Underground Construction - June 2019 - 24

21st Annual Horizontal Directional Drilling Survey
As with any strong market
segment, opportunists emerge
that can, even unintentionally,
create major ripples throughout
industry, often creating negative
impacts. HDD is no exception.
"The market is getting saturated
with new companies, and that
is causing depressed pricing."

distribution (19.4 percent). Even with
the rush to construct alternative power
systems focused on wind and solar,
underground utilities are needed to
connect the systems to power grids.
That, of course, means trenching and
frequently, directional drilling. Roughly
2.7 percent of the market is consumed by
eclectic, yet profitable, uses of HDD.
For 2019, contractors expect HDD
to be involved in roughly 47 percent of
their projects, with that number growing
to 51 percent in five years. The average
contractor performing at least some
kind of HDD work owns an average of

Average Bore Length (in feet)
2014
2,500
2,000

2015

2016

2017

2018

2,302
1,998

2,125
1.917 1,892

1,500
1,000
679
569 588 640 636
500

260

Large rigs

Mid-sized rigs

389 390 378 381

Other issues

Small rigs

What is the most common type of pipe installed via HDD?
50

49.9

49.7

48.3 HDPE
46.6

42.4

40

30
24.7
22.4

22.3

26.1 PVC

22.5

20
15.6

10

7.8

2014

24

14.2

12.4

12.8

10.0

9.9

4.5

5.4

6.0

2015

2016

2017

11.8
9.1

JUNE 2019 | UConOnline.com

4.1 mini rigs, 1.9 mid-sized rigs and
one large or jumbo rig.
In 2018, about 38 percent of contractors
executed up to $1 million of HDD work,
41 percent performed $1 to $5 million,
10 percent had HDD work worth between
$5 and $10 million, and 7.1 percent had
completed projects in excess of $10 million.
While most of the survey respondents
believe HDD will continue to be an
expanding market for the short term,
at least, one West Coast respondent
cautions that 2020 is a presidential
election year, and that could impact
the construction markets.
As with any strong market segment,
opportunists emerge that can, even
unintentionally, create major ripples
throughout industry, often creating
negative impacts. HDD is no exception.
"The market is getting saturated with
new companies, and that is causing
depressed pricing," complained a Midwest
contractor. Added another contractor
respondent, "The huge boom has resulted
in too many inexperienced start-ups."
Another respondent stresses that the
influx of new contractors continues to
create "pricing pressures."

12.1 Steel
8.8 Ductile/

Iron

4.7 Other

2018

But it's not just competition for the
dollar that concerns many of the survey
respondents-it's how some contractors
perform their work. "Some of these
inexperienced companies have really created
problems for us," related a Southeast
contractor. "They don't know how to
properly bid projects. And what's worse,
they don't know how to do a good job."
Said this respondent from the
Southwest, "The new guys are giving HDD
a black eye." Another contractor from
the Southeast added, "I'm worried that
somebody is going to get seriously hurt."
As underground utility installations of
all types continue to increase in scope,
due to advantages in life cycle costs,
minimal downtime and safety concerns,
not unexpectedly, rights-of-way (ROW)
are getting crowded. "We have difficulty
due to so many utilities being in the
ground now and no place to run," said
this respondent from the Southwest. "Our
biggest challenge is congestion of the
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Underground Construction - June 2019

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