Business Practices, Contracts, and Reporting
This domain tests the business side of the rig: what the contract must say, how changes are priced and approved, what records protect you, and how results are communicated to the owner. Expect questions about scopes, exclusions, change orders, liens, and water-quality disclosure.
The contract
- Use a written agreement with scope, price or rate schedule, payment terms, and start date. Name the exclusions that actually drive cost: unexpected rock, lost tools, extra casing, extended development, and site access limits.
- State what is and is not promised about yield and water quality. You can promise a properly constructed well and accurate reporting; you cannot promise a specific gallons-per-minute result or potable water.
Changes and money
- Any change in depth, casing, or grout interval gets a written change order signed before the extra work proceeds. Verbal approvals fail in disputes.
- Track lien deadlines and notices; a well lien depends on paperwork filed on time.
Records and reporting
- Keep a daily log, the completion report, pump and treatment records, and the water test results. Deliver test results and the log to the owner and explain what the numbers mean.
- Dispose of cuttings and development water lawfully, and leave the site clean.
Worked example
A quoted 200-foot well hits rock at 180 feet and needs another 120 feet of drilling plus 60 feet of casing. Instead of absorbing it, the driller presents a change order itemizing per-foot drilling and per-foot casing, gets the owner's signature, and proceeds. The invoice then matches the signed document, which is what wins the dispute.
Traps that cost marks
- Relying on an oral change approval.
- Guaranteeing water quality or yield in writing.
- Missing the lien filing window.
- Handing over a lab report with no explanation of arsenic, radon, or bacteria results.