Est. 2005 · UK-wide trenchless installations07920 553 578·chris@swdd.co.uk
Cost guide
The honest answer is that directional drilling is not priced by the metre. It is a job price, driven mostly by the pipe diameter and the ground conditions, with a high fixed cost to get the rig to site and set up. As a rough guide, a short small-diameter crossing might start at a couple of thousand pounds, a small pipe under a motorway can run to tens of thousands, and large-diameter pipe over long distances into the hundreds of thousands. This guide explains why the price works that way, and how to get a real budget figure.
One honest caveat: giving a reliable guideline price is genuinely difficult, because every crossing is different. You will get a far more accurate figure from a proper quote, and we can typically turn one around in one to two days. Send us your details and we will price it properly.
Directional drilling carries a high fixed cost before a single metre is bored. Mobilising the rig and crew, setting up the compound, and fixed-time operations like changing the drill heads and reamer tooling as the bore is opened up all land whether the crossing is 10m or 100m long. A flat per-metre rate would hide all of that, so we price the whole job instead of selling metres.
That job price is built from:
Because so much of the cost is fixed, longer installations are often more time-efficient, up to a point. Once the rig is set up and drilling, the extra metres come relatively cheaper than the first few. That is why the price does not scale in a straight line with length, and why a one-line "cost per metre" figure is so often misleading.
You will see some contractors quote a price per metre, and for the right work it can be fair. On repetitive line work, say 1,000m of 125mm duct run down a carriageway in 100m sections, the job is much the same metre after metre, so a metreing rate stacks up. But most directional drilling is one-off crossings, each with its own set-up, ground and constraints, so we price those as a job rather than by the metre.
We also price the job in the way that works out best for the client, not just the way that bills the most. Sometimes drilling a few extra metres, or taking a slightly longer line on a gentler bend, is quicker, lower-risk and cheaper overall than forcing a short, awkward route, and where that is the case we will say so. A short or more complex crossing on a tight bend radius can be more time-consuming and more costly than a longer installation on a larger radius. The shortest route is not always the cheapest.
A directional drilling price is not just a rig and a crew. A typical crossing brings a full spread of plant and materials to site, and the figure we give you covers it:
All of that has to arrive, set up and be accounted for whether the bore is short or long, which is a large part of why even a small crossing carries a genuine minimum cost.
The real cost drivers
These are the factors we weigh when we price a crossing. A few of them can change the number more than the length of the bore does.
| Pipe / duct diameter | The single biggest driver. Bigger product means a bigger bore, bigger rig, more reaming passes and more drilling fluid, so cost climbs steeply with diameter. |
|---|---|
| Ground conditions | The other big one. Clean clay or sand is quick. Rock, cobbles, boulders and made ground are slower and need specialist tooling, so they cost more. |
| Length of the crossing | Longer bores cost more in total, but not in a straight line. Once the rig is set up, the extra metres are more time-efficient, up to a point, so length matters less than diameter or ground. |
| Depth, profile & bend radius | Deeper crossings, tight gradients, gravity drainage drilled to falls and tight bend radii all take more steering and time. A short, sharp crossing can cost more than a longer, gentler one. |
| Site access & space | Room to set the rig, lay out the product pipe and work safely. Tight, live or traffic-managed sites add cost. |
| Surveys, design & consents | Utility searches, topo and ground investigation, plus Network Rail, highways or Environment Agency approvals where they apply. |
| Mobilisation & set-up | Getting the rig and crew to site and rigged up is a fixed cost per visit, plus fixed-time tooling changes. It is why a short bore costs more for its length than a long one. |
| Reinstatement & traffic management | Entry and exit pits, surfacing, and any road space booking or signing required. |
For budgeting only
Every job is different, so treat these as a starting point for a budget, not a quote. The only accurate number comes from looking at your specific crossing.
| Short, small-diameter crossing | From around a couple of thousand pounds. The practical minimum for a short HDD shot, small pipe and an easy set-up. |
|---|---|
| Small pipe under a motorway or major road | Often tens of thousands, once you add the length, depth, consents and set-up an infrastructure crossing needs. |
| Large-diameter pipe over long distances | Into the hundreds of thousands. Big diameters and long single shots are where the major rigs and tooling earn their keep. |
| Very short service connections | Often cheaper still by impact moling, a lighter method for short runs under a path or drive. |
Indicative only. Send us your job detail for a free, no-obligation budget price tailored to the crossing.
