JOB RELATED

In May 2000, three South Carolinians decided it was time to stop working for others and apply their experience and knowledge to their own directional drilling business. With one compact drilling unit, one truck, and one trailer, Bryan Williams, Terry Thompson and Eric Lovell started Bore-Tek, Inc. in the city of Charleston.

The timing seemed right. The telecommunications building boom of the late '90s was still under way. Construction of Level 3 Communications' new 15,000-mile long-haul network was not yet complete, and there appeared to be plenty of subcontracting work for small HDD companies. But getting started wasn't easy, recalls Thompson, Bore-Tek's president.

"From the beginning," he says, "finding financing for our business was difficult. We had no track record. But we were determined. The drilling unit we wanted—a Ditch Witch Jet Trac^® JT1720—was for us the biggest initial investment. Our equipment dealer—Ditch Witch of the Carolinas--recognized our commitment and took a risk by internally financing the drilling unit's purchase."

A month later the new company got its first HDD project in Charlotte, North Carolina. The job did not go well. "We were booted out of the state after we released drilling fluid collected from the job site at a location where we were unaware that dumping was prohibited," says Thompson. "Then on our second job in Atlanta, we drilled into solid rock, destroying our only drill bit. Our first year was very discouraging."

The three persisted, taking projects in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida with what Thompson describes as "minimal" success. Just as things seemed to be looking up, the telecom boom went bust, and the HDD industry fell into the most severe depression of its relatively short life. Before the bust, however, Bore-Tek's owners had introduced themselves to general contractors, engineering firms, and municipalities. With the telecom boom over, Bore-Tek shifted its focus to the water and sewer markets.

"By earning the confidence of several local general contractors, we began to fill a niche market in water and sewer," Thompson said. "We ventured into multi-duct bores, ductile iron bores, and grade bores. Realizing the increasing demand for larger bore projects, we purchased a Ditch Witch JT4020 with 40,000 pounds of pullback capability."

As the water and sewer business grew, Bore-Tek leased and eventually purchased a larger, more powerful HDD unit, the Ditch Witch JT7020, which enabled allowed the company to bid and win larger projects. As the company's workload continued to increase, Bore-Tek ordered a new 80,000-pound pullback Ditch Witch JT8020.

By 2007, the Bore-Tek partners were ready to take on their biggest project ever: installing 15,200 linear feet of 24-inch diameter fusible PVC pipe for expanding water services to the rural South Carolina sea island communities of Johns Island, Kiawah Island, and Seabrook Island. After work had begun on the project, the unexpected occurred: Bryan Williams died in a traffic accident.

"Ironically," says Thompson, "one of bores remaining to be done on the project was at the intersection where Bryan's accident had occurred."

Thompson and his team recognized everyone had to get through this emotionally while still taking care of business. "This was a critical project for us—everything was on the line," says Thompson. "It was a very intense time."

The company worked through its grief and finished its share of the project in 30 days, three days ahead of schedule. "The three of us once pledged that whatever the challenge is, we would never, never, never give up," says Thompson. "That was our only motto. It will not change."