HDD Drill Rod Rental vs. Purchase: Which One Saves You More Per Foot?

You know what made me start thinking about this whole rental versus purchase thing?

A couple of years ago I was on a site visit with a client. We’ll call him Mike. Mike runs a small HDD crew, mostly fibre and water lines, maybe 5-10 bores a month.

He calls me up all stressed out says his last two rods snapped in the middle of a 200 foot shot under a four lane highway. Emergency rental hdd drill rods? Yeah, he had them overnight. Cost him a foot an arm and a leg, plus time off.

And Mike, he looks at me and he says, “I should have bought the darn things three jobs ago.”

That was my aha moment — not for me, but for how many of you guys are silently bleeding money on rentals without even knowing it.

So, let’s break it down, friend-to-friend. No spreadsheets. No sales pitch. That’s exactly what I’ve seen in 5 years of trenchless.

When I first got into selling drill rods, rental made perfect sense to me. You pay for the foot drilled, you don’t tie up capital, you just swap out the worn stuff. Easy, isn’t it?

But here’s the kicker, rental companies charge you for every single foot whether you’re gaining ground or not. Trapped in clay? “Burning rental money. Back ream? Still on fire. Waiting for a welder to come? Yep, the clock’s ticking.

One of my regular customers, a municipal sewer contractor, kept track of his rental costs for six months. He was paying almost 85 cents a foot for the rods alone. And since the rental rods were often older mismatched sets, he had more wobble, more torque loss, and more broken pins.

He ended up buying a set off me, just a basic set of 2-3/8” 15s. Cost him about 4200 for 10 rods. That set lasted him 14,000 ft before he had to retire the first one. Do the math $ 4,200 / 14,000 ft = $ 0.30 a foot.

After that job he called me. He was laughing. “I was stupid. I paid to borrow crappy rods three times.

Now, I’m not saying buying is always the smarter move. Sometimes? To rent is a blessing.

So you get a one-off job. Rocky ground, 500 feet total. You’re probably not going to see that geology again. For that, buying a new set of heavy wall hardened hdd drill rods would be overkill. Rent those puppies, beat ‘em up, bring ‘em back and walk away.

Or if your crew only drills two small bores a month. Say 2,000 feet a year total. You may never wear out a new set of rods in your yard before they rust. I’ve seen guys leave hdd drill rods outside for two years and wonder why the threads are crusty. No shame for those rare jobs rent.

This is where I see people get tripped up. They rent a set, break a rod halfway through a bore, and the rental agreement says they pay full retail for the replacement. Ouch.

Or they buy a used set off craigslist – cheap! – and then spend every other weld fixing cracks. My rule of thumb? If you are drilling over 5,000 feet a year in mixed ground, new (or good quality used from a trusted source) is almost always going to be cheaper than rental per foot.

I had a customer in Texas, sandy soil, 15,000 foot a month. He rented for a whole year because he was ‘trying out different brands’. 12 months of testing? Finally he bought one of our mid-tier rod strings. It paid for itself in seven weeks. “Why didn’t you slap me?” he said. I said, “Because you’re the customer, but yeah, I wanted to.

Rent when: It’s a one-off job, weird geology, very low annual footage (<3,000 ft), or you’re trying out a new diameter before committing.

Buy if: you have a stable job (>6,000 ft/year), consistent ground conditions, and a dry place to store hdd drill rods.

Hybrid move: Rent a set for one job to try a brand. If it makes it without cracking, buy that same brand next time.

Last month a new guy calls me. “Your rent is fifty cents a foot? That is a high. “I can get cheap rods online for $40 each.”

“How many feet do you drill a year?” I asked.

“About 8,000.

“Then the cheap rods will cost you more in down time than the rentals. You break each cheap rod you have to dig a receiver pit or fishing tools. $150 an hour? Your hourly rate is what? Two hours fishing pays for one of our good rods.

He went quiet. “Okay, then. Let me rent a small one first.”

I don’t care. Some lessons you have to learn by yourself.

So which saves more per foot? If you see rental as a short term tool and purchase as a long term partner, you win either way. But what if you’re renting when you should be buying? “Effectively, you’re paying a luxury tax for every foot on the ground.

And believe me, your profit margin can do without that.

Have a specific job in mind? Drop me a line or pick up the phone. I’ll tell you what. Rent or buy. If I have less rods to sell. That’s the way I do it.

Keep boring smart

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