Bidfident for directional drilling contractors
Estimating software for directional drilling
Drilling contractors use Bidfident to price each bore by the metre: pilot and ream, HDPE pipe fused and pulled back, and drilling fluid with its disposal. The drill rig, fusion machine and hydrovac each run for their own hours, not the crew's. Entry and exit pits go in by the each, crossing permits as a lump sum, and locates and restoration as subtrades.
Enter your email and Bidfident sends you a sign-in link. New companies start with a starter rate library. Who runs Bidfident, and what it keeps about you.
Sound familiar?
The rig billed for the crew's whole day
Digging pits, setting up and fusing pipe keep the crew busy while the rig sits idle, but a spreadsheet row charges it the same hours. In Bidfident the rig, fusion machine and hydrovac each get their own hours per unit.
A big rig rate magnifies a small slip
At hundreds of dollars an hour, a slip in the rig's hours per metre moves the bid a long way. In Bidfident the bid total stays in view and shows how much it moved after each change, so a jump that size is hard to miss.
Permits and fluid lost between rows
Lump-sum permits and fluid disposal sit in a corner of the sheet and get missed. In Bidfident permits go in as a lump sum overhead item, and fluid is a line priced by the metre like the bore.
How Bidfident fits your work
The drill rig for the hours it runs
Give the rig its own hours per metre, apart from the crew's. The fusion machine and hydrovac can each have their own hours too.
Bore lines that look off, flagged
Before the bid goes out, Bidfident flags a bore or pit line with no cost code, no quantity, a total of $0, hours with a $0 rate, or hours or a material price more than 25% off the library's.
Locates and restoration side by side
Enter each bid, see the lowest flagged, and carry it or the one you pick. No bids for restoration yet? Carry a plug amount.
Permits as a lump sum, supervision by the week
Crossing permits go in as a lump sum. Supervision runs by the week and follows the job duration, part weeks allowed.
Rig, fusion and hydrovac rates in one place
Your drill crew and every machine with its hourly rate, in one library that every estimate uses.
Each crossing with its own subtotal
Tag each bore with its crossing, the highway or a creek, and group the sheet to see what each one comes to.
Worked example: directional drilling under a highway and two creeks
A made-up job, priced in Bidfident: 26 lines of your own work, 4 subtrades and 5 overhead items over a 4-week job. The 4 lines this page talks about are listed one by one, and the rest are added up in one row. It's the same job you can open as an example project in Bidfident, so every figure below matches it.
To open this job in Bidfident: sign in and set up your company in Canada, then on the Projects screen, under Example project, pick "Telecom and fibre" and "Directional drilling" and press Add example project.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Directional bore, 150 mm, pilot and ream, 240 m
| $12,288.00 |
HDPE pipe, 100 mm, fused and pulled back, 240 m
| $6,616.80 |
Drilling fluid and disposal, 240 m
| $1,560.00 |
Entry and exit pits, hydrovac, 2 ea
| $2,768.00 |
22 more lines of your own work
| $77,654.56 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Utility locates
| $2,150.00 |
Restoration, sod and asphalt
| $7,800.00 |
Traffic control, highway shoulder closure
| $6,850.00 |
Geotechnical review of bore profiles, allowance
| $3,200.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Site supervision, foreman
| $7,200.00 |
Road and creek crossing permits
| $3,500.00 |
Mobilize drill spread
| $6,800.00 |
Crew truck and tool trailer
| $2,600.00 |
Crew accommodation and meals, crew of four
| $7,680.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Own work
| $100,887.36 |
| Excluded lines, not counted | $1,226.52 |
| Subtrades | $20,000.00 |
Overhead
| $27,780.00 |
Direct cost
| $148,667.36 |
Contingency
| $7,433.37 |
Fee
| $15,610.07 |
| Subtotal before bonding | $171,710.80 |
Bonding
| $1,717.11 |
Insurance
| $858.55 |
Bid total
| $174,286.46 |
GST, for reference
| $8,714.32 |
See it in Bidfident
Coming soon Ask your estimate anything. Claude first, ChatGPT to follow. See how it will work
Questions
My bore is priced by the metre but the rig works by the hour. How does that add up?
Each line takes the metres, the crew's hours per metre and the rig's own hours per metre. Bidfident works out the hours and prices both at their hourly rates.
Can one bore line carry both the drill crew and the rig?
Yes. A line has a trade with its hours per unit and one piece of equipment by the hour, plus a material price, so the crew and the rig sit on the same bore line.
How do I price drilling fluid and disposal?
Put it on its own line by the metre with a material price. A line with no trade or hours carries no labour.
Can I price permits as a lump sum?
Yes. Overhead items can be by the week, by the month, a lump sum or each.
Does it read bore profiles from drawings?
No. Type your metres in, or copy and paste them into the sheet.
What if my rig rate changes after I submit a bid?
A submitted bid keeps the labour and equipment rates it was priced with, so a later change to your library doesn't move a price you've already sent.
Does Bidfident work with Claude or ChatGPT?
Not yet, but it's coming. You'll be able to connect Bidfident to your own Claude or ChatGPT account and ask about your estimates in plain English. The answers will come from Bidfident's own figures, so they match the estimate. It will use the account you already have: Claude first, ChatGPT to follow.
Price your next drilling bid in Bidfident
Enter your email and Bidfident sends you a sign-in link. New companies start with a starter rate library. Who runs Bidfident, and what it keeps about you.