Since July 21st, 2008 we (meaning my geo contractor Joe and myself) were waiting for the driller to come. As it turns out, Joe had received literature from WaterFurnace letting him know that there was a geo specialist driller in the "area" that they recommended. They also offered a guaranteed price per project. Apparently there may be some drillers out there who have taken advantage of the situation and after offering an estimate would them come to the site and change that estimate. I guess that is beside the point. We were told they would try to be there almost every week in August, but finally, on August 29th we received an email stating that they were going to come and "drill my well on Friday September 5th even if they had to stay there until 7pm!"
So, Friday, September 5th came around and they did show up at 8am, but without the drill or water. So, they spent a portion of the morning taking care of getting the drill rig to my home and getting enough water to drill. There were a lot of people around since the drill rig was new. Some of them were excavating at the foundation of my home where the loop was going to enter, then they drilled holes through my foundation at one foot below grade. When my husband asked them about this they said that it would slope down to 5 feet below grade. This did not sit well with either of us, but thought we'd wait until our geo contractor arrived. Well, they were there until after 7pm, but all they did was drill the well and place two holes in my foundation. They said they'd be back on Monday to finish with the loop and grouting. They capped the well and were off.
Nobody came by on Monday.
My geo contractor wasn't even informed until 10am that the drillers were about 100 miles away in their home town. Then, I was told they would try to get there Tuesday, but my geo contractor told me that he would call me at work to let me know when then are coming so that I didn't have to take another day off.
They didn't come on Tuesday.
Finally, on Wednesday morning I called their corporate headquarters and asked for the drillers cell phone number. I called him and he said he would be by in the afternoon. He called me just before he was coming over (around 3pm) and I left work and met him at the house. They changed the location of the holes in my foundation to 5 feet below grade (which is where they should have been in the first place. They also prepped for grouting.
They didn't come on Thursday.
Finally, on Friday they did come and grout. They came in the morning and didn't finish until about 4pm. It was a much longer job than they expected.
I understand that this blog is one big complaint about the driller. But I should clarify, I was very impressed that they corrected their error without argument on the placement of the foundation holes. Also, they were good guys. There was nothing malicious in them not showing up. They also appeared to always want to do the right thing. The problem was that they did not have as much geo experience as the manufacturer made them out to have.
This experience did make me appreciate my geo contractor a lot more. He is always very attentive and responsive. The drillers were just as responsive as most of the contractors that I get to work on my home... they call you back in a week or two. Again, here I go bashing contractors, but I can't help the fact that communication is NOT a strong point in the contractors that I have tried to get to work on my home.
Anyway, I hope that all of your drilling experiences and much better than mine.