Support Extends to Legacy Rigs

Three years ago, Forrest Hoffman started Site Exploration Services: a geotechnical drilling company based near Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Serving the Carolinas and southern Virginia, Hoffman focuses on geotechnical projects but plans to expand into other industries in the future.

Heavy Equipment Shop

The only machine they currently utilize is a legacy Geoprobe^® 6620DT rig, with Hoffman being its third owner. Although the rig is out of production, Hoffman felt reassured by a friend’s recommendation of Geoprobe^® service. However, as the nearest Geoprobe^® service center was more than eight hours away, he visited a heavy equipment shop in the area for repairs and maintenance during the first few years.

“I had my concerns, because [the heavy equipment shop] had never worked on this type of drilling equipment before,” Hoffman said. “They were doing really well with the basics like hydraulic fluid changes and tracks, since they deal with similar issues on other machines. But I always had a concern that if they got into something they weren’t familiar with, then we might be in trouble.”

Geoprobe^® Service Center

This changed back in July 2024 when Todd Courbot, North Carolina Service Center (NCSC) manager, called Hoffman, letting him know they were open for business. With the shop only an hour and fifteen minutes away, Hoffman knew he would visit soon to get service for his machine. He quickly saw what made Geoprobe^® stand out as a service provider.

“They’re a very friendly staff and always willing to help, whether I call or text them for advice,” Hoffman said. “They service my machine faster and are more knowledgeable of the intricacies than my previous mechanics.”

Since first visiting the NCSC, the team has replaced the probe slides and the knuckle, rebuilt a probe cylinder, and performed basic maintenance on the 6620DT — a process Hoffman finds very customer-friendly.

“For regular maintenance, I call Todd to coordinate when they have availability to work on it, and then I set my schedule to take time off while the rig gets serviced,” Hoffman said.

The knowledgeable service team stands out to Hoffman as one of the main reasons he continues to trust the Geoprobe^® NCSC.

“These guys know what they’re dealing with. It’s not them looking at the rig and ‘figuring it out’ — it’s them knowing the system. I don’t have any concerns when I take it to them that it’s only going to be partially fixed; it’s going to be repaired fully and correctly,” Hoffman said.