Manufacturer Expertise Provides Rig Refurbishment Confidence

Jim Barker and his wife Lisa started Geo Drill Inc in 2007 with a direct push machine on a truck. Three years later they hired Kory Kalmer and purchased a 6620DT to conduct shallow direct push and geotechnical borings and install monitoring wells. In the last six years, Barker's son Jake has joined the team.

“We’ve kept the 6620DT busy, basically wore it out,” Kalmer said.

To Jim, the 6620DT is such a good machine it was worth investing in a rig refurbishment.

“Even if it’s old, it’s better than a new rig. It’s just simpler and you don’t have to troubleshoot computers,” Jim said. “It’s just a well-designed, bullet-proof rig. It’s a good starter rig for a young driller. Jake is a second generation driller, and it’s a nice rig to start with and make it work.”

They evaluated rig refurbishment options and ultimately decided on a Geoprobe^® factory rig refurbishment.

“The manufacturer is the expert,” Kalmer said. “Anytime we’ve had issues, the service has been great. You know they know the machines.”

Choosing the Geoprobe^® factory rig refurbishment also meant lower costs than other alternatives.

“They have parts readily available,” Jim said. “Anyone else would have had to ship them.”

They’ve appreciated the regular communication received from the Geoprobe^® service team throughout the process.

“From the pictures, it looks like a well-done job,” Jim said. “We’re pretty excited to get it back.”

Expertise of the Geoprobe^® service team in solving problems in previous situations provides confidence their renewed 6620DT will perform as expected upon its return to their Illinois headquarters.

“We have no doubt how it’s going to perform,” Kalmer said.