What does directional boring cost in Greenville, SC?

What is directional boring, and why do homeowners choose it?

Directional boring, also called horizontal directional drilling, puts a new line underground without opening a trench. We drill a small pit at each end, steer a bore head between them under the driveway, the lawn or the road, then pull the new pipe or conduit back through the path. The surface stays put. That is the whole appeal for a Greenville homeowner with a finished yard, a paver drive or mature trees over the route.

We run Ditch Witch JT-520 and JT-2020 drills. The smaller rig handles most residential service lines; the JT-2020 is what we bring for long runs, larger pipe and hard ground.

What drives the price on a residential bore?

Three things move the number more than anything else:

• Footage. A 60-foot shot under a driveway and a 400-foot run to a house set back off the road are different days of work.
• What is being pulled. A 1-inch water service, a gas line, or a 2-inch conduit for power and fiber each pull differently, and the pipe itself is part of the cost.
• Ground conditions. Upstate red clay bores cleanly. Rock, old fill, and saturated soil near creeks slow the drill down and sometimes call for a different bore head.

Access matters too. If the rig can set up in the driveway, the job moves. If we are working behind a house with no gate access, add time.

Typical price ranges we quote

• Short residential bores, $1,500 to $3,500. Under a driveway, across a front yard, or a standard service-line replacement from the meter to the house.
• Long rural runs, $4,000 to $12,000. Several hundred feet to a home deep on its parcel, or utilities out to a barn, shop or well house.
• Complex shots, $8,000 to $20,000 and up. Road bores, creek crossings, rocky ridge lines, or larger-diameter commercial work.

Every quote is written after we look at the route. A price given over the phone without seeing the ground is a guess.

How long does a directional bore take?

A typical residential bore is one day on site, sometimes two when the run is long or we hit rock. Before we can drill, the 811 utility locate has to be completed, which adds two to three business days to the schedule. We do not put a bore head in the ground until the marks are down.

Is boring cheaper than trenching?

Per foot, an open trench is usually cheaper to dig. It is rarely cheaper to finish. Once you add the cost of replacing concrete, pavers, sod, irrigation and landscaping that a trench cuts through, boring wins on most Greenville lots, and it wins outright anywhere a driveway or road is in the way. Where a trench still makes sense is an open, unfinished lot with nothing over the route.

Who is doing the work?

Sloan Underground has been boring across the Carolinas since 1965, four generations of the same family. William Sloan is on every job site running the drill and leading the crew. We are based in Greenville and work throughout the Upstate, including Simpsonville, Mauldin, Fountain Inn, Greer and Easley.