Water
What a borehole really costs in inland South Africa
A drilling quote is a rate, not a total. Here is what sits between the two, why the depth is the variable that decides everything, and the sequence that stops you buying the wrong pump.
The short answer
A borehole quote prices metres, not a finished water supply. Budget past your quoted depth rather than to it, because you are buying however many metres the ground turns out to require. The costs that do not appear on a drilling quote are siting, casing, the pump, the rising main, electrical compliance and a SANS 241 water analysis. Never buy the pump before the yield has been tested over a full working day.
Most borehole advice stops at a price per metre. That rate is real, but it prices a hole, not a water supply. Between the rate and a tap that runs sit siting, casing, a pump, the rising main, electrical work and a water analysis, and most of those never appear on a drilling quote.
This page carries no rand amounts. Watts Off Grid publishes a figure only when an invoice or a dated quote from a named supplier stands behind it, and for a borehole there is neither yet. What follows is what drives the price, and how to get quotes you can actually compare.
What decides the price?
- Depth. Drilling is charged per metre, and nobody knows the final depth until water is found. It is the biggest single variable, which is why a drilling quote is a rate, not a total.
- Ground conditions. Hard rock, collapsing formations and dolomite change the drilling method, the time the rig spends on site and how much casing the hole needs.
- Casing. Usually priced per metre as well. Unstable ground needs more of it.
- Siting. A hydrogeological or geophysical survey is a cost up front, set against the cost of a dry or weak hole.
- Access and distance. Getting a rig onto the site, and the distance from the driller's base, both appear on the bill.
- The pump and rising main. These are sized to the tested yield and the pumping depth, so they cannot be priced properly before the test.
- Electrical work. The pump needs a supply run to it, and electrical installation work needs a Certificate of Compliance from a registered electrician.
- Water analysis. A SANS 241 test tells you whether the water is fit to drink before it goes into the house.
How long does it take?
The drilling itself is usually the shortest stage. The waiting sits around it: booking a rig, siting, the yield test, sourcing a pump matched to the result, and the electrical sign-off. Ask every contractor for their lead time, not only their price.
Why inland South Africa is different
The international guides describe a stable aquifer that you test once. Much of inland South Africa does not behave like that. In fractured rock and dolomite, yields can swing hard between the wet and dry seasons.
A hole tested at the end of the summer rains can disappoint badly by late winter. If you can, have the yield tested at the end of the dry season. If you cannot, accept that you are buying a number which flatters itself, and size the pump for the lower figure.
There is a regulatory dimension too. Under the National Water Act 36 of 1998 water use is subject to general authorisation thresholds, and use above them requires registration with the Department of Water and Sanitation. Reasonable domestic use on a smallholding usually sits beneath the threshold — but usually is doing real work in that sentence, and it is a cheap phone call to be certain before you drill rather than after.
How to get quotes you can compare
- Get at least three quotes, and ask each driller to price the same items: the rate per metre, casing per metre, siting, the yield test, and access.
- Ask what you pay if the hole is dry or the yield is too low to use. Terms differ, and this is where quotes that look alike stop being alike.
- Budget past the quoted depth, not to it.
- Ask for the yield test to run for a full working day, with the result given to you in writing.
- Have the pump, rising main and electrical work quoted once the yield result is in, and get the electrical quote at the same time as the pump, not as an afterthought.
- Book the SANS 241 analysis up front, so the result arrives before the water is plumbed into the house, not after.
The sequence that matters
Drill, develop, test the yield over a full working day, and only then buy a pump matched to the number the test gives you. Every driller will tell you this. Buying the pump first, because you are keen to see water come out of the ground, is the classic expensive mistake.
Is it worth it?
That turns on three numbers only you can get: the total of your quotes, the yield the test gives you, and what you pay for water now. Set the first against what the borehole saves you each year, remembering the pump's electricity and its eventual replacement on the cost side, and you have your payback period. Any prices added to this page later will be dated, with the supplier named.