Directional Boring & HDD

No ReKeying — Know If a Job Made Money Before You Close It

Your techs track materials on paper, hours on a clipboard, and overhead is allocated by gut feel. Job costing happens in a spreadsheet two weeks after the job closed — if it happens at all. No ReKeying means every cost is captured live so you always know your margin before the invoice goes out.

Uncle Steve on job cost tracking in directional boring & hdd

The Directional Boring & HDD Industry at a Glance

Horizontal directional drilling contractors — trenchless underground utility installation crossing existing utility corridors daily.

12,000+

US Companies

$2M–$15M

Avg. Revenue

5–20

Field Crew Size

6.8%

Growth Rate

Bore logs on paper, locate verifications in camera rolls, 811 tickets printed and sorted by hand. The gap between the drill rig and the office is entirely paper.

Directional Boring & HDD Industry Data & Research

Key statistics shaping the directional boring & hdd market today.

38+ million 811 tickets processed annually in the US
Common Ground Alliance, 2024
Cross-bore remediation costs average $150,000+ per incident
PG&E / GPRS, 2024
CGA Index rose from 94.0 to 96.7 — trending wrong direction
CGA DIRT Report, 2024

How Job Cost Tracking Actually Looks in Directional Boring & HDD

The Scenario

A boring contractor completes a $65,000 highway crossing bore. Drill mud, locating wire, and operator hours were tracked on paper daily logs. Fuel for the drill rig went on the company card without job allocation. The PM reconciles cost two weeks after project closeout.

The Real Impact

Directional boring jobs with untracked consumables run 8–14% over estimated cost. On $800K/year revenue, that is $64K–$112K in unrecovered job cost annually.

Does This Sound Like Your Directional Boring & HDD Operation?

  • !Cannot tell if a completed job made or lost money until weeks later
  • !Materials used in the field don't match what was ordered
  • !Labor hours are estimated, not measured — and the estimate is always off

The Cost of Doing Nothing

On average, field service contractors underestimate job costs by 15–20%. On a $200K/month revenue base, that blindness costs $30K–$40K in unrecovered margin per year.

What Directional Boring & HDD Companies Typically Use

BOSS811UtilocateProcoreHeavyJob

These tools are great at what they do — but they don't eliminate the job cost tracking gap. That's what we build.

Directional Boring & HDD Operational Challenges

  • 1Every bore path must be cleared through 811 before drilling
  • 2Cross-bore risk at $150K+ per incident
  • 3Post-construction as-builts required but captured on paper
  • 4Locate ticket expiration requires update/remark management

Compliance & Regulations

  • A811 mandatory notification before excavation (federal)
  • BState-specific locate ticket validity (10–45 days)
  • CPHMSA pipeline safety for gas crossings
  • DUpdate and remark requirements before ticket expiration
Common roles:Owner/OperatorProject ManagerDrill OperatorLocator

How We Fix Job Cost Tracking for Directional Boring & HDD — No ReKeying

1

Map Your Workflow

We study exactly where job cost tracking happens in your directional boring & hdd operation — the forms, the handoffs, the re-entry points.

2

Build a Working Prototype

Not a demo. Not a slide deck. A real, functional prototype that eliminates the pain point and works with your existing tools.

3

Prove It Before You Pay

You test the prototype on a real job. If it doesn't eliminate the job cost tracking problem, you don't pay.

Get No ReKeying for Your Directional Boring & HDD Operation — Free Prototype

Tell us about your operation and we'll build you a working solution — no commitment, no credit card.

No spam. No credit card. Just a prototype that works.

Job Cost Tracking Problems for Directional Boring & HDD Companies | Simply Connected Systems