Drilling & boring

Directional drilling across Georgia

A pit at one end, a pit at the other, and the line goes under everything in between. One Georgia contractor, its own rigs and crews, every county in the state.

Call (678) 264-3333Estimates are free. Call now.

Serving all of Georgia

Davis Underground Solutions, Inc.

Directional drilling and boring across Georgia; locates, bore plan and utility coordination handled. More about Davis Underground Solutions →

(678) 264-3333

What a directional bore is

A horizontal directional drill parks at the entry point and pushes a steerable drill head along a planned arc: down under the obstacle, level beneath it, and back up to the surface at the exit. A walkover locator reads the head's depth and pitch at every rod so the crew can steer it. When the pilot hole is through, a reamer opens it to the size the product needs, and the pipe or conduit is pulled back through the finished hole in one continuous length. Nothing between the two pits is excavated. The road stays open, the driveway stays whole, the river keeps flowing.

Where it is used in Georgia

Fiber and communications conduit along county roads and under every side street they cross.
Electrical feeders and service conduit under parking lots, airport aprons and railroad tracks.
Water mains and services under state routes and creeks.
Sewer force mains and laterals where gravity is not an option or the surface cannot be opened.
Gas distribution mains and services for the state's gas utilities and their contractors.
River, marsh and wetland crossings where an open cut would never be permitted.

Ground that changes with the county

Georgia is three different drilling states stacked on top of each other. North of the Fall Line, which runs roughly Columbus to Macon to Augusta, the Piedmont puts red clay over saprolite over granite and gneiss, and the rock can sit a few feet down or forty. South of that line the Coastal Plain is sand, clay and marl with a high water table and almost no rock. In the northwest corner the ridges are limestone and shale, with the caves to prove it. The bit, the fluid and the production rate all change with the region, which is why the first question on any estimate is the address.

Locates and permits

Georgia 811 is called before any bore anywhere in the state, the marks are honored, and every crossing utility is potholed where the paint is not enough. The pilot bore is tracked rod by rod from the surface so the head is never a guess. Right-of-way permits come from whoever owns the road: GDOT for state routes and interstates through its seven districts, the county public works department for county roads, the city for city streets, Norfolk Southern and CSX for rail crossings, the Corps of Engineers and Georgia EPD where a bore passes under a navigable river or a protected wetland, and the airport or base authority on federal ground. Davis Underground Solutions, Inc. prepares the bore plan the permit asks for and files it.

One contractor for the whole state

Davis Underground Solutions, Inc. is headquartered in Powder Springs, west of Atlanta, and runs the whole state. Metro Atlanta and the counties around it are home range with no mobilization fee; Columbus, Macon, Augusta, Savannah, Albany, Valdosta and everywhere between are a quoted mobilization and a crew that has already been there. Being the drilling company that actually picks up the phone and shows up is most of why the company works across Georgia. Davis Underground Solutions has the equipment list and photos from recent runs. Every form on this site and every call to (678) 264-3333 reaches the company directly. Estimates are free.

What sets the price

Length, the diameter and material of what is being pulled, the cover the permit requires, whether the alignment is clay, sand or rock, how much room the rig and the pipe string have, and how far the crew travels. The site walk and the 811 ticket come first; the price that follows is written and firm.

Estimates are free. Call now: (678) 264-3333.

Other drilling and boring services in Georgia

Horizontal Drilling Georgia

Horizontal drilling for any line that has to cross something it cannot cut through: a street, a slab, a canal, a stand of trees. Entry pit, exit pit, nothing opened in between.

Directional Boring Georgia

Directional boring is the small-rig end of HDD: short, shallow bores for service lines, sleeves and conduit on residential and light-commercial lots.

Underground Drilling Georgia

Underground drilling for new utilities where the surface is spoken for: tracked, steered bores placed under whatever is already built on top.

Fiber Optic Cable Drilling Georgia

Fiber duct and drop conduit installed by directional drill for carriers, co-ops, campuses and developments: long shots along the right-of-way, short shots to the building.

Electrical Conduit Drilling Georgia

PVC and HDPE electrical conduit bored under pavement for primary feeds, secondary services, site lighting and EV charging circuits.

Underground Conduit Drilling Georgia

Single ducts and multi-duct bundles pulled through one reamed bore: communications, power, controls and spares placed together under the obstacle.

Structured Cable Drilling Georgia

Conduit between buildings for structured cabling, campus networks, security and controls, bored under courtyards, drives and parking rather than cut across them.

Utility Drilling Georgia

Utility drilling for water, sewer, gas, power and telecom owners: permitted road crossings, mains under live streets, services to the meter.

Communications Drilling Georgia

Communications conduit and cable placed by directional drill: telecom, cable TV, cell-site backhaul and private networks, under roads and lots.

Missile Boring Georgia

Missile boring (pneumatic piercing) drives a steel mole through the soil for short, straight, shallow runs under a driveway or sidewalk: the quickest way to sleeve a lawn or a walk.

Auger Boring and Drilling Georgia

Cased auger bores for road, highway and railroad crossings and for gravity sewer that has to hold an exact grade: a straight steel casing jacked from a pit.

Sewer, Water and Drain Lines Georgia

New water services and mains, sewer force mains and laterals, and storm drains installed under roads, driveways and yards without trenching them open.

Questions about directional drilling in Georgia

How far can one directional bore go?+

Several hundred feet is routine for the mid-size rigs; longer and larger river or highway crossings are engineered shot by shot. The run is split at the pits where the product and the ground call for it.

Does rock stop the bore?+

No. The Piedmont granite under north Georgia is drilled with a rock head or a mud motor; it slows the footage and changes the price, not the method. South of the Fall Line rock is rare and sand is the challenge instead.

Who handles Georgia 811 and the permit?+

Davis Underground Solutions, Inc.. The locate ticket, the bore plan and the right-of-way application are part of the job.

Is there a mobilization fee?+

Not in metro Atlanta. Elsewhere in Georgia a mobilization is quoted up front on the estimate so there are no surprises.

How do I get an estimate?+

Call (678) 264-3333 now, or send the run through the form on this page. Estimates are free and you will hear back within 24 hours.

Directional Drilling by city in Georgia

Each community has its own page for this service. The crew, the method and the price are the same across the state; the page covers what is different about the ground and the permits there.