Hello Readers, I have again not written a column in several months but let me say that it is good to be back. In this column I want to write about some contractor changes we have had in my local area recently. And also changes I have observed industry wide. 

In recent months, four long-time-in-business local contractors have joined forces to become two. One of these “mergers” was in the county I live in and the other in an adjacent county. All of these contractors have been in business a long time and at least one, a really long time. They are all, like most contractors in our industry, family-owned and operated. I don’t know if they merged or somebody sold to somebody else, it’s not my business to know or divulge the details. 

In the “merger” in the neighboring county a drilling company that had been in business nearly 100 years joined up with a drilling company in a nearby town that has been in business a long time but not 100 years. The nearly-100-year-old company does all kinds of drilling of all the popular types and as small as you want to drill for a water well to about as large as you would do. This company has been operated by the same family for at least three generations and has an excellent reputation for doing quality work. They joined with another company that also has an excellent reputation and is also family owned but I don’t know this family as well as the family that runs the older company. I wish both parties well and hope they continue in business for a long time. 

In the county where I live and operate two longtime contractors based in the same small town have either merged or one sold out to the other. Both of these companies started in the days right after World War II ended. This was the beginning of the golden era for water well drillers as thousands of veterans came home, got married and quickly started large families. 

There was plenty of work to drill wells for new homes and the rigs of that era drilled a lot slower than they do now. The successor company in this merger/buyout has been owned in all those years by two families. I have known the founding family rather well and the current owners really well. The other company has been owned by three families including two generations of the current family. I have known all the owners in the three families, two of them quite well and in the third only fairly well. Like the two contractors in the neighboring county both these contractors have good reputations. The larger of the two, which is the successor I understand, has been doing a lot of geothermal work and that is good news. Geothermal kind of went into the doldrums in my area in the last few years. I understand it is back big time especially in commercial work. I think there is residential geothermal being done and I applaud that. My own home is geothermal heated and cooled — and in a hot, dry summer like the one we had in 2024, the cooling part of geothermal is appreciated.  

When I entered the well drilling business full time with my father in the late 1950s, there were 13 water well drilling companies in our county. Today there is one. I forgot to mention that all the four companies that I have written about earlier do and have done pump installation and service and some do water conditioning.  

The water in our area, as in most of Southern Michigan, is pure and safe right as it comes from the ground but has plenty of iron and plenty of hardness. Years ago, customers accepted water for what it was, but not anymore. So, the progressive contractors have gotten into water conditioning as the customers today want soft water that doesn’t stain. My wife and I are no different and we have both an iron filter and water softener (two separate units) in our home. If you have been in the industry very long you realize that these consolidations have affected rig manufacturers, pump manufacturers and supply houses too. 

In the days since the late 1950s, I can think of a number of drill rig brands that are no longer built. These were good rigs too. Some just stopped making rigs, others merged with other rig companies, and some sold out to manufacturers that dropped some of the lines. I understand it is impossible to buy a brand-new spudder although at least one company is rebuilding rigs to like-new condition. The same goes for pumps. Many pumps that were well known in our industry no longer exist. Or they exist as a brand of a much larger organization. They either merged, joined up with, or sold out to larger companies.  

The supply business is no different. We have quite a number of supply houses in our state that provide the parts to make a water well and to pump the water from it. Two supply houses, which I believe have at least nine branches between them, are both owned by a larger national supply chain which in itself is owned by a major manufacturer. 

Now all these local locations (there is a term for you continue to do a good job but it's just a lot different from years ago. In most every respect the water well and pump industry is like the farming industry where we have only a few major manufacturers and many brands are history. Likewise, the auto industry used to have several dealers in the small towns of Michigan. Now, with some exceptions, dealers are large and few and far in between. My wife and I recently got our first new vehicle in some years and that was an experience. Mostly good, but vastly different from years ago. As a good friend said to me today, “buying a new car is not fun anymore.” 

Over the years, in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner, I have talked about the weather in my state and how my rather large lawn is doing. We have had a hot, mostly dry summer and as I write this, the temperature outside is warmer than normal. We are way down on rainfall and the crops are maturing or drying out fast. I have not mowed my infamous lawn in several weeks and while it is not brown it is an unhealthy green. 

Until next time, work safely and remember that in life the only constant is change.