Industry-standard Rigs for Environmental Drilling Jobs Push Company Growth

Starting his drilling industry career as a consultant, David Draybuck discovered he didn’t love writing reports. So in 2011, he and his partner gathered funds from closed 401(k)s and an SBA loan to buy a piece of used equipment and launch ENVIROTECH DRILLING SERVICES LLC. During 2017 client calls for pressure washing and disposing of waste on decommissioning projects led to expanding into environmental services.

What began on a shoestring sprouted into two offices — in Houston with nine crews and in San Antonio with four crews.

“Logistics play a large part in drilling, so having resources close is important versus mobilizing four hours or more for a job,” Draybuck, president, said.

Their work across Texas is a mix of direct push and hollow stem auger jobs. As their business has expanded, they’ve grown their fleet to put more rigs in the field. They’ve found the 7822DT in demand for their environmental drilling jobs.

“The Geoprobe^® 7822DT is the like the F150 — it’s what people expect on an environmental job. If the machine doesn’t do what a 7822DT can do, the client isn’t happy,” Draybuck said. “It’s the industry standard and does direct push projects pretty much anywhere. If you hit refusal with a 7822DT, clients are usually okay with it because it’s the standard.”

He also finds direct push perfect for their gulf coast lithology.

“The 7822DT is the right tool because of the lithology and depth of the water table. We can do pretty much everything we need to do,” Draybuck said. “We can set shallow wells, and if driller has knowledge, they can use air rotary in harder formations. It’s versatile and light so we’re able to do off-road work without getting into trouble.”

Having purchased one 7822DT in 2017, they added three more last year. They appreciate the extruder option, eliminating customers waiting for barrels to be unclogged. They’ve also found the rigs capable of withstanding adverse conditions on environmental drilling jobs.

“We had them on a couple of long-term direct push projects through caliche formations in South Texas in 105-degree weather, wailing on hammers. They held up given the depths, heat, and hardness of the formation,” Draybuck said. “Geoprobe^® rigs are reliable. They’re a well-engineered solution to collecting direct push samples.”

Engineering explains the differences observed during his tenure in the drilling industry.

"You can definitely do jobs with today’s machines you wouldn’t have tried to do with them in 2006,” Draybuck said. “We’re now doing 2-inch wells to 50 feet. It wasn’t practical to even attempt that 15 years ago. They have definitely added to what the machines can do.”

When they run into service questions, Draybuck knows he can depend on Geoprobe^®.

“Support is a different level," he said. "If there’s a problem, the guys there are all over it.”

He also appreciates Geoprobe^® meeting delivery dates, enabling the company to capitalize on client demand for environmental drilling jobs.

“Geoprobe^® didn’t fall behind on the build schedule, so we were able to add capacity when we needed to and do more phase II, shallow well installations,” Draybuck said. “We’ve been able to grow the breadth of the company, and clients really appreciate we’ve been more available. These machines are in the field, staying billable.”