How can a well drilling company get more customers?

Well companies sell to a market that the rest of home services barely sees. EPA says around 15% of the U.S. population, over 43 million people, rely on private wells for drinking water, and estimates more than 23 million households do². Those households have no utility to call when the water stops. They call a well company, and they usually call the one they can find fastest.

The business splits three ways: pump and service work (frequent, urgent, mid-ticket), new wells (rare, large, tied to construction), and water quality (testing and treatment, often the most searched and least marketed). This page covers all three.

In the Strive analysis of Google Keyword Planner data from September 2025 to August 2026, the most-searched well terms nationally were “well service near me” and “water pump repairing”, each in the 10,000 to 100,000 monthly range with top-of-page bid estimates (high range) near $22. Pump replacement cost searches (“well pump replacement cost”, “cost to replace water well pump”) and well water filtration searches (“well water filtration system”, “well water filters”) sat in the same range at about $13.65 and $12.72¹. Keyword Planner gives ranges, not counts.

The pattern that matters most: new well drilling is not what most people search for. Across the 39 state reports, well water filtration terms appear in the top searches of 26 or 27 states, “well pump” in 22, and “well service near me” in 17. “Well drilling companies near me” appears in 11 and “well drilling near me” in 10¹. Drilling demand exists, but it is a smaller, more rural search, and some of it likely never reaches Google because it starts with a builder or a land sale.

Other patterns:

• Clicks are cheap overall. The national median of Google’s top-of-page bid estimates was $5.46 across 599 distinct well terms¹. That is a bid estimate for a click, not cost per lead.
• State gaps are real. Florida, Texas and North Carolina are among the top 3 markets by distinct search terms. Maryland ($14.40) and Connecticut ($13.81) had the highest median bid estimates; Kentucky and West Virginia were near $3¹.
• Drilling terms cost more where they rank. In North Carolina, “well drilling near me” carried a $14.83 estimate, and in Florida $12.28, both well above those states’ medians¹.
• Coverage is incomplete. Only 39 states had enough data to publish a report¹. If you work in a sparse rural state, assume search volume is thin and lean harder on referrals.

HomeAdvisor is an Angi brand that sells leads, so treat these as vendor data. Its per-foot drilling prices cover only the drilling; pumps, casing and treatment are extra⁵. Depth drives the price: in some areas groundwater sits 200 to 300 feet down⁵.

Worked example: pump lead vs new well lead

Illustrative inputs, not sourced benchmarks. Replace them with your own numbers.

Pump replacement lead

• Ticket: $1,897⁶
• Leads that become a completed job: 55% (no water is an emergency; most callers book whoever arrives first)
• Gross margin: 40%

Gross profit per lead: 0.55 × $1,897 × 0.40 = about $417.

New well lead

• Package: $5,500 drilling⁵ + $1,700 pump (middle of the $900 to $2,500 range⁵) + $400 pressure tank⁵ = $7,600
• Leads that become a signed contract: 30% (buyers get bids, and some land deals fall through)
• Gross margin: 35%

Gross profit per lead: 0.30 × $7,600 × 0.35 = about $798.

What the math tells you

Pump service terms carry bid estimates near $22 nationally¹. At $18 a click and 15% of clicks turning into a call, a pump lead costs $120 against $417 of gross profit. That is a healthy margin, and at these inputs a well company with open truck capacity is more likely under-spending on pump service ads than over-spending.

Drilling terms are cheaper per click where they show up, but fewer searchers convert quickly. At $12 a click and 8% of clicks becoming a lead, each costs $150 against about $798. The decision rule: fund pump and service search first; fund drilling search only after your builder and land-seller referrals are working, because referral drilling leads typically close at higher rates than cold search leads (a common rule of thumb; check your own numbers).

Water treatment changes the math for both. A pump call that ends with a water test and a $1,000 to $15,000 treatment system⁵ can be worth more than the pump. Train every tech to offer a test.

Ranked for a typical rural well company with one or two rigs and a pump service truck.

Google Business Profile and the Map Pack

Google says local results are mainly based on relevance, distance and popularity (the section explaining the third factor is headed “Prominence”), and that there is no way to request or pay for a better local ranking⁸. Rural well companies lose Map Pack spots because their shop is far from the searcher. What helps:

• A service area that matches where you actually drive, and photos of real jobs tagged by county and town.
• Reviews after every pump job. “Had water back the same day” is the review that wins the next call.
• A business name that matches your paperwork. Google says adding unnecessary information to the name is not permitted and can lead to suspension⁹.
• A virtual office in a town you want to reach is not eligible for a profile⁹. Do not fake a local address.

Local Services Ads: mostly not available

Google’s list of eligible U.S. Local Services Ads categories, checked October 2026, has no well drilling, well pump or water well category⁷. Plumbers are on the list⁷, and a company with a plumbing license may qualify that way, but do not build a well plan around it. Recheck the list each year.

