Licensed driller versus pump installer

A driller and a pump installer are often two credentials, even when one company offers both. The driller makes, deepens, or closes the hole and sets casing and seals. The pump installer places the pump, the pitless adapter, the pressure tank, and the piping that leaves the well. States that publish both credentials expect you to ask which one covers today's work.

Texas is a clear split. The Department of Licensing and Regulation says a license is required to drill a water-related well and a license is required to install a pump for a water-related well. The application counts qualifying drillings and qualifying pump installs separately. Indiana's Department of Natural Resources issues one card that can say driller, pump installer, or both, under Indiana Code 25-39. Delaware's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control licenses water well contractors, pump installer contractors, well drillers, and pump installers as distinct licenses. New Hampshire's Water Well Board licenses water well contractors for construction, including decommissioning, and licenses pump installers in a domestic category up to three horsepower and an industrial category. The board's page says a plumber or electrician may repair a pump but needs a pump installer license to install or replace one.

Arkansas requires a contractor license plus a certificate of registration in drilling, pump installation, or both. Minnesota licenses the company and certifies a representative. A full well contractor may drill and install pumps. A limited license may cover only pump installation or only sealing. New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection says the well permit is obtained by a licensed well driller of the proper class, and its responsibilities summary treats pump installation as its own license. Connecticut's Department of Consumer Protection uses registration types. A W-1 registration covers water-supply well construction. Journeyperson registrations are limited to work for a registered contractor.

Some states fold pump work into the driller credential. South Dakota's Water Rights Program says a licensed well driller is also authorized to install pumps and repair wells. Florida's water well contractor license, issued by a water management district and valid statewide, is the business license for construction, repair, and abandonment. You still ask who will set the pump and whether that person is the licensed contractor. Kentucky certifies water well drillers and assistants, and separately monitoring well drillers. Pump installation is not the title on the certification page, so a Kentucky owner asks what work the certificate actually covers.

The hiring mistake is to accept a company truck as proof. Ask for the individual's credential and read the class. A restricted Mississippi driller license is valid only for the purpose printed on it. A monitoring-well license in North Dakota is not a water well contractor license. A geothermal license is not a household-well license. A filtration contractor license in Rhode Island is not a well-drilling license. In the District of Columbia, the well rules define a licensed well driller as someone licensed by a state or a federal district, and they still require a District business license. The driller's out-of-state card does not, by itself, finish the District's requirement.

If the driller will also set the pump, ask whether that driller's license includes pump work. If a second company will set the pump, ask for that person's pump credential before the first crew leaves. The well is not finished when the hole is cased if no one licensed for the pump is scheduled to complete it. Also ask who signs the completion report. In Massachusetts, the certified well driller is the person the well program regulates for the drilling business. In New York, the business is registered, and the person supervising drilling must have passed drilling exams, while the person supervising the pump must have passed pump exams.

Bonds and insurance sometimes attach to only one of the credentials. New Mexico's well rules require the driller's bond and liability insurance. A drill rig supervisor works under the driller and is not a substitute for that license. Nebraska's Title 134 requires insurance for contractors who construct or decommission wells. Ask which credential carries the bond before you assume the pump installer and the driller are covered by the same document.