Open-cut trenching can look cheaper per metre until you add the full picture. Deep excavation, reinstatement, traffic management, the disruption to a road, railway or watercourse, and the programme time. Trenchless directional drilling installs the pipe in a single steered bore with two small pits, so on deep, busy or environmentally sensitive crossings it is frequently cheaper overall and far less disruptive.
The same is true against pipe jacking and tunnelling. Where a crossing genuinely suits drilling, avoiding the deep shafts and slow progress of jacking can save very large sums. On one 900mm gravity drainage scheme, advising directional drilling over tunnelling saved the client around £1 million and finished in roughly three weeks. See the Hopton 900mm case study. We will always tell you honestly where drilling substitutes for digging or jacking, and where it does not.
For a sharp figure, the more detail the better, but even a quick description and a postcode is enough to start. Useful things to send:
Send it over and we will give you a free, no-obligation trenchless review and a budget quote, and tell you straight if another method would serve you better.
Questions answered
It is priced per job, not off a fixed rate card, and the pipe diameter and the ground do most of the work. As a rough guide, a short small-diameter crossing with an easy set-up starts at around a couple of thousand pounds, a small pipe under a motorway can run to tens of thousands once you add the length, depth and consents, and large-diameter pipe over long distances reaches the hundreds of thousands. Send us the length, the pipe size, a rough idea of the ground and a location, and we will give you a free budget price.
Usually not. Directional drilling has a high fixed cost before any metres are bored. Mobilising the rig and crew, setting up, and fixed-time jobs like changing the drill and reamer tooling as the bore is opened up. Those costs land whether the crossing is short or long, so a flat per-metre rate would be misleading. Longer installations are actually more time-efficient once the rig is drilling, up to a point, so the cost does not scale in a straight line with length. A metreing rate can suit repetitive line work, such as a long duct run installed in sections down a carriageway, but most directional drilling is one-off crossings, so we price those as a job rather than by the metre.
Often, yes, once you count the full picture. Open-cut looks cheap per metre until you add reinstatement, traffic management, the disruption to a road, railway or watercourse, and the programme time. Trenchless directional drilling installs the pipe in one steered bore with two small pits, so on deep, busy or environmentally sensitive crossings it is frequently cheaper overall and far less disruptive. On one 900mm gravity drainage scheme, drilling instead of tunnelling saved the client about £1 million.
For a directional drilling job the practical minimum is around a couple of thousand pounds, for a short crossing, a small-diameter pipe and an easy set-up. That floor exists because the rig still has to be mobilised and set up however short the bore is. Very short service connections under a path or drive are often cheaper by impact moling, a lighter method. We are happy to take on small local jobs as well as major crossings, and grouping a few crossings into one visit usually gives the best value.
The more you can tell us the sharper the price. Ideally, the length of the crossing, the product pipe or duct size and material, a rough idea of ground conditions, the site location, and any drawings, levels or specification you have. Even a quick description and a postcode is enough for a budget figure. We give a free, no-obligation review and budget quote, and we will tell you honestly if a trench or another method would serve you better.
Related
The core steered method behind most of our priced crossings.
View service →The low-cost option for short service connections under paths and drives.
View service →Where drilling saves the most against tunnelling and pipe jacking.
View service →Send us the length, the pipe size and a location, with any drawings or levels you have, and we'll come back with a free, no-obligation budget quote.