In this “From the Green Jackets” column, master ground water contractor Jason Hatfield explores some of the often hidden costs of drilling throughout the year.
Since this article will run in the March issue, we'll start with spring. For starters, many areas still have frost laws in effect. For those unfamiliar with frost laws, the county and township roads are susceptible to a 25-percent per-axle reduction of allowable weight on commercial vehicles - these laws are effective from Jan. 1 until April 15 in northeast Ohio. Many contractors' drill sites are in rural areas, which are accessible only by the roads that are under frost-law protection. Contractors now have to sneak the rig from site to site under the cover of nightfall or the weekend, which adds additional labor costs to every well. Lord knows, you can put only so many additional axles on a rig.