Water Well Drilling Bid Calculator: Price a Well With Dry-Hole Risk

What should this water well cost?

Type the depth and formation, your drilling and rig costs, the casing, seal and pump system, the trench and the move, and the chance of a dry hole. The tool shows the bid that earns your margin, your break-even, the effective price per foot, and what one dry hole costs you.

Arithmetic on figures you type. Not financial, tax or business advice. The example figures are placeholders, not your rate card or your suppliers' prices.

1. The hole

Planned total depth (feet)

Overburden above rock (feet)

Soil, clay and gravel you case through.

Casing set (feet)

Grouted seal (feet)

Sealed annulus.

2. Drilling by formation

Overburden consumables ($ per foot)

Bits, fuel and consumables.

Rock consumables ($ per foot)

Bits, hammer wear, fuel.

Overburden feet per rig hour

Rock feet per rig hour

Setup, development and cleanup (rig hours)

Rig, compressor and crew ($ per rig hour)

3. Casing, seal and pump system

Casing and shoe ($ per foot)

Grout or bentonite ($ per foot)

Pitless adapter and cap ($)

Pump, motor, wire and drop pipe ($)

Pressure tank, switch and fittings ($)

Pump and tank install (hours)

Install crew ($ per hour)

4. Trench, permit and move

Trench and electric run (feet)

Well to house.

Trench, water line and wire ($ per foot)

Permit, well log and water test ($)

Mobilization ($)

Move the rig on and off.

5. Risk, overhead and margin

Chance of a dry hole (%)

Use your area's record, not luck.

Dry-hole cost the customer pays (%)

Your contract terms; zero if you eat it.

Seal and abandon a dry hole ($)

Overhead (% of direct cost)

Insurance, truck, office, licence.

Margin you want on the price (%)

Questions well drillers ask

How do you price a water well drilling job?

Add drilling by formation, the rig hours the hole takes, casing, grout, the pitless adapter, pump and tank, the trench and electric run, the permit and the move. Add overhead and an allowance for the chance of a dry hole, then divide by one minus your target margin.

Why include an allowance for a dry hole?

A hole that does not make usable water still costs the drilling, casing, move and sealing. Spread across the wells that do produce, the expected loss is the chance of a dry hole times that cost. The tool shows that cost and how many good wells it takes to pay for one.

Should I quote by the foot or a flat price?

A per-foot rate alone ignores the fixed items: the move, the pump system and the trench. The depth table shows the effective price per foot falling as the fixed items spread over more depth, so a single rate under-charges shallow wells.

How do I shift dry-hole risk to the customer?

Many drillers bill drilling by the foot whether or not the hole produces. Enter the share of a dry hole that your contract bills and the allowance falls with it.

Is this pricing or business advice?

No. It is arithmetic on figures you type. Check local well-construction rules, licensing, insurance and contract terms with a qualified professional.

Not decided

Whether a site will produce water, yield and flow-rate guarantees, local well-construction and licensing rules, hydrofracturing, water treatment, sales tax, seasonal rig downtime, financing, and whether a customer will pay the price. Formation is a two-layer split (overburden and rock) and every figure is a straight rate you enter.

Related tools: the well pump bid calculator, the septic pumping bid calculator and the sump pump bid calculator.

Want the margin, walk-away price and overrun headroom as well, or pricing a different trade? Price this job in the Bid Price Engine, one calculator for 121 trades.