When it comes to construction, some tasks that must be done can be quite costly. For example, many companies (and workers) depend on the use of heavy equipment and vehicles in order to get their jobs done. However, while these items are necessary for completing a project, they can also lead to an increase in costs.
For this reason, some construction companies are turning to horizontal directional drilling (HDD) methods in order to cut costs without sacrificing quality.
Why is HDD Cost-Effective?
In the past, the process of horizontal directional drilling involved a lot of manual labor to install pipes and other equipment in deep locations. More so, it required extensive planning from top management before any drilling could take place. All these were not conducive to saving costs or achieving efficiency.
Today, the process of every hdd company is automated to a great extent. The need for large teams of manual workers has been significantly reduced. Top management involvement in planning and executing the project have also become less necessary. It has enabled drillers to work more efficiently, saving time on projects while maximizing resource utilization at all times.
The use of HDD enables you to cut costs in several areas of your company by reducing or eliminating the need to use many expensive equipment or vehicles.
In most cases, you will be able to eliminate many of your large pieces of construction equipment from your jobsite. In fact, HDD can drill through a lot of land that would have been inaccessible with traditional drilling practices. Additionally, you won’t need as much storage space for materials and tools, so you can free up even more working space.
The elimination of these heavy equipment and vehicles can result in big savings, but the real savings come from your need for speed. HDD is a much faster process than traditional drilling methods because instead of drilling one or two holes, you are able to drill multiple boreholes at the same time. A single drill head can operate up to 50 drilling heads, so even though the equipment may cost more initially, you will save on rushed installation times.
On top of faster drilling speeds, HDD eliminates waste because it drills precise routes and precisely engineered holes. Traditional drilling wastes materials because it is essentially digging a series of random holes in an area that you want to excavate. The random holes are not planned, so the material extracted may be unusable in your project. With HDD, you can extract exactly what you need with minimal waste.
After all of these factors have been taken into account, the last savings come from labor costs. You will likely save money by hiring a small crew for your HDD jobs. While you will need highly skilled personnel to operate the machines, you won’t need as many people on site because there is no equipment to move around and less storage space needed for materials and tools.
Takeaway
With all of these factors combined, the utilization of HDD methods can result in huge savings for construction companies. Not only does it save money by eliminating the use of multiple equipment, storage space, and personnel costs, but it also allows for faster and more efficient work.
In addition, the cost for HDD projects is typically lower than those completed by other companies that use traditional open-cut or trenching methods. With this in mind, one might assume that an hdd company would have a higher profit margin during each project they complete versus other construction businesses.
In reality, HDD construction companies have been shown to have profit margins comparable to those of other types of projects. This is because most companies that utilize these technologies and techniques often use the same, or similar, tools for all of their jobs. This allows HDD construction businesses to continue operating even in times where other economic factors make it difficult for them to turn a profit.