Paid search

• Split campaigns by intent: no-water and pump repair, pump replacement, drilling, and water quality. Each has a different value.
• Schedule emergency ads for the hours someone can answer. A family without water calls the next listing.
• Pump replacement cost searches are price shoppers, but they are also people whose pump is failing. Send them to a page with a real price range and a same-week booking option.
• Exclude DIY and parts terms (“submersible well pump” for sale, “pressure switch”) unless you sell parts.

Builders, land sellers and rural lenders

New wells follow land and construction. Builders on rural lots need a driller who shows up on schedule and files paperwork correctly. Land brokers and rural lenders get the question “how much will a well cost here?” before anyone calls you. Give them a one-page sheet with typical depths in your area (from your own well logs), a price range, and how fast you can schedule. Visit them each quarter.

If you advertise payment plans for new wells, follow federal Regulation Z: an ad that states a payment amount, number of payments or down payment must also state the down payment, the terms of repayment and the “annual percentage rate” (and whether the rate can increase)¹⁸. Let your lender approve the wording.

Testing and service reminders

EPA tells well owners to test their private well annually for total coliform bacteria, nitrates, total dissolved solids and pH, and to test right away when conditions near the well change³. EPA also says private well water quality is not regulated by the federal government or most states, so the owner is responsible². That is a clear, honest reason to contact every past customer once a year. Record pump age, well depth, and water test results on every job. A yearly reminder keeps you first in line when the pump fails.

Septic and plumbing partners

Many rural homes on a private well also have a septic system. Septic companies and rural plumbers hear about low pressure and water problems first. A simple two-way referral habit (no per-lead payments needed) costs little and is worth setting up before you add paid channels.

Lead marketplaces

Angi’s 2025 annual report says pros pay fees for consumer matches “regardless of whether the Pro ultimately provides the requested service”¹⁶. In thin rural markets, marketplace volume may be low. Test with a fixed budget, track each lead to a completed job, and cut it at 90 days if it does not beat your own channels.

This is not legal advice. Check your own state and county with the regulator or an attorney.

Texas

• TDLR says a license is required to drill a water-related well in Texas and to install a pump for one¹⁰.
• The statute bars a person from acting or offering to act as a driller without a license¹¹, and the same for pump installers¹². An ad that offers drilling or pump work can be read as an offer; a Texas attorney can confirm for your situation. If your company holds a pump installer license but not a driller license, do not advertise drilling.
• Drillers must keep an accurate well log and send a copy to TDLR, TCEQ and the well owner no later than the 60th day after drilling is completed or stops. If the owner asks TDLR in writing by certified mail, the log is kept confidential¹³. Your own well logs are also your best sales data: typical depths by area let you quote with confidence.

Florida

Florida requires every person who wishes to engage in business as a water well contractor to obtain a license from the water management district. To sit for the licensing exam, applicants need at least two years of experience and a list of at least 10 wells permitted in Florida that they worked on in the preceding five years¹⁴. If you expand into Florida, the license comes before the ads.

General

EPA advises owners to make sure their ground water contractor is licensed and certified where the state requires it⁴. Put your license number on your site, trucks and quotes. Rural buyers check.

Reviews

The FTC’s 2024 rule bans buying fake reviews, paying for reviews that must be positive or negative, undisclosed insider reviews, and hiding bad reviews while implying the rest are complete¹⁷. Ask every customer for an honest review.

The sourced data above does not give a month-by-month demand curve for well work, and seasonality varies by region. Some drivers are predictable:

• Storms and floods. EPA lists protecting water after a natural disaster or emergency as a reason to test and inspect a well³. After a flood, expect testing and pump calls.
• Construction season. Drilling follows building. In cold states, frozen ground and access limit winter drilling.
• Drought and heavy use. Pumps that run harder fail more. Many operators see more pump calls in hot, dry stretches, but track your own data before you plan around it.

Export your call log by week for two years and mark storms, freezes and dry spells. Plan rig schedules and ad budgets from that, not from a national rule.

• Marketing only drilling. Most searches are about pumps, service and water quality¹. A site that only talks about drilling misses the bigger demand.
• Slow answering on no-water calls. In an HBR audit of 2,241 U.S. companies, 23% never responded to a web lead, and the average response among those that replied within 30 days was 42 hours. In a separate study of 1.25 million leads described in the same article, firms that tried within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to qualify the lead as those that tried even an hour later¹⁵.
• No records. Every pump job without depth, pump age and test results is a lost reminder and a weaker quote next time.
• Advertising beyond your license. “Offering to act” as a driller without a license is itself prohibited in Texas¹¹.
• Skipping the water test. A treatment system can be worth more than the pump job⁵.
• Fake local addresses. Virtual offices are not eligible for a Business Profile⁹.

• Most well searches are about pumps, service and water quality, not drilling; market where the demand is.
• A pump replacement lead is worth about $400 in gross profit in the illustrative math, and cheap clicks make pump service search profitable at those inputs.
• New wells come from builders, land sellers and lenders more than from search; build those relationships first.
• Texas and Florida both require well contractor licenses; advertise only what your license covers.
• Yearly testing reminders turn one pump job into a long customer relationship.