drilling expectations

I can rant about this sort of thing for days...

As my long-term readers know, I was pretty shy when I started working in consulting. It was hard for me to speak up when I wanted something done differently. So what often happened was that I would let something go for way too long, and then I'd surprise the driller in the middle of whatever and say, "we need to change/add this." This leads to a lot of aggravation.

Now, when a drilling company first arrives at a site, I make an effort to have a truly comprehensive site briefing. This is after I've called the office to make sure we're on the same page. Why are we doing this, what are we looking for, and what are the specific things that I need? Then, when we're ready to start doing whatever, I'll remind the driller again.

Most of the time, all this is overkill. But I'd rather go through everything and make sure that we have everything we need and that there are no surprises. If I've written or reviewed the drilling specification, then I know it should cover everything I need. But the probability that the guy actually doing the work has actually read the thing is fairly low.

It sounds simple. But I can't tell you how many time we've arrived at a site and the driller says "I had no idea we needed mud mats/a steam cleaner/to cut through thickets/to get water four miles away" and it turns out to be a colossal pain in the ass and we all start out cranky.