Water Well Drilling in the Fraser Valley in 2020?
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Well Drilling in the Fraser Valley includes Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Yarrow, Sardis, Clearbrook, Harrison Lake, Hope, Ladner, Langley, Fort Langley, Aldergrove, Cloverdale, Maple Ridge, Whonnock, Ruskin, Pitt Meadows, Mission, Dewdney Area, Coquitlam, Burnaby, Surrey, Tsawwassen, White Rock, Squamish, and Whistler.

A property owner might quickly discover that water well drilling in the Fraser Valley is a one-of-a-kind experience. When drilling a water well you are searching for water from a hole that could be drilled hundreds of feet in bedrock. You are about to invest a significant chunk of change into a hole with a steel pipe standing out of the ground that is no larger than a dinner plate in diameter.

Regardless of the results you will be expected to pay a significant invoice… even if the well is dry and there is no water in the hole.  If you are preparing to drill a well in the Fraser Valley, you are probably already questioning yourself, “Will I get water, or will I end up with a dry hole?”  It’s probably safe to say that in your lifetime, you will most likely not invest more money into a product with so little up-front information.

Although most British Columbia well drillers drill good wells but it’s not uncommon to hear that well drillers often cannot or will not communicate with the property owner.  In an area like the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island or other areas of British Columbia where the rapid rate of development and growth has exceeded the drilling capacity of the local well drillers possibly creating a lack of interaction and communication sometimes leading to misconception, abuse, or possibly even fraud in extreme situations.

The following information may help you recognize what can take place, and how to safeguard your property and your bank account!  This information is not at all intended to paint all well drillers with the same brush, the author has worked with plenty of good drillers throughout British Columbia for the past 30 years but has also witnessed circumstances where a property owners  find themselves in situations where the following well drilling tips would have likely made a difference.

Scheduling to drill a well in the Fraser Valley can be particularly challenging for the drilling industry. Water well drillers deal with a lot such as weather, well drilling equipment repairs, property access issues or they may simply be on another drilling site and are having to drill the hole deeper than expected.

Perhaps the well driller is asked to drill more than one hole on a property in the Fraser Valley or they are re-drilling because the prior drilled well was a non-producer, all which are valid reasons for why a water well driller might struggle with scheduling and become delayed getting to the next job site.

Where many people can become frustrated is when a driller is supposed to move the well drilling equipment to their property which might be twenty miles away…  suddenly a neighboring property right across the road where he is currently drilling asks the driller to drill a well on his property while he in in the area.

Because there is considerable cost to move heavy well drilling equipment miles away and then miles back again, the driller puts off his waiting clients while he drills an additional well that was never on the waiting list.

The frustration might continue when a well driller might expect his next job site to either be shallow well or a difficult drill (sometimes both), not as profitable as he might like.  Why wouldn’t a well driller rather go and drill the deeper, easy, and closer wells first?  The money holes as they are known in the industry.

When deciding to drill a well, most of us will hop on the internet to find a local well drilling company in the Fraser Valley.  We quickly call and ask, “what is cost to drill a well in the Fraser Valley?”  We are not doing ourselves a favor when the first question we ask a well driller is, “How much per foot do you charge to drill a well?!”  For example, let’s say the estimated well drilling cost is, $35.00 per foot for bedrock drilling.

A property owner is also informed that if the driller drills a dry hole (a non-producer), they are fully obligated to pay the $35.00 per foot plus all additional well drilling costs as originally estimated.  If the well has been drilled 500′ of bedrock that portion alone will total almost $18,000, there will be others costs and taxes, the final dry hole invoice in this case will definitely exceed $20,000.  

When someone explains how resentful they feel after having to pay for a dry hole, it’s very easy to understand why “dry holes are painful… I’m NOT joking!”

So, you ask, what then, is the real motivation for a fixed price driller to be truthful when he has drilled hundreds of feet into bedrock and has hit some water?  If a well driller merely claims there is no water, he pulls his drilling equipment and tooling out of the hole, folds up his well drilling rig, and hands the property owner an invoice for the full price.

Do you understand that you have just spent some major dollars to have a driller convince you that you have nothing more than a dry hole… did the driller provide you with a well drilling guarantee prior to drilling?  Please think about this before you sign a well drilling contract.

Our phones steadily ring  in our Fraser Valley Well Drilling office throughout the drilling season with people calling for the cost per foot to drill a well,  there are so many ways to play with the numbers when preparing an estimate for the cost to drill a well in the Fraser Valley.  I think that what you really want to know is what is it going to cost to drill a well on your property that is producing water and how many times will you need to drill to achieve your goal?

It’s not the well drilling cost estimates that matter…. What really matters is the final invoice and how many of them are you going to pay before you hit water.  The author is often called to properties that have been drilled at least twice to multiple times, some properties have remained dry for MANY years until the owner just gives up.

There IS something to ‘water witching’ or well dowsing, but whether it has anything to do with finding water, or not in the Fraser Valley, is another story.  Sometimes, the relationship that a well driller might have with well dowsing is very simple:

Prior to drilling a well in the Fraser Valley, a driller is going to require a location on a property to drill.  Typically a well driller would rather reduce the amount of time that he isn’t being compensated for locating the best water well site on a property, so it’s just much quicker for a driller to witch the property himself and not involve the opinion of a professional water finder regarding the possible best location to drill the well.

Typically, it’s a relief for the prospective well drilling customer to defer the site selection responsibility to someone who claims they can witch – even if the water dowser happens to be the water well driller. So, everyone is super delighted, right?

But always remember… a well driller’s primary concern is going to be about about the best access to get the well drilling rig & other drilling equipment on site, and back out again as quickly as possible without damage to the rig or getting stuck.

many well drilling rigs in British Columbia are the large dual rotary rigs, they are not just large but heavy and long.  The DR as they are known in the industry require plenty of space to for set-up. The odds might also be pretty good that the driller who witched the site to to drill your water well will also have magically found the most level and easy-to-get-to location on the property!

In the Fraser Valley, random drilling or the park-and-drill method may actually greatly increase the odds of drilling a dry hole, the author has also been told by a couple island drillers that throwing a hat in the air and drilling where it lands is the best method to choose a drilling location.  I guess we all have reasons for our practices within the industry, but we do know that people are often stressed and trust that a driller is going to protect them to the very best of their ability.  

However, if you’re a bit uncomfortable with any of these site selection methods and want to have a dowsed or water witched location prior to drilling, then contact a professional well dowser in the Fraser Valley who has a very long history of success as a water finder or water witch.

A professional water finder or water witch is likely not going to be your great aunt who wants to pop over with her willow branch or a coat hanger to see if she can make it twitch… truthfully it might be just as effective to throw your hat in the air and drill where is lands!  You will know an expert water dowser when you have one on-site, the well dowsing experts with decades of experience take their work and responsibility very serious. 

All expert water finders  will have an extensive and proven track record, typically with decades of experience.  It’s also important to stay away from either overhead or underground power lines, gas lines etc. because drilling near them is not an option, always make your BC One Call when drilling for water in the Fraser Valley!

When witching is excluded as some drillers will not recommend it, a driller still might have a very good idea as to where the best drilling site on a property is.

Among responsible drillers it’s quite surprising that they often pick close to the same spot – not always – but often enough.  If a well driller is unscrupulous, he will try to size up a prospective well customer and if he determines the client as a ‘sucker’, he will chose to drill in a location on the property that is likely NOT going to produce any water.

Once the driller has drilled a nice deep dry hole in which you get to put your savings, he will suggest that he move the drilling rig to the location on the property where he’s was initially quite sure that there’s a better chance of hitting water, and then WHO is the well drilling hero?  Yep, while you’ve been consciously fleeced!

Many water wells throughout British Columbia seem to be clear example of this well drilling rip-off. 

Research, common sense, and choosing a responsive well driller are the things that are going to ensure that you will get a quality water well that will provide you with a great water source for years to come.  If you are drilling a well in the Fraser Valley and we come up dry in bedrock, you are protected by our well drilling guarantee.  You will not pay for the bedrock drilling portion of the dry hole!  You don’t need to be the loser in “The Games That Some Drillers Play.”

“We Guarantee Water” in bedrock… if we come up dry you will not charge you for the bedrock portion of the project, if you’re paying a fixed price to a driller ask him if he guarantees water and if he doesn’t, why not?  Please request our terms and conditions at the top of this page.

For water well drilling services in the Fraser Valley including Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Yarrow, Sardis, Clearbrook, Harrison Lake, Hope, Ladner, Langley, Fort Langley, Aldergrove, Cloverdale, Maple Ridge, Whonnock, Ruskin, Pitt Meadows, Mission, Dewdney Area, Coquitlam, Burnaby, Surrey, Tsawwassen, White Rock, Squamish, and Whistler you can request and online well drilling cost estimate.