’.
Installing a borehole is similar to building a house. The final price depends on the size, materials, and finishes you choose, but the foundation price is normally billed by the cubic metre of concrete poured or by the metre of trench dug. Likewise with borehole drilling: the deeper you need to drill to ensure a decent supply by intercepting the water flowing through fissures in the rocks, the more expensive it will generally be.
Several key considerations are involved in the price of a borehole:
The largest one is the geology of the location. Drilling through hard rock such as granite is a lot quicker for our fleet than drilling through soft clay or sand. The hardness of the rock and the nature of the rock have a direct effect on the speed of drilling, the type of drill bit needed, and the length of time the drilling rig and team are on site.
The bigger the borehole required for higher water or specific pump installations, require more effort and potentially specialist equipment and hence be more expensive per metre.
The type of drilling technique used – There are many different drilling techniques, and they each cost different amounts. Rotary drilling, for example, is normal for deeper holes in most kinds of geology, but cable percussion drilling might be used in softer ground. The level of complexity and how quickly the method is will affect the cost.
If your site is located in a remote area or has restricted access for drilling equipment, this can contribute to the logistical costs and potentially the metre cost.
While not actually a “per metre” cost, the expense of having your drilling rig and crew mobilised to your location and then leaving is typically part of the overall quote, and this can be included in the cost per metre impression.
Just like with any service, your local market rates and the level of competition between drilling firms will play a role in determining price – what does that mean for you?
While you might expect a per-metre cost to be the main part of your borehole drilling quote, it is significant that you have a breakdown detailed by potential contractors. An unreasonably low per-metre cost may be tempting, but if drilling is slow due to unsuitable equipment or other essential services left out, the whole project might be more expensive.
- A good drilling quote should optimally include:
- A clear wording of the approximated cost per metre.
- A rough depth bracket to reach an acceptable amount of water (though variable once drilling is initiated).
- Costs of mobilisation and demobilisation.
- Lining or casing charges (plastic pipework installed inside the borehole to prevent collapse and contamination), most likely quoted on a per-metre basis too.
- Gravel to act as a layer of filtration for the water flowing into the borehole and bentonite to ensure there is no surface level contamination.
- Borehole development and testing.
- Any additional permit costs, environmental investigations, or equipment expenses.
In short, yes drilling boreholes for water most definitely does come at a cost per metre as part of its standard pricing structure. However, such cost is pre-dictated on a varied array of geological, logistical and market factors.
If you’d like to chat through some options, feel free to contact